Sherlock lives here

We solved a mystery today.


This is big. Like, really big. You see, parenthood is full of mysteries, especially when it involves toddlers.

Said mysteries include but are not limited to:

• Why does the baby insist on being held nonstop except when I'm in the grocery store/restaurant/Old Navy/anywhere he absolutely cannot be set loose? 
• Why does the baby often refuse tasty, real food I have prepared for him, yet will always try to eat whatever he finds on the floor?
• Why won't babies leave on their socks?
• Why does the baby wait to poop until the instant after we've just gotten him freshly changed, dressed, bundled up, strapped into his car seat, and are backing out of the driveway? 
• Why does the baby only ask for his sippy cup the one time I accidentally leave it at home? (You can also substitute "have an explosive diaper the one time I forget to pack extra clothing" for this one.)
• Why does the baby take the longest nap in the history of his life the day you have to leave the house (and consequently wake him to do so). Alternately, why does he never sleep the days you're counting on it?
• What on earth is stuck in his hair/on his face/between the crevices of his chin fat?

And let's not forget:

• Was that baby spit-up/poop/random fluid from a baby's body in that conspicuous spot on my clothing the entire time I was out in public?

Our most recent mystery occurred every time we put Asa to bed or got him up. Anytime he was deposited in his crib, he would point - and I mean with gusto - to the opposite side of the room and whine. This is what's on that side of the room:

We had managed to narrow it down to this one bookshelf:

What would be your guess? Because honestly your guess would be just as good as ours.

So every time we put him down for a nap and every time we got him up, he pointed and jabbered about something over there. We started carrying him over to the bookshelf to see if it became clearer. It wasn't. We offered him books and stuffed animals. He accepted them until we put him back in his crib and then started with the pointing again. We did this over and over for days.

We usually gave up after a couple of halfhearted attempts.

But today, when Matt got Asa up from his nap, he carried him downstairs and declared, "I solved the mystery."

Do you see something else on those bookshelves??

Look closely...

He just wanted his Mickey Mouse ears. And yes, that is a tear still in his left eye from the emotional pointing he was doing just before Matt figured out what he actually wanted.

He wore those ears the rest of the afternoon. I am not kidding. I mean, just look at the joy on his face.

He kept touching them to make sure they were still on his head, too. There's Asher laughing in the background.

So there you go. Another mystery solved, folks.

Now if I can only figure out what's on my shirt...