You couldn't make this stuff up...

So yesterday was one of those days where the planets aligned (when I say "planets" read kids...) to cause havoc and embarrassment for me.

The day actually started off reasonably well when Adam organised a lift to work so I had an extra hour at home because I didn't need to go drop him off.  So the kids and I slowly pottered about getting ready and went and dropped Lani off at school.  Then went and did a bit of shopping (groceries, nothing fun or exciting I'm afraid - fun and exciting doesn't really happen when you're shopping with a 2 and 3 yr old).  Then headed off to Takapuna Chapel for the Toddler music group.  All fine. Kids behaved pretty well, enjoyed their time, played well with those around them and then it was time to go.  Zach had a bit of a moan that he didn't want to go, but still got his coat on as I picked up Tilly's coat to go find her.  On my way I was met by one of the other mums in the corridor to tell me Tilly had locked herself in the toilet.  No problem.  I actually carry around a coin for this exact purpose because she's a bit of a monkey with bathroom locks.  Except when I get there (a self contained disabled toilet, not a cubicle) she hasn't locked the normal lock that you can unlock with a coin on the outside.  No, she has managed to turn the deadbolt underneath that only opens with a key on the outside.  *Sigh*.  She's doing fine, not panicking, but can't manage to unlock it again.  We pull out the master key for the chapel to unlock it.  Only, this lock, for some unfathomable reason, has not been fitted with the right kind of lock and does not work with the master key, which is supposed to be able to open any door in the whole building.  Starting to get a little concerned, but go looking in the offices for other sets of keys.  We try every key we can find, but none of them work.  I check the window round the back, but it's shut.  Someone calls the area office (fortunately just down the road) and explains what happens.  They sent a facility manager over, who has also called a contractor out on her way to us.  By now Tilly had been stuck in there for about 40 mins.  She was doing really well, but had already wet herself because she can't manage to get on the toilet by herself and had grasped the opportunity of no adult supervision to make full use of the taps and was soaked.  I gathered all this from what she was telling me through the door.  She was getting a bit frustrated and scared and really wanting to come out now.  She slipped on the wet floor and hurt herself and there wasn't anything I could do to help her.  I got a knife and tried to slide it under the window to undo the catches, I climbed up and spoke to Tilly through the frosted glass and got her to climb on the toilet to try and undo the window, but she was about a hand stretch away from being able to reach.

The facility manager got there and I explained what was going on.  She was confused why we hadn't opened it from the other side, and I explained she'd managed to turn the deadbolt.  Then she was really confused because this door shouldn't have a 2 locks on it, it definitely shouldn't have a deadbolt on it, and how on earth did one get installed that didn't fit with the master key.  I was getting a little annoyed at this and it took some self control not to yell at her that I didn't care that Tilly had brought some impossible situation to her attention and none of this should be in place - it didn't change the fact that my 2 yr old had no been trapped in there for about 50 mins.  Tilly was getting pretty upset by now and calling out "sorry mummy! want to say sorry!".  She thought she'd been put in time out or something.

Someone tried breaking the lock off and breaking through the bolt with a screwdriver and hammer, but the noise scared Tilly so much (and it wasn't doing much) that they stopped.  In the end to two guys that the facilities manager had called went and broke in through the window - I think they forced the catches and broke them off to get in.  That was a bit much for Tilly - the noise and then a big Maori guy climbing in at her made her hysterical.  She came out to me totally sobbing and wet from head to toe.  I gave her a hug and her dummy and then had to strip her off and put on a clean pair of knickers I had for her and then just her coat (I'm past the stage of carrying around a spare change of clothes for her anymore).  She'd been stuck in there for an hour.  During the time I'd done various things to help her stay calm - keep getting her to try the lock, played music on my phone through the door (Mika is her favourite at the moment) and played with the knife - sliding it under the door to wiggle it at her and getting her to wiggle it back.

After all of that we got in the car to rush home and get lunch before needing to take Zach to kindy and once in the car she was asleep within a couple of minutes, I guess she was totally wiped out by the whole thing - she went on to sleep for 2 hours!

Then took Zach to kindy and got a few things done in the afternoon, only to be pulled in by the teacher when I picked Zach up to discuss his violence.....  It appears that he has decided to lash out at kindy now, and not just keeping his outbursts at home.  Great.  I'm actually at a point where I'm out of ideas and trying to ask around and get opinions from those with more experience of some things to try with him to modify his behaviour.  He has a really short fuse and can get incredibly angry very quickly and then lashes out at whoever has caused it.

So that was my day, made rather difficult by my mischievous pre-schoolers.  I'm ready for them to grow out of it now.

And a little nugget from a few days ago:  Tilly was having a tantrum which started in the car on the way to kindy, carried on in the pushchair as we walked the last 5 mins and then back again to the car and then got her in the car where she suddenly fell asleep mid screaming - with her bottom lip still sticking out.  A couple of days before this she had a record breaking tantrum lasting a solid 45 mins, without her stopping crying and screaming AT ALL in that whole time.  She just followed me around while I tried to ignore her.

Ka mate, ka mate!

Leilani is really thriving in school at the moment.  She got another certificate for her work last week - a piece of writing showing the similarities and differences between a nail and a screw.  She was over the moon when she came out to of school to tell me.  And then a day or two later she had a different teacher (I think a supply teacher or possibly student teacher, couldn't really tell from what Lani could tell me, anyway, I digress....) and she was put on the "good" list for the day and two from the list were chosen at random for a prize - she got picked from what she called the "dippy luck" :D and got to choose a little stationary pack for her prize.

And in other news.... Adam was away in Tonga last week and had an amazing time by the sound of it - got to do some touristy things while he was there.  Meanwhile back at home the kids were pushing me to my limits... it's just that age, or so I've been told and I'm hanging on to that bit of hope that "this too shall pass"!  Tilly and Zach have a few favourite things to do at the moment.  One is to push Tilly's mattress off the bed base and remove all the sheets and covers.  They also like to collect up all sorts of things that are to hand and throw them out the bedroom window.  And no amount of telling off stops them from doing it again.  They just need 5 mins of me looking some other way to get back at it again.  In fact they did both of those things at least twice today.  And when it came to bedtime and we were looking for Leilani's pyjamas and dressing gown (which I *knew* I'd tidied up and put on her bed) I discovered a pile of things outside her bedroom window.  I'm feeling a bit stretched thin trying to keep on top of them both at this intensive 2-3 age.

We had the ward cultural night on Saturday which was fun.  Got to see some presentation and dances from some different cultures we have in the ward - Cook Islands, Kidibus, Phillipines, Korea, Britain and Mauri (hope I didn't miss any out!).  It was a lot of fun.  I especially liked the Phillipines dance - kind of like playground elastics, except the "elastic" was long bamboo trunk that the men were banging on the floor and moving in and out to make the beat while the girls danced in and out of them.  And the Mauri stuff finished off the evening and was really cool too.  I think it's the first time I've seen it all done in person (not on TV or something) and it was really inspiring.