My Little Thief

Last night Johnny's stuffed monkey disappeared. 

He takes that thing EVERYWHERE, so there was NO reason why it went missing. It sits at the dinner table with him. We checked there. Nope. We retraced Johnny's whereabouts since he last saw his monkey. We searched every room, top floor to bottom floor at least 3-4 times. 

There was only one explanation for the disappearance of his beloved monkey: 

Lily. 

I asked her if she hid his monkey somewhere. "I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe." It was the "maybe" that caught my attention, because she said it in a sing-songy way...as in "I should feel guilty about this, but I really don't, and I'm having fun watching you all frantically search for Johnny's toy."

I asked her where she may have hidden it. "I don't know." She acted like she wasn't sure if she hid it or not, so I wasn't sure I should be accusing her at that point. Finally after 20 minutes of us looking, I looked at Johnny, who was laying in bed, so tired, but wanting his poor stuffed animal, and I said, "Buddy, do you think you could do without it just one night?" Choking back tears he said, "I don't know, maybe." He began twirling his hair, looking off to the side, tears started welling in his eyes...and I knew I was going to tear that house apart until I found that monkey.

I looked at Lily, who was trying to go to sleep so she could torment her brother a little longer. I just looked right into her eyes and said, "Spill it girl. That monkey doesn't go missing unless someone hid it. Where did you hide it?"

"Maybe it's in the sun room behind the door."

You've got to be kidding me. 

Hubby and I went downstairs and there it was, right where she hid it. Of course my husband thinks her devious ways are hilarious. 

Johnny completely lit up when he saw monkey, and Lily sighed in disgust because she got busted. I made her say sorry, although I think she was just sorry she got caught.

So then the discussion started with hubby...what are the next two going to be like?

Sheesh.