"How did this happen?" I asked my daughter, "I don't know, I was trying to open it and it wouldn't go any further" she responded.
Again with the hands to the sky "Really???"
"You know the door opens the other direction, why did you push it out?" I asked with an over-exaggerated calm to my voice
"I forgot which way it was supposed to go" was the response I got.
Once more for good measure "Really???"
Ok... so I knew this whole no yelling thing was going to be a challenge, I knew I would face times where I would be tempted to blow my top and yell it out, but COME ON..... ten minutes in..... REALLY???
So I took a deep breath, wedged my behind past the one foot opening between the wall and the door and inspected the situation from the other side.
This was a two part plan in fact; I wanted to see if she had damaged the door frame, and I got a bonus in that she couldn't see me grab the pillow and scream to the top of my lungs into it!
I don't know if I have ever mentioned this, but I'm not very good with tools, or wood, or anything of that nature so I was completely at a loss as to how to get the door back past the jam when I noticed that the hinge thingys (oh hush, you know what I'm talking about) were pulled out about a quarter inch from the door frame and the door could no longer clear the half inch piece of wood that was supposed to keep the door from opening the opposite side of the wall in the first place.
I then took a deep breath as my daughter was still outside the door asking "Are you going to be able to fix it? I really didn't mean to do that, I'm sorry"
So I said to her "Mommy needs you to give me a minute to try and figure this out, can you go to your room and play for a few minutes and I'll call you downstairs when I'm done"
I bet you are thinking, she said "Sure, Mommy, whatever you say"..... yeah... not so much!
She responded "Well can I watch tv in the living room instead?"
Deep breath
"No, go play in your room till I call you"
"Well can I have the tablet from off your bed first?"
Deeper breath
"No, go play in your room till I call you"
"Well can I watch tv in my room instead of play?"
Again with the yelling into the pillow
Resume the deep breath
"Yes sweet girl, you may watch tv in your room, but PLEASE give me a minute here"
With that she trodded up the stairs to her bedroom.
I began to pull and push, lift and wiggle the door in an attempt to force the hinge thingies back into their proper wedged out rectangles in the door frame... no luck.
I began to pray "God, I don't know how to fix this, can you give me a hand please?"
I suddenly got the idea to bang the aforementioned hinge thingy back into it's cozy little den, my hand was not going to get the job done so what do I need? Well a hammer of course! That's perfect I thought... I can release some frustrations as well as (hopefully) get the door fixed all at the same time.
So I wedged my behind out the door and into the spare bedroom where my husband keeps his tools and brought back a hammer. I banged it several times and voila... the door hinge thingy was back where it belonged and I could then put the door back on the correct side of the jam! Woo Hoo go me!!!! Then just for good measure, I got my husband's drill and tightened the screws so that the hinge thingy was again snug and secure!
I then put the tools away and basked in the glow of knowing that not only did I get through the ordeal without yelling at my child, but I actually fixed something, with ACTUAL tools and everything!
I called my daughter back downstairs and sat her down on the bed. Now is as good a time as any to tell her about my master plan to change her world! (Ok ok ok, maybe not her world, but improve her chances of keeping her hearing anyways). I told her that the reason I asked her to go to her room was because I was very frustrated and didn't want to yell at her, but I needed a minute to get my thoughts together and figure out how to fix the door. I told her that I was going to be really really trying not to yell at her. I confessed to her that I may mess up, I may falter, but I am going to make a genuine effort to change my reactions. She looked at me with all the pride I have ever seen in her sweet little 5 year old eyes and she said "You did it Mommy, you didn't yell at me! Way to go!" and gave me a high five then said "Can I finish watching Austin and Ally now?"
Well it was short lived, but very powerful! I did it, I did it!
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