Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Houston... We Have A Problem
Pineapple used to tell me how she was going to fly out of her bedroom window

and up into the sky

to be with Santa Clause on his sleigh by the moon.

Well.

She figured out how to unlock and open her window and....

when everyone was going to bed....


She jumped out.



We are on the 5th floor of a high rise....



Luckily we have a little deck on the side of that part of the house that caught her fall.





We discovered her knocking on the outside door of the small side balcony that no one uses.



She wasn't hurt.

But the worrisome thing is that all of the windows around our apartment unlock the same way-

and if she tries flying out another window there will be no balcony to catch her.



Perhaps she knew that the little balcony would catch her.

I hope so.

You never know what her imaginary Santa might be telling her to do.

Any advice? Besides move all furniture away from the windows?

Labels:

18 Comments:
Blogger Lauri said...
Oh my word....

Blogger Deb said...
Can you paint the windows shut. Looks like a wood frame so you might not. Maybe you can find some sort of glue or something.

I know you can't open the window at all then but that seems like the best option.
Glad she was okay. Very scary.

Blogger Deb said...
Or could you install bars on the outside of the windows...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yikes! That is scary! Praise God she is okay!! I have been debating what to do with my daughter's windows because she can open them this year and we are on the second floor. You can buy child-proofing stuff for windows...

Here's a link to an article with ideas. Click on "window guard" within the article. I am thinking of buying these for my daughter so I can still open the windows when it is hot.

Since it may take you awhile to get stuff because of where you live, maybe you can board them up temporarily - at least in her bedroom? Just screw some wood into the drywall so it makes bars along the bottom of the window. That is easily removable and would keep her safe until you have a more permanent solution.

http://www.babycenter.com/404_whats-the-best-way-to-childproof-our-windows_9441.bc

Blogger Kelly McClymer said...
One of my sons did this (with crank out windows). We unscrewed all the cranks -- and went without open windows for a while. PiA, but he's 21 now and no longer thinks he can fly.

Your windows look like you could put a springrod (like for curtains) on one side to prevent them from opening. If you put it high enough that Pineapple can't reach, but you can, you could even open the window a little sometimes by adjust the rod tension.

Good luck. I'm sure she'll grow out of it...eventually.

Sigh. Bright, determined children are the ones who age us most.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Child locks on the window. ASAP

Blogger Maggie said...
Oh my goodness. Are there any child safety locks you can install on the windows that would stymie her? That's terribly frightening.

If there's anything you can't buy there and is available here, let me know. I'm more than happy to pick it up and send it your way.

Blogger Rachael said...
You must figure out some sort of child safety lock! Yikes. That would give me nightmares.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
OMG!!! obviously something must be done immediately!!!

Blogger Elle said...
holy cow!

I'm going to go with child lock on this one too. If you can't find those find a really short screw curtain rod and put it at the top of the window where she can't yank it down. No curtain on it obviously. Kinda like the ol' stick in the slider trick, but up higher.

Blogger Kikilia said...
I wouldn't paint the windows shut but would get window locks that she couldn't open.

I'm sure there are many types of locks that would work.

In addition I'd try to make sure she knows that her "Santa" wouldn't want her to go out the window because she could get hurt and he'd be very sad. Yes, I know she's only 3... but it might help just a smidge.

There are also alarms you can put on the window. If it's opened a very loud alarm would go off- it would wake you and probably scare the dickens out of Piney. That might be all the 'encouragement' she needs never to open a window again.

I think you can get the alarms at any hardware store- or even dog store- sometimes alarms are used for dogs who get into the fridge...

Good luck and I'm so happy for you that she's okay.

Blogger Allison said...
Thank God she's ok. How frightening. You just never know what they'll do. Window locks and lots of reminder that its not safe to open and climb out the window.

Blogger Michele said...
Oh Em Gee!

My heart is my throat! I vote window guards and locks. In NYC (where I am from) window guards are required above the 2nd floor. I'm surprised that they didn't provide them considering you live on base.

So glad she's alright. You must have DIED when you saw her knocking on the balcony door!

Blogger Sally T. said...
Yep, I'd be locking the windows. The universe is sending you a message.

Not to be the grammar police, but it's Santa Claus (no E).

Blogger Melissa said...
holy crap. you better put some bars or serious locks on those. you might want her to speak to someone if she is jumping out windows to be with an imaginary friend. I would, just to be on the safe side

Blogger Queen of the House said...
OH MY GOSH!!!

I'm so glad she's okay. Was she upset at all? Perhaps it scared her enough so that she won't do it again? I know there is a company that makes babygates and they sell a window guard/gate too.http://www.onestepahead.com/product/osa/464.html Depending on how many windows you have, it could be very expensive... but then again you can't put a price on safety now can you.

((((HUGS)))) I'm sooooo glad she's okay.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Is there an IKEA in Korea? They have childproof windowlocks that doesn't destroy the windows.

Scary!! :o(

/Lotta

Blogger fuzzandfuzzlet said...
WINDOW ALARMS !

You can get them online for only a few bucks each, they are super simple to install. They provide double sided tape, but I bought my own stick on Velcro.