Rosie saved the day!

This afternoon, we were a little out of our usual weekend groove. I had to run an errand in Georgetown; my usual supplier of Weegee's Harrison's pellets couldn't fit us into her order, so the only local animal hospital that sells them is over there, across the Potomac. On our way back, we planned to eat lunch in Arlington, at a restaurant called Whitlow's on Wilson, that's better known for its packed happy hours than family friendly weekend lunches. But no mind, the meal was pretty uneventful and the kids were awfully cute marching around with us on the urban sidewalks, waiting for traffic lights to let us cross the street, and so forth.

Here's where the potentially awful situation happened: while I was putting Dash into his car seat, he saw my carkeys in my hand and said, "Mommy, share those with me, please!" so, I let him mess with the keys while I finished clipping him in. He managed to make the car's panic button go off with lots of honking and flashing lights, so I grabbed it away from him, pushed one of the buttons (eh, lock, maybe?) and the honking stopped. He started crying, so I tossed the keys onto the driver's seat, out of view, and talked him down. AJS had just finished clipping Rosie's seatbelt, so he and I stepped back, shutting their doors almost simultaneously.

CLICK.

All the doors locked by themselves. And remember where my keys are? AJS left his in the glove box.

Dash started crying again and AJS and I started babbling at each other about what to do. While I started thinking about calling AAA, he began trying to talk Rosie into helping. That was a great idea!! Only, he was anxious and almost yelling. So, as I'm usually the calmer element, I shushed him and stepped in.

I said, "Rosie. Unless you can help us, you're going to be stuck in the car for a while." She nodded. "Can you try to push the red button to release your seatbelt?"

Rosie answered, "Uh, okay." She gave it a few unsuccessful tries, and while I considered what instructions to try next, she popped the button. Beaming, she looked at us to see what to do next.

AJS chimed in with, "Great, now climb into the front seat and get Mommy's keys." I was going to ask her to open the passenger door, but keys would do fine.

I said, "Okay Rosie, now press the blue button on the black keypad." Rosie pressed it once, and again, when I asked.

The doors were open, we got in and were on our way.

CRISIS AVERTED!!

On the drive to my parents', I was thinking that we should have taught her how to unlatch her seatbelt a long time ago. But she was so excited to show off her new skill. She asked us over and over to let her know when it was time to unbuckle at Grandma and Grandaddy's house, and she'd unbuckle all by herself!! Only, waiting till we stopped driving was hard and she unclipped at least once while we were driving.

Even so, I'm so proud of her!