Me & Sweet Pea: July 2008

Just a few minutes ago, Mama and Dada were helping Mia drift off to sleep in the nursery. I think that Mia is starting another teething cycle, as while Mia and I were taking a bath after dinner as part of our bedtime ritual, she was leaking drool like a sieve. The second time Mia chomped down on the boob, Mama asked me to get the sippy cup with Milk in it, so Mia could chomp, suck, and drink to her little heart's content.

So I go to the nursery door and try to open it.

The knob just spins.

I take a step back and doublecheck. Yep, that knob is just spinning. Nothing gripping inside, no catching, just free spin.

Okay. What to do?

If I put pressure on the knob in a certain angle, does it catch and spin the rod that connects the outside door knob to the inside? Nope.

If I jiggle the door a bit can I compress it enough to catch the edges of the inter-knob-rod? Nope.

Where are the screws facing? We're in luck- they face into the nursery.

Can I bash down the door? Probably, but too noisy. So, that's check in the Nope column (for now.)

Whenever situations appear insurmountable, I look for a tool (sometimes it's a hammer.)

I know that if I can get the knob off of this side, I can use my fingers to turn the connecting rod and voila, we can escape. But how to get the knob off?

I look around the nursery- pretty innocuous stuff. The hook I hung up the fish mobile with.. nope. A folded piece of stiff paper... nope. The plastic edge of a babyproofing latch... nope. The nubby tip of a safety scissor used to trim Mia's nails... maybe... testing... eureka!

Mia is being nursed to sleep about three feet away as I slowly use the tip of a single safety scissor blade to unscrew (a quarter turn each time) the phillips head screws that hold the inside door knob to the outer knob. Inevitable clicks occur as I test how far the screw has come out, and as I have to adjust the length of the screw against the knob faceplate, so that I can keep unscrewing.

I finally back the last few twists of the screws off with my fingers. Mia is sleeping, as they say, like a baby. My initial diagnosis was correct- the connecting rod (this one, like most, is square shaped) is shorter than the total distance between the full length of the rod sticking inside of the hallway-side knob.

Using my fingers, I twist the rod and the door pops open. I do a silent dance of joy. I go get the sippy cup, but when I return, Mia is completely out.

The rod, if it slides as far as it can go into the hallway-side knob, isn't long enough to catch the inside edges of the nursery-side knob. This is typical of door handles that are cheap, and generic. The nicer handles have longer rods, or really long rods that the manufacturer just expects you to cut to length.

I slide the rod out, and stick one side into the nursery-side knob and give it a good pounding against the carpet floor, to firmly stick it into this side of the door. I slide it back up into place on the door and it has plenty of reach to turn the opposite knob. Score!

A minute or so of careful, quiet screwing and the knob is back in place. Turning the knob opens the door, success!

I don't think I could have climbed through the window and not woken Mia, and kicking the door down would have been even noisier (not to mention more destructive.)

All in all a successful rescue-the-severn-clan operation.

Being a bit overcareful, I then walked around the house and checked every knob for traps.