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Lindsay Metcalf
on Jun 19 2013 - 06:00 AM
My top five most important moments of the summer so far
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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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But before we get to that, here are a few questions for you: If you were a 3-year-old, where would you hide said keys? In the closet? Under the bed? In the backyard?
Well, this is the game being played at our house these days. And these aren't just any old keys we're looking for, but keys to our old car sitting in our driveway just waiting to be sold.
People are calling, wanting a look at a cheap old Volvo that still looks pretty good. Just recondition a cylinder and patch an oil leak and it'll run pretty good. At least for awhile. (But, hey, it's cheap!!)
Trouble is, you gotta have the actual key to start it up.
Seems toddler is the only one who knows where the key -- and its spare -- is.
Now, to toddler's credit, we (OK, actually my husband) left the two keys on the table with the car title and paperwork. A guy named Hugo said he might come over to see it Thursday night and husband wanted everything ready in case the car went quick.
Well, Hugo never showed up and the keys stayed on the table (Stupid parents, stupid parents). Two shiny keys just daring our little one to pick them up and play with them.
Next day, husband went to get the keys, and they're gone.
Now our house looks like the FBI has just served a search warrant, with toys strewn everywhere, cushions pulled from the couch in the basement, trundle beds still not pushed all the way back in. And still, no keys.
Just last night, husband had to tell three people on the phone how he'd love to show them the car, if only he had a key to start it up with. You just know those people think we're crazy. Sure, the toddler hid them, right...
So I decide I'm going to play the talented child psychologist, kind of like the guy on Law and Order who always seems to break the kids. Just get down on their level, they'll answer all of your questions.
Not as easy as it looks.
"Honey, I love playing with those two keys, where do you like to play with them?" I ask youngest.
"I can't play with them," he says, "because they're lost."
Good point. I try again.
"I know, but how did they get lost?" I say.
"You lost them. You can't find them."
See what I mean. Not easy.
"But when you played with them a few days ago, where did you play with them?"
"I think they are outside."
So we scour the backyard. Dig where he always digs, get on all fours and comb the grass in front of the swingset. Husband goes through the garden, looking plant by plant.
We go back to toddler, asking where else he played with the keys.
"In Nana's room."
Are you getting the picture? Do you understand why it looks like the FBI's been here?
We've search now for almost 12 hours and we're about insane.
Toddler now says T-Rex ate them. They're in his belly.
Can you believe I thought about cutting poor T-Rex's belly open? Until I realized the dang dinosaur's mouth doesn't even have an opening.
Oh brother.
Looks like we'll never sell the dang car.
Ahhh the memories. We have a moonshine jug (that actually held moonshine back in the day--my grandfather was a bootlegger in West Virginia) that sat on our hearth. When Baby Daughter was little she would stash stuff in there. Never keys, but the thing that sticks in memory most is a very expensive tie of Hubby's. It was always our go to spot when something was missing. Good luck on your search!DD was a key hider. One day I got in the junk drawer and dug out all the old keys we still had. I was going to make her a set of her very own. She watched me fir awhile then took off and came back with my spare car keys that had been missing for a month. She never did tell me where she hid them....My kids just like to push the buttons on the keys to make the alarm go off on the truck! So you always know when one of them has gotten a hold of the keys! Good luck in your search!! I hope that he isn't into flushing things!I'm so sorry AND I'm laughing! Brilliant idea, jshaw, by the way. Try that one, Laura, and let us know what happens. "First one to find the keys gets an ice cream cone!" If that doesn't work, maybe bug'smom's idea will. Good luck!
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