February 1st, 2005
The Lift and Careless Me
» motherhood
I did something horrible and nearly scared my heart out of my chest. It was really unintentionally, just too careless of me.
I am too used to pushing the baby in the stroller or carrying her on my waist.
After doing my grocery shopping, both of us were going home. The kid was heavy, so were the plastic bags of goodies from the supermarket. Since she could walk, I let her down at the lift lobby, and managed to entice her into the lift with me. The naughty girl probably thought the lift was very clean and decided to sit there. No amount of cajoling was able to make her stood up. I gave up and let her continued sitting there.
Soon we reached our floor; I told her to follow me (as if she understood my instruction) and then promptly walked out, took my keys and opened the door. It was then I heard her loud cries that I realised I forgot about her in the lift. She was trying to crawl out while the lift door was closing. Oh dear, the lift sensor was too high up to detect her. She was probably too tiny to withstand the closing door sensor too (the kind that retracts the doors upon hitting obstructions). I am not sure if she was hit by the closing doors at all, but thank God she wasn’t squashed by it. What a fright.
February 1st, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Ahhhh… you must be more careful. But this is a good reminder for me - I can’t wait for my baby to walk so that I don’t have to carry her and the groceries at the same time. Your story could have easily been mine.
There was an incident here in Tokyo early last year about a child who was crushed to death in a revolving door at Roppongi Hills, the newest and trendiest shopping centre in town. There aren’t revolving doors in Singapore, but the whole incident does serve to remind us that there really are dangers lurking everywhere!
February 1st, 2005 at 4:00 pm
hi Hui Leng, i tried to leave a comment in your earlier post but didn’t turn out. anyway, glad to chance upon your wonderful site which has a whole lot of great info helping us along the way with the experience you’ve had with Yauyau (good to have friends who are ahead of us in parenting!) also read your past entries, including our gathering at your place in Nov last year (your Jan 6 posting).
anyway, we’re going to be back for CNY. i think it’s a good idea to propose another gathering to celebrate Yauyau’s 1st birthday! God bless… -vincent
February 1st, 2005 at 4:27 pm
What a fright! Hope she’s ok now.
February 1st, 2005 at 5:51 pm
aiyoh!!! blur mama.. such an “important package” u can also forget ahhh??!
February 1st, 2005 at 6:09 pm
Really glad that Yauyau is alright. We have to constantly remind ourselves to be aware of dangers around and not take things for granted. Hope that it would’nt traumatise her in anyway.
February 1st, 2005 at 6:24 pm
Good to know the little girl is ok. That must have been frightening.
Of course when they start walking/running, there will be other dangers like running into a fountain and jumping in…
February 1st, 2005 at 11:37 pm
Thanks for all the concerns. She is definitely ok, must have forgotten about it by now.
I hope it serves as a good reminder for us parents to be mindful about lifts and doors in public areas, which are not very friendly to small children.