Searching for needles... part 2

I'm still a little in disbelief, but for different reasons than part 1 of this story...




Continuing my story yesterday... I asked Evan where the needles were.  Logical question, right?

WRONG!

4 year olds have no concept of truth.  The only concept they understand is "I'm probably in trouble."

Evan immediately thought he was in trouble when I asked him where the needles were. 

I put them on the stove, they were there when I put them in the house, there weren't there anymore the next time I came in the house.  Or were they?

The first thing Evan did after I asked him about the needles was walk over to the couch.  So, my first thought was he heard me talking about fixing the couch, so maybe he was going to try his hand at it first.  Risking life and limb (is that too dramatic?), I start digging my hand around in the exposed stuffing of the couch looking for these 2 needles that are missing.

Not there.

I ask him again, he starts walking back toward the bedrooms.  He tells me they are in the girls' room.

WHAT?!?!?!!?

I am trying my darnedest at this point to keep my cool, mostly fearing that someone's foot is what will ultimately find these needles, but when he told me they were in the girls' room, I about lost it entirely.  This is freaking me out.

WHERE in this room are they?

The beds?  The dresser drawers?  The carpet?  WHERE????

Not there.

So this is when I am wracking my brain trying to figure out when on earth Evan could have had time to open the package, pull the needles out, play with them, loose them, and come back out for our walk.

But it had to be him.  Dan didn't do it.  I didn't do it.  The package was closed.  Now it isn't.  The needles were there.  Now they aren't.

Then I remember Evan telling me he had to go to the bathroom before we went on our walk.  But was it before I put the needles inside?  Or after?

At some point during my interrogations, Evan tells me they are outside.

Dan was still home, so we went outside together to look.  On the driveway, right next to where Dan happened to park his truck, we found one.

One.

Where is the other?  Embedded in the tire, maybe?

Dan needed to leave, so I watched as he backed away and I didn't see it in the tire...  good news...

...but WHERE IS THE OTHER NEEDLE???!?!?!

So I went on grilling Evan.  Then I took his favorite toys away until we found the needle.  In hindsight, that seems like a horrible thing to do.  However, knowing my son the way I do, and knowing what motivates him, I knew that would keep his focus on helping me figure out where the other needle was.

Then Dan called me.  And asked if I was 4 years old, where would I put a needle that I knew I wasn't supposed to have?  Maybe in the bathroom?  Down the toilet?  

But then it was lunch time.  And nap time.  So we continued our routine, and I went into the bathroom with Evan and asked him again, trying REALLY hard not to ask him any of the leading questions that I'm pretty sure I was asking him all morning.  He said he didn't put it in the toilet. 

Then I blogged about the missing needles, still not knowing where the other needle was.

And I got a phone call.

That I didn't expect, but was unbelievably grateful for! 

The package of needles had already been opened!!

Of course it was!  My friend had just recently fixed her mattress... with the exact same needles!  Duh, Lori!

At this point I'm feeling a little ridiculous.  After all, I was CONVINCED the package was sealed shut.  And my memory is golden, right?

But WHERE is the other needle?!!?!!

Did it fall out in her house?  Her van?  The road?  My house?

The kids wake up, we start the search over.

Evan tells me the leprechaun took it.

Ok.  That's the universal sign for "I know I'm in trouble, so I'm going to blame those pesky leprechauns."
(quick back story on the leprechauns: St. Patricks Day celebration, preschool is trashed (on purpose), the teacher blames the leprechauns to be silly, now the leprechauns get blamed for EVERYTHING bad that happens in our house...)

So we look around the couch again, I pull the vents up by the couch and the kitchen door to look down them, I go back into the garage and driveway, I took Evan outside to look in the grass, NOWHERE!

I get a wonderful phone call.

Relief.  The needle.  Was found.  In her sewing kit.  On the tomato thing that holds needles not in use.


Now I feel REALLY ridiculous!  And awful, but relieved.  All at the same time.

I didn't even have a full package to begin with.  The one needle we found outside EASILY could have fallen out on my way into the house.

And. Evan. May. Never. Have. Touched. It.

When I told Evan we found the other needle... do you want to know what his FIRST response was?

"Can I have my toys back, please?"

The kid doesn't forget.

But the mystery will remain: Did he take the one needle outside?  Or did I drop it before it ever made it into the house?

I will never know, but I could swear it was there when I left it on the stove...

And we all know now how great my memory is...

Moral of the story:

     #1 ~ Never trust a 4-year-old.

     #2 ~ Never trust my memory.

     #3 ~ Never jump to conclusions ~ especially when a 4-year-old AND my memory is involved.