Knobs and Switches and Katie, Oh My!

[billroper]

When I got home yesterday, daisy_knotwise let me know that Katie had distinguished herself by turning off the air conditioner at the switch in the basement. It's the same switch that she previously used to turn off the furnace. But the good news was that Gretchen had detected the problem when the house started to feel warm and had gone downstairs and turned the switch back on, so we had a working air conditioner by the time I got home.

I got up early this morning to go to work, as Gretchen has an appointment to have her blood drawn and Katie has an appointment to have her stitches out. I turned on the shower to heat up while I took my morning regimen of pills, then stepped in to discover that things were not very warm. I turned the handle all the way to hot and got sort of lukewarm, suggesting to me that there was a problem with the hot water heater and I was now working with fossil hot water -- that is, whatever heat was left in the tank.

I went downstairs after showering and getting dressed and took a look at the heater. The status light wasn't blinking, which I took as a bad sign. And the control knob on the front was distinctly not at the right setting. I decided to call the warranty number on the tank. While I was talking to the fellow there, I realized that the fact that the light wasn't flashing simply meant the pilot was out. Which would go along with the fact that the knob had been twisted to the off position.

So I thanked him, hung up the phone, and followed the procedure on the side of the tank to relight the pilot.

Whoosh! And once again, men make fire.

The water was probably not very warm by the time Gretchen needed to take her shower.

But it was progress.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any good way to Katie-proof these knobs and switches.

She and I are going to have a discussion later. *sigh*

Comments

[bedlamhouse]

Cover the furnace/AC switch with duct tape. That should hold her until she's past the stage where she doesn't quite understand not to do things just because she is told to.

The rotary on the water heater I don't know. Duct tape might work there as well, if nothing else to make it not look like a knob to turn.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

There are wall switch covers you can buy at your local home improvement store that can block key switches from being thrown.

The advertisement I saw was for computers that were plugged in on the wall outlet that matched a switch right by the entry door. The covers can be modified to block one or two of a panel of switches.

Good luck!

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

We used to Jamie-proof switches with duct tape....

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

Ah, you've got an engineer on your hands! Good luck!

[mbcrui.livejournal.com]

Are they in a place you can put a baby pen around them?

http://www.target.com/Summer-Infant-Surround-Sound-Play/dp/B000G1YW98/sr=1-6/qid=1247587386/ref=sr_1_6/181-5486928-5749538?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=0&rh=k%3Ayard%20baby&page=1

My sister has put her parrot (and cage) in one of these. Saves little fingers from bites and saves the bird from unnecessary hassle.

[billroper]

That's a possibility, but not particularly convenient, as that little hall is the main access to the laundry room. We'll see. We have the pen...

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Maybe what you need to do is use that duct tape on Katie's fingers.

[scs-11.livejournal.com]

Our Katie did the same. Duct tape did the job pretty much as bedlamhouse suggests.

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

Myself? I have found that the words "NO TOUCH!" barked sharply enough will often effect a cure. Further repetitions are backed by a smack on the hand and/or butt as required.

My Father-In-Law once told me that the pain receptors on a child's butt are directly linked to the obedience center of their brain. I find that after having two children, I agree with him.

[billroper]

Katie and I are going to go down to the basement soon and have a careful discussion of not touching those particular switches and knobs. We'll see how it goes.

Katie really doesn't like getting swatted on the butt, even when it isn't hard enough to hurt. It's more the knowledge that Daddy is really, really upset with what she's just done.

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

NO kid LIKES getting swatted on the butt - that's why it's a good deterrent, assuming you actually DO it once in a while to remind them why they hate it.