Busytown Mysteries: The Case of the Missing Monkey

Elisabeth seems to be obsessed with two things these days one is Busytown Mysteries (a show based on the books by Richard Scarry) and the other is her monkey.  

I say "her" monkey but really it was a new baby gift from the Lycan clan who brought it from South Africa when Jonah was born. It's one of those with long arms and legs and Velcro on the ends (though now the Velcro is so worn it barely sticks). We used it quite a lot when Jonah was a baby as it was easy to attach to strollers and shopping carts, but then he lost interest and it lived in toy bin until a few months ago.  

Elisabeth goes through periods of being attached to certain toys - usually dolls or stuffed animals. For a while she would take a rubber snake with her wherever she went, another time it was her baby doll, and so on. Well, at the moment her favorite toy is this monkey.

She seems to have developed an even more interesting relationship with the monkey over the past few weeks. She talks to it like it's a real person!  When we get home she will call out, "Monkey, where are you?" and run in search of Monkey. Then you can hear her saying, "Monkey, I found you!  Silly Monkey." She'll toss him up in the air as if he enjoys it. "Monkey likes bananas and lives in the jungle and at the zoo," she says educating me about her friend Monkey.


Then, three days ago, we lost Monkey!  They were playing outside on the ATV with daddy and she had Monkey then.  We couldn't remember for sure if Monkey made it back into the house, but I thought I remembered seeing him on the couch. Regardless, by bedtime, Monkey was nowhere to be seen.  Elisabeth kept asking, "Where's Monkey?" I searched upstairs and downstairs. I looked outside. No Monkey. She didn't cry or whine or freak out but she was sad. She frowned with a pouty bottom lip and cuddled her bunny (that she got from Boompah on her first Easter) and turned over and went to sleep. The first thing she said when she woke up the next morning was, "Where's Monkey?"  


For three days, we would periodically search for Monkey, to no avail.  I had looked every place I could think of that a two-year old might put a stuffed animal. Knowing how she has previously put her and Jonah's bunnies "to bed" in my closet, I knew to look in oddball places. I looked everywhere that I could think of. By this point I was thinking it was left outside near the golf course track and a dog picked it up never to be seen again.


Then, last night, I brought the kids hamper into my room to sort the laundry. I picked up some grey sweatpants of Jonah's that were heavy with something inside. I stuck my hand inside expecting to find a used pullup (he wears those to bed still) and lo and behold I pulled out a monkey!  



I peaked Monkey's head around the door frame of her room and made like Monkey was talking to her.  "Surprise - did you miss me?  I was hiding."  Elisabeth was beside herself with joy, "Monkey, I missed you."  She then began to yell to daddy that Monkey was found.


A few minutes later, I was downstairs where Jonah was watching a cartoon.  "Did you hear the news? We found Monkey," I told him.  "I know," he replied.  "Guess where I found him?" said I.  "In my sweat pants," said he.


So here is the real mystery. Did Jonah over hear me tell daddy where I had found Monkey or did he know this the whole time? This is one mystery I will probably never solve. But at least we found Monkey.