No Gremlins Here?

 A few weeks ago Alaina got a new pair of running shoes.

They were perfect for running around at the school, at the park, at the zoo . . . everywhere a girl needs to go.  Unfortunately, though, they went missing.

I looked all through the house, under couches and beds, through the closets, and behind anything I could think of.  My girls have a history of hiding special toys and stuffies in small places (and then forgetting where they are), but shoes are more difficult to hide, so I ran out of places to look pretty quickly.

To make the situation even more odd, we also couldn't find Alaina's sparkly dress shoes.

I went through the van--the trunk, under the seats, etc., then searched the backyard. 

The frustration of not being able to find something turned into a fear that I was losing my mind . . . and then a lost-mind kind of fear that maybe someone had been in our house . . . maybe one of those little gremlins that we'd read about in stories who like to play tricks on humans. . . .

It was in this state of mind that I declared to my three children: "Anyone who finds Alaina's shoes will get a PRIZE!"

The kids had seen me looking for the shoes over the past three days, and I'd asked them to help  many times.  I assumed if they'd had any information about the shoes' whereabouts they'd have come forward earlier.

Janae, however, perked up immediately when I said "prize."

"Could I have the Merida doll if I find them?" she asked.

Janae has been having a hard time staying at kindergarten, and her teacher had suggested a sticker chart leading up to inexpensive prizes Janae had chosen herself.

When I'd taken Janae to pick out some inexpensive prizes, the only thing she'd wanted was a somewhat expensive Barbie version of her current favorite princess.

In the end, I'd decided to just buy the doll and set up the chart. 

Anyway, desperate enough to throw the sticker chart to the wind, I said, "Yes . . . if you can find the shoes, you can have the doll."

Janae: "The shoes are in Alaina's Penny the Pig box."

Me: "What?  How come you didn't tell me earlier?"

Janae: "Can I have the Merida doll?"

Of course.

Later, after we'd confirmed that both pairs of shoes were--in fact--in Alaina's box, Janae claimed she hadn't known what shoes we were looking for until that point.



Still, the entire episode has left me a little unsettled. . . .