Why DO they paint fire alarms red??

Last Friday Jay and I spent the morning with my friend Jessica at a pottery painting store. I bought a plate just for Jay to decorate and he had a blast doing it. But needless to say, Jay finished his painting pretty quickly like any other little boy would've. So he started to play with the toys that they have there at the shop. But, again, like any other little boy, he quickly got bored of those toys. A few minutes later I look down at him, sitting on the floor next to me, still surrounded by all the toys he was playing with ... but now playing with my phone. Now, my phone has 3 options when it's locked: "UnloIck", "Emergency Call" and "Cancel". When I got a hold of my phone, Jay was on attempt 3 of 10 trying to unlock it. I took my phone away and told him to play with the other toys he had right there and didn't think much else of it. A few minutes later though I got a phone call, and all the caller ID said was "253", which is our area code. At first I wasn't going to answer it, but then thought better of it and decided to answer. Thank goodness I did! 

Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hi, this is 911 Emergency. We have a call from this number, do you have an emergency?"
Me: Looking at Jay, "No, I'm sorry, my son must've pushed the Emergency button when he had
        my phone and I didnt know it. I'm so sorry"
911: "Ok, no problem. Just try to keep your phone away from your son from now on"


Lol. Needless to say I am now keeping a closer eye on my phone!!


Also, on the same Friday, my parents offered to take Jay and I with them out to dinner on their weekly Friday Date Night. My mom needed to stop at Target for a few things so my dad said he would drop us off at the front door and then he and Jay would run up to the dry cleaners to drop off his coat and then be back to pick us up. Well, a few minutes turned into 20 or 30 minutes and we were still waiting for my dad to come back. We both then realized that her cell phone was in the car and my cell phone was at home still on the window sill. So my mom said she would stand by the front door and wait for my dad while I went to customer service and called my dad. (let me quickly add, that my moms car has a "keyless" starter. All she needs to have with her is a little key chain and she can lock, unlock and start the car. If the car is running and the key chain leaves the perimeter of the car, it will still run until the car is shut off, and then it can't re-start without the key chain)


Dad: "Hello?"
Me: "Hey dad, where are you?"
Dad: "Oh, we're still at the dry cleaners"
Me: "Oh, ok ..."
Dad: "mom has the key in her pocket so I can't start the car"
Me: *laughs* "ok, we'll walk up there"
Dad: "oh wait, there's more"
Me: "Oh no, what?"
Dad: "Jay pulled the fire alarm and now theres fire trucks and firemen all over"
Me: "Oh crap! are you kidding!?"
Dad: *Laughing* "nope. dead serious"
Me: "Ok, we'll be right there"


So, quickly, my mom and I walk over to the dry cleaners (which is only about a 5 minute walk away) and sure enough, there are two fire trucks and a WHOLE LOT  of firemen standing around. When Jay sees me he yells "Mommy!" and comes running up to me. I picked him up and first thing he says is "Mommy! Firemen! Fire truck!" And I say in the most deep, serious tone I can muster "Jay, what did you do??" and he looks at me, points to the fire alarm and says "no no no" while shaking his head and finger. The fireman that was in the store was still talking to the store owner so I patiently and very nervously waited for him to finish talking with her. When he finally finished I said "Hi, ummm ... sooo, it was my son that pulled the alarm ..." and he says "Ooooh, hes your son huh??", I swear, I must've turned 30 shades of red, lol. And then he started laughing. I asked if I had to pay for it to get re-set or turned off or anything and he said no and then explained to me that everything was fine and that it happens quite often. My dad later told me that when the alarm started to sound Jay looked SO surprised and his eyes got all big and he just stood there, not knowing what to do, lol. This building also has 2 banks, a nail salon, a hair salon and a wireless phone company in it. And I couldn't help but imagine all those people in the middle of manicures/pedicures, getting their hair cut or even dyed, having to evacuate the building, in the rain. I must say though, the thought did make me giggle a little, hehe.

 To this day I still can't believe he did that. Why DO they paint fire alarms red, the most intriguing color for a little 3 year old!? lol.