My Own Little Mighty Mouse

He's just like his Dad.

Earlier in the week Steve entered a Lip Sync contest at the high school where he teaches and he did Andy Kaufman's rendition of Mighty Mouse. I got it on film which I will post at the end for anyone who is interested but, I must say I couldn't figure out how to zoom in closer with my camera. I'm still figuring it out so, it's from far away. Bummer. Anyhow, the boys saw Steve practice a few times on Monday night and so they learned the song. He did great the next day. I thought it was hilarious and so did a lot of the students. And just an aside, what made it even funnier is that a few of Steve's coworkers didn't get it and came up to him afterward to encourage him and tell him, "Don't worry...next time, you'll remember the words." Did they even watch it?! He has this going for him though, he was the only one who got a standing ovation at the end. Of course, it was only by one student but, there were others screaming, "Encore! Encore!" like a bunch of groupies. I keep making fun of him for that. Classic.

Anyhow, back to my original story. So today, I got myself into quite a pickle you might say. Yes, it was a definite quandary and Caleb was my little Mighty Mouse. I'm sure you've heard horror stories of moms locking their kids in the car, sometimes with the engine running. I've had four kids in five years and I've never done this. I don't know how I've been spared the absolute panic of this situation but somehow I have. I've done a lot of other things but, not that.

So today, I had my nephew over for a little play time. He literally lives across the street and so I told his mom I'd drop him off on my way out to the local corner market. I needed to pick up some chips for tonight's dinner because sadly enough, the bag I'd originally gotten for tonight had been eaten already! It doesn't hurt to pick up a Diet Coke while I'm out either. I was feeling smug and carefree...it never fails that when these two feelings are sandwiched together into one time period, something is bound to happen to smack me back to reality.

I walked him up to the door and then went to climb back into my car and found all of the doors locked. What?! I quickly glanced inside and saw everyone seated where they were supposed to be and then I checked all the doors again. Yep, every single one of them was locked. Panic welled up inside of me but I squashed it down and reminded myself that at least I was at my sister-in-law's house if I needed to use the phone (I was also fairly close to my own abode as well where we do have a spare key but...in the last day or two, I hadn't been able to find it-great timing).

But then as all of these thoughts are swirling through my head I remember Caleb. Of course, Caleby!! He is able to unstrap himself. So I quickly coached him through the window and he obeyed like a champ. What a guy. He quickly got out of his seat, found the lock and pushed it up as hard as he could (they're a bit hard to do). At first he couldn't figure it out but, like a true hero, he didn't give up and kept trying until he got it.

As I opened the door, I praised him immensely and kept telling him he was our hero-that he'd saved the day. And then, he started singing...."Here I come to save the day!!"

I'm sorry...it just doesn't get much better or funnier than that.

And as I climbed into the car, still totally dumbfounded as to how the car got locked in the first place, it finally dawned on me what happened. My precious little nephew, in an effort to get out of the front seat (it was a 15 second car ride people and I did strap him in, don't judge) accidentally pushed the "lock doors" button located right next to the door handle. I burst out laughing when I saw how close they are together. It's the only thing that makes sense. I didn't lock them and the car engine was still running so my keys didn't do it either. Never would I have dreamed it could happen!! It was just a rare occurrence and I didn't hear them lock because I was already out of the car coming around to get him.

Seriously so funny. And it did have a happy ending. It only took five minutes to get back in the car and I didn't even have to bug my sister-in-law. Not bad. And I got to hear Caleb sing the Mighty Mouse song in response.

All in all, I think it actually worked out pretty well and made for a good story. Which is always fun. But I did learn my lesson though...those buttons are pretty sensitive...watch it if someone, other than an adult, is in that front seat for any length of time. If you don't, you could end up getting locked out, with the engine running while all of your children are tucked safely into their carseats.

Steve's Rendition of Mighty Mouse


And if you want to see Andy Kaufman's version here it is.