Cold Case Solved

Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief: Howl has been found! : )

Last night I was lying in bed, kind of obsessing about finding him. I think, at this point, I'm more nostalgic about Howl than Elsa is. After all, she was an adorable almost-2-year-old when she got him. He was really the first in a long line of smallish stuffed animals that she so loves. And there's his adorable, squeaky/whiny way of "talking," and all the trips he's gone on with us, and he recently went to school with Elsa for her class Pajama Party, where Elsa made a "quilt" just for him ... I really wanted to find him. And even though we'd pretty much torn apart that playroom looking for him, I still thought he just had to be in there somewhere.

So I laid in bed, trying to think of places I hadn't looked yet. Two ideas suddenly came to mind: The back pocket of the doll stroller (no luck), and the plastic Elmo purse (ding ding ding!).

Of course, I had searched for him in Elsa's purses right away. I looked in Blackie's purse, the monkey purse my mom made her, and all of her various holiday-theme bags (she has a lot of those—at least one for every holiday, I swear). But I realized I had somehow missed that plastic Elmo purse, which is really more of a baby toy than anything else (although Elsa does still use it). I hadn't seen the Elmo purse lately, so first I had to look for that, locating it in a bin of baby toys. I opened it up, and sure enough, there he was. Crammed in there, in a position that could not have been comfortable for an estimated three long weeks.

I feel a little silly because I definitely should have thought to look in the Elmo purse from the start. I kind of wish he had been in some crazy, whacked-out place that would justify his weeks-long disappearance. But the important thing is, Howl is back where he belongs! Whew! Elsa was so thrilled to see him this morning when she woke up, and has told me several times already this morning, "I'm so glad Howl's back."

Anyway, we'll be keeping better track of him going forward. Thank you all for your support during our family's trying time.