Do not wrap presents in the middle of the day, in your bedroom, when you know your bedroom door doesn't lock, or even latch shut. Do not assume that the 2 year old and 4 year old are going to be able to resist popping in on you, through your unlocked bedroom door. (And what parents in their right mind do not have locking bedroom doors? I don't know, but it's the bane of my existence, it seems. In our previous house, the door also didn't latch or lock, and it would only shut fully for half the year.)
Do not get exasperated when your husband is occupied and can not come to your rescue when the 2 yo and 4 yo have popped in for the 5th time in ten minutes. Do not decide, when they refuse to leave, that you're just going to lock your "old as dirt" door. Do not grab the skeleton key from the closet door to see if it will fit in your bedroom door. Do not actually lock the bedroom door and return to peacefully wrapping presents.
Yes, that is what I did yesterday. Steve finally came along to see what I had been hollering about earlier. He asked to come in. Can you see where this is going? I couldn't unlock the door!! I tried for several minutes with the skeleton key. Then I slipped it under the door to Steve, and he tried. Then he tried to take the door knob off. That wasn't helpful, so he passed the key back to me, and I tried again. That time it finally worked.
I've been instructed to never use a skeleton key in any door in the house again. And the 4 yo and I finally worked out a system. I wrapped his presents super fast while he delivered other presents to the tree for me. When he was in the room, I occupied him by letting him fill out the gift tags. I'd spell, and he'd write. So, he doesn't know every single gift under the tree, at least. Between his writing (on the floor) and gift delivery, I managed to finish wrapping gifts.
Maybe I should have put a bedroom knob with lock on my Christmas wish list. *giggle*
LOL!!! I spent Saturday doing the same thing. I blocked the door with a chair so they couldn't open it, but left just enough space to fit the wrapped presents thru so they could put them under the tree.
Untitled Comment
Posted by gabbie427 on 2008-Dec-23 at 12:17 AM - Link
Oh what a sweet little story. I am glad you got the door unlocked though! LOL
I wrapped our presents the other night after the little one went to bed.
We are a Christian homeschooling family with 7 children (ages 13, 12, 10, 8, 5, 3, and 9 months). We love having "room to breathe" in rural Central Kansas, and are working to make the "family homeplace" our own home.
• Steve 36 yo hubby
• April 35 yo SAHM
• A - 13 yo girl
• R - 12 yo girl
• C - 10 yo girl
• J - 8 yo boy
• M - 5 yo boy
• L - 3 yo girl
• G - 8 month boy
