Have you ever taken a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and the dryer to the basket and found one sock missing? It is great. It gives me the opportunity to be thankful for at least having one sock when so many people around the world don't even have shoes. It also allows me to wear mismatch socks on occasion and see if anyone will notice throughout the day.
About 5 months ago, our household started noticing a problem. Spoon supplies. Yes, spoon supplies. We had an enormous amount of spoons because of the three younger kids. Forks are pointy and when the children are younger I rest easier knowing that the spoon is safer than a fork. On those occasions when the kids get to eat in front of the TV, having a fork can be very dangerous. Have you ever seen the reaction of young kids when that tune reaches their ears, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family..." ugh, purple dinosaurs I am no fan of. However, their reaction could send that fork through the air, into their own flesh, into the flesh of a sibling, etc. Danger indeed. So we use spoons for the most part.
Our youngest, 2 years old, has taken a special liking to peanut butter. Not on bread, or crackers, or celery, or apples, but on "swpoon." I feel guilty sometimes just getting a scoop of peanut butter and handing it to him, but there are plenty of worse parental crimes against humanity like Coke replacing juice for breakfast every now and then (don't tell Dr. Heard, if she asks, I don't know anything). But peanut butter is pretty healthy and a great source of protein. I remember my teacher days when I would mix my yogurt and peanut butter for a between passing periods snack. But where the heck are all the spoons going?
My wife and I figured it must be some kind of Spoon Monster that lives in the dishwasher. "Two men enter, one man leave" was going motto of the spoon. But something happened. Something I cannot fully explain. I noticed. I began to notice that these vanishing spoons were not even making it to the sink. The little buster would finish his peanut butter spoon and we would tell him to go take it to the sink. We would hear the "clink, clink" like the famous game on the Price is Right, Plinko.
I grew up watching the Price is Right and playing spy in the front yard. I climbed the trees and sat still while neighbors passed by and I was unnoticed. I am sure they were just playing along. But, I used that spy training and one day followed the little hobbit into the kitchen.
Thinking he was going to take the peanut butter covered spoon to the sink, his peanut butter covered self went straight to the trash can and the utensil was on its way to Spoordor; the "one sping" was heading into the black hole of Mt. Spoon.
This answered the mystery that my wife and I had been trying to solve. Good thing, because contacting Robert Stack was next on the list.
I don't know how many spoons had met their doom, but I figure it must be around 30 or so. It was a drip by drip type thing. Slowly over four months, the tens of spoons made their way to the city dump. Now, when he is finished with his peanut butter on spoon, we listen very carefully for the "clink, clink." If we don't hear it, we know exactly where to look for it and hopefully it is not sitting on the latest deposit of the dirty "One Diaping" on its way to Mt. Poo!
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I will warn baby's great-grandma about the spoons. She may not have peanut butter though! :D
September 29, 2010 at 1:36 p.m.@Grim, or a metal detector out on the way to Bloomington! Thanks for reading and commenting.
@KyleC, Maybe I needed a sign on the trashcan, "You shall not pass!."
Thanks for the comment.
@victoriabybirth, wow, eating butter on the spoon, if allowed when I was little, I probably would have done the same. I was known to mayo out of the jar! Thanks for reading and commenting.
@Rebecca, cute. It is a good problem to have, a child learning to cleanup after himself is important. Thanks for the comment and readership!
September 29, 2010 at 7:31 a.m.I have found my good plates in the trash. I guess that's what happens when I switch from paper plates to the good breakable plates - poor baby gets confused on how to clean up after himself.
September 28, 2010 at 9:22 p.m.We had the same problem with forks. We couldn't figure out what was happening to them..then one day as we were cleaning out the fridge it dawned on us....take out containers! Me & my daughter were bad about leaving them in the container & putting it in the fridge for later, of course later never comes & to the trash they went!
Don't feel guilty about him eating peanut butter that way, my granddaughter eats butter that way! It drives me crazy, but she looovvveeesssss butter....ew.
September 28, 2010 at 8:41 p.m.One Spring to bring them all and in the trashcan bind them.
September 28, 2010 at 11:37 a.m.heh
One Spring to find them :P
September 28, 2010 at 11:33 a.m.