911 What is your emergency?

Last night was quite a night! After the kids had been bathed and were pretty much ready for bed, we were all doing a final pick-up of the house. I was in Brynn and Abby's room hanging up clothes and Joseph and Brynn were in the room with me picking up a few things. Abby and Aaron were in the other room "supposedly" picking up toys as well. I was harping on everyone to get busy because they needed to get in bed.

While I was doing my harping, Abby came in with eyes the size of silver dollars and in a quiet wimpering voice said, "Mom and Dad, I'm wreally, wreally sorrwy, but I did something wreally bad!"

Joseph and I asked in unison, 'What did you do Abby?"

"I dialed 911 on the wreal phone! But I put the phone down when they answered so that they wouldn't come to our house."

"What did they say to you when they answered."

"What is your emergency?"

I sent Joseph to call them back to tell them everything was fine and explained to Abby that you never call 911 unless it is an emergency, for example if your Mom or Dad are really hurt or you can't wake them up and they need some help. We talked through a couple of emergencies and she again replied. "It's okay Mom, they won't come because I put the phone down when the lady answered." I explained to her that they can trace where we live according to our phone number and that's when the wimpering and anxiety level skyrocketed!

Meanwhile, Joseph walked around the house in an attempt to find the phone. Aaron was squealing in a high pitched voice around the house, Abby was crying and moaning, Brynn was laughing, and I was trying to be stern, while holding back laughter. Joseph finally found the cordless phone Abby used to call, sitting face down on Aaron's bed. He picked it up and noticed it was on, "Hello?" Of course the dispatcher was still there. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, my 4 year old daughter just dialed 911 and then came running to us to tell us what she had done."

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes, everything's just fine, we're just getting the kids ready for bed." Then came a shrill from Aaron and a sob from Abby, "What was that sound." the dispatcher asked.

"It's just my two-year-old playing."

"Are you sure, is there another adult there I can speak with." Apparently he wasn't convincing enough.

I was in the girl's bedroom continuing my lecture on when to call 911 and trying to convince Abby that the police were not going to be coming to our house. She, of course, was crying and hyperventialting, and moaning because she was convinced that they were going to come and they were going to be really mad at her. Joseph walked in with the phone and handed it to me. I said, "Hello?"

"Hi Ma'am, can you tell me what's going on?"

"Yes, we were just getting the kids ready for bed and my 4 year old dialed 911." I was holding back a nervous laugh.

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes, everything is just fine, it was just a mistake, I'm really sorry!"

"Okay, the police have already been dispatched, but I'll see if I can call them back."

That was the end of the call. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince Abby that the police weren't going to come. She was certain that they were. At this point we were all in the family room getting ready for family prayer so we could put everyone in bed, and becoming inpatient with all of her fears. I stated over and over in very clear terms, "Abby, I told the 911 dispatch that everything was fine and she said she would call and tell the police they didn't need to come." Over and over again she said, "It's just not very far to get to our house, so I'm afraid, they'll get here before she gets a hold of them!"

After trying to convince her for what seemed like the millionth time, I said with more volume, "Abby stop it now! They aren't coming and even if they were, it would be to make sure everything was okay at our house!" I was speaking loud enough that I didn't hear the doorbell ring, I just saw Joseph's head flop back like "Oh, great!" He then turned to me lauging, and said, "Did you hear that, the doorbell just rang, they've sent the police!" He went to get the door. I chased Abby who had high-tailed it out of there!

Abby went into a tailspin screaming and crying. She tried to lock herself in the master bathroom to hide from the officer. I hollered for Brynn to get Abby some shorts since she was only wearing a big t-shirt that barely covered her under-rooskies.

Joseph answered the door and invited the female officer in and explained to her that everything was fine. I pulled shorts on Abby as fast as I could and carried her into the kitchen with her head buried on my shoulder. I told her to look at the officer and tell her sorry. Abby refused to make eye contact and kept wimpering! She was not helping the situation one bit! I could tell the officer was observing the scene and looking to make sure that everyone looked unharmed. Luckily our house was clean, if this had happened 3 hours earlier, she would have seen the room in total disarray with blankets and couch cusions all over the floor in an effort to make a "boat". She would have really wondered what was up!

I couldn't stop laughing, but said to Abby, "The officer is here to make sure everything is okay, because sometimes children call 911 when something is wrong and their parent's try to pretend that nothing is wrong when something really is. She just wants to make sure you are safe."

Joseph asked the officer to tell the girls an occasion when you would need to call 911. She replied, "If something really scary happens to Mom or Dad, you call 911 and let someone know." Joseph had all the kids shake the officer's hand... and after much coaxing, even Abby reached out her hand without making eye contact.

The officer walked toward the door and said, "You have a beautiful home, sorry for the inconvenience."

After she left Abby was still a little concerned and confused as to why the officer needed to make sure things were okay even though we told them over the phone that things were fine. (We must not have been too convincing to the 911 dispatcher). Here's how the rest of our explanation went, "Abby some mom's and dad's fight. They yell really loud at each other and sometimes they hit each other. Do we yell at each other?" She shook her head....no. "Do Daddy and I hit each other?" She again shook her head....no. "Some mom's and dad's yell really loud at each other and hit each other and hurt one another so the children get scared and call 911 and then then sometimes the mom. or the dad are afraid of getting into trouble so they call and tell the police that everything is fine when it really isn't. Does that make sense? The police just wanted to come tonight to make sure that nothing bad had happened to our family. They are here to help us and take care of us." Abby seemed to find that answer appeasing, once her mood lightened a little she said "I'm just glad it was a gull (girl), police, a boy would have been wreally, wreally bad!" Then after prayer and cheer she said, "Okay, I want to see what everyone's face looked like when the doorbell rang!" We all showed our faces and agreed that her reenactment definitely stole the show!

Oh what a night! After thinking about it, we figured this delightful toy we own, should share atleast some of the blame.