The Case of the Missing Shoes

Last night I was sitting on the couch with my feet up, trying to keep Alaina from crawling all over me. So I set her to work, putting away things. Her favorite chore right now is putting things in the trash. Her second favorite is putting away MY stuff. So I asked her to put my sandals in my closet.

These are the black flip-flop type sandals I wear every day. They are dear to me. And this morning I couldn't find them. They were not in my closet.

Once I asked her to put away my shoes and found them in my clothes hamper. So that was the first place I looked...not there.

So I went to get her out of her room this morning, and thought maybe she put them with HER sandals. She's very good about putting her shoes where they belong when I ask her to. But alas, my sandals were not with her sandals.

She does have two hiding spots that I always seem to forget about. Checked them both, both were empty.

Now, our apartment is not that big, and is relatively clean (for the most part.) I have my piles and stashes, but they are all up on counters that Alaina can't reach, so I knew they had to be somewhere low to the ground. I grunted my way onto all fours and looked under beds and dressers to no avail. So I decided to look in the closet again.

I admit it...I have a shoe organizer that I don't really use. Scratch that; I use it only for the shoes I am not currently wearing. The shoes that I wear most frequently are in a pile in front of the shoe organizer so I can just slip them on without having to get them out of their little cubby hole. Anyway, my sandals just weren't in the pile. I dug through it several times. So I crouched down and began to look in each of the cubbies...

...and lo and behold, there were my sandals! Both of them! In the same cubby! Not only had she taken my shoes to the closet like I asked, but she put them AWAY away, where they belonged.

She puts things away....I put things in piles. I might have to have her do all the picking up around here from now on.