Lost At Home

It's amazing how many people have accidentally washed and dried crayons and, thankfully, the number of solutions seem endless (everything from toothpaste to WD-40). I tried rubbing alcohol and a citrus solvent...neither of which did much to clean the sea of blue...but I have had some luck with nail polish remover... think I'll get more agressive tomorrow with some other things people have tried.

I dread having to intricately search each piece of clothing before putting it in the washer, but Alex is such a pack rat these days, there's no telling what that girl has stashed...and where! Speaking of stashed, I have a feeling she's behind the second serious disappearance of Little Lightning...he's been gone for three days now...

Little Lightning is Max's favorite toy at the moment. Little Lightening McQueen that is. He loves the movie Cars. (It was the first movie he ever saw in the theater. Dan took him to the late show one night after Max took some gargantuan afternoon nap and wasn't going back to bed any time soon. Dan said it was a riot watching him with his soda and popcorn trying to stay in the chair that kept spitting him out. He was apparently an amazingly captive audience...especially with the sound booming all around.) ANYWAY, he calls him 'little' because he also has a BIG Lightning McQueen that once held bath bubbles and a smaller version found in a McDonald's Happy Meal. The Hotcar-like-LM is thus the littlest. At least that's what I think. Actually, he probably has a much more profound reason....

So one thing is for sure: Little Lightening is currently lost in the house somewhere. Dan and I have done a thorough search and so far he has eluded us. It doesn't help that it's difficult to pinpoint his last whereabouts. All Max could contribute after an exhaustive interrogation was: "I really don't know, Mommy, but we really need to find him." Having a 3 year old try to help you find what they've lost is like... well, I can't think of anything right now, but let's just say it's borderline ridiculous. It's very sad though, especially when Max wants to use the bathroom (he likes lots of company)... or goes somewhere... goes to bed... "I want my Little Lightening, Mommy!" "He's lost, Max, we can't find him." "Well, we have to go look for him." "There have been many search parties, Max. None of which you have helped with I might add and we just can't seem to locate your friend. Maybe we can look for him again later." "Okay. But we have to look for him later because we have to find him."

If any of my past finds are any indication, Little Lightening could be lost for a very long time. A couple a months ago I finally found the H and the T. They were missing for almost a year or something. I found them in my toothbrush cup. (No judgements. It stays very clean.) This is where Alex comes in. She's at that stashing age! She could have happened upon Little Lightening while crawling the floors and in her astute sensibility, snatched him up before someone turned their head.....only to then sneak him behind the can of beans, in the dirt of a potted plant, in the trash, with the fruit in the refrigerator (strawberries are red - lightening is red), or maybe, in her 15 month old wisdom, she placed him back in the little parking garage... with all of the other little cars. I'm not sure if I did check there...I bet he's in the elevator...