I’m sure you all know the feeling… close to despair, kind of in a panic, wishing you could just *REMEMBER* where the heck you put that thing you lost. Or like me, in this instance, wishing you never actually handed the keys to your 20-month-old toddler – stupid, stupid, stupid!

My child is obsessed with keys. So at 8:30am this morning when he was whining and saying “keys, keys, keys, keys” over and over again… I gave them to him. I remember thinking “this probably isn’t the best idea you’ve ever had.” I forgot about it and went about my morning getting Jackson’s things together for “library time” at 10:30am down the street at the Kihei Library (yes people still go to the library! lol). At about 10:15am I started to get his drinks & snacks out of the fridge. I always leave at 5 til – don’t want to get there too early and have Jackson wreak havoc on the library before they begin and don’t want to show up too late where you’re “that mom” – the one that’s always late.
 

 
That’s when I discovered I didn’t know where my car keys were. At first, I didn’t even remember I had given them to him. I searched the usual suspects – purse, kitchen counter, jewelry studio, workspace, bedside, bathroom counter… nothing. Jackson knew we were about to leave and started saying “keys, keys, keys, keys” – lightbulb! Oh yeah… JACKSON has them!
 

“Jackson tell mommy where you put the keys… can you show me?”
 

“Keys, keys, keys, keys!” – Jackson’s only response. Dang it. This was not going to work.
 

I did a sweep of the room, living room and stairs (Jackson’s “new thing” is throwing things down the stairs) – plenty of stuff in all places, but no keys. Maybe there’s a spare? Nope. We already lost the first set of keys. You guessed it, in the very same way! They became a toy and then suddenly, like magic, disappeared. A few days ago I made Jackson his own “real” set of keys – he can tell if they are “fake” keys. We brought them on an outing with us and they were thrown on the floor – of you guessed it – the locked car! Okay, so there’s no way we’re going to the library.
 

Now that I had resigned myself to the fact that Jackson would not be getting an organized, educational, group outing today – it was time to get down and dirty. I went through his ENTIRE room. Refolded all of his clothing (in case he stuffed it in a drawer), changed his sheets (in case they were hiding in a fold somewhere or under the crib), rearranged all of his toys (opening each and every cavity), removed everything from his closet, emptied his indoor tent (to lift it up and look under). NOTHING.
 

Thank goodness I keep the door to the bathroom and our room closed and the cabinet door to the trash has a child safety lock. I still checked all of those places but it was very unlikely that he flushed the keys down the toilet or threw them in the trash. So next was the living room… I started in one corner and worked my way around the room. Opened every cabinet and drawer, pulled all of the chairs and couches out to look under them. Removed all of the cushions… what a disaster! <Jackson seemed to think it was funny – not amusing. Well kind of… I mean how can you resist that laughter?>
 

I was about to start on the kitchen when my eye caught a little fold in the splat mat under Jackson’s high chair.
 

Somehow Jackson had hid not only the keys, but a (rather large) board book under the splat mat! By now it was 11:30am – we had to blow off the library, Jackson is in kind of a funky mood without his activity of the day, BUT my house is a lot more organized.  Silver lining people! Silver lining! Boy, Life’s Swell, isn’t it? Have a happy day everyone!
 

 
PS- Thanks for all of your advice on where to look on my FB page! It helped me to get organized and think like a keiki (kid)