oh!!! lets play !!!

ever since i purchased my daughter a cell phone, she's developed a new game that we play on at least a weekly basis .. the game?
"find the cellphone"

i've played it long enough to know the rules .. when the phone has gone MIA, it was either stolen by a stranger or i moved it to a place she can't find it

take last weekend .. we went shopping with and brought along one of her friends .. after shopping we stopped for a quick bite to eat .. after leaving the restaurant, now just a few blocks from home, she begins looking for her phone .. then remembers her friend borrowed it at dinner so its still sitting on the table .. thankfully it was turned in safely to the manager

a few hours later she and her friend decide to walk down to the local market .. within minutes of her returning home, i get a call from the market manager .. he had found her cell phone in the parking lot and decided to call "mom" on her phone in an attempt to locate the rightful owner of the cellphone

she usually isn't that lucky with people turning in her phone .. the one she has now is probably #5 or even maybe #6

in an act of unexpected maturity, the last time her phone was lost, she confided in me .. "mom .. i don't think i should be getting another cell phone until i learn not to lose it" .. i couldn't have said it better myself

so earlier this week when she discovered her cell phone was once again missing and deciding that someone must have stolen it from her backpack at school, she didn't insist that we run out immediately and purchase a replacement phone

which means she uses MY cellphone .. i wandered around yesterday looking for my cellphone .. unable to find it, i asked her where she put the phone .. of course she gets that look on her face .. the one that says "why are you asking ME?!?" .. a quick call to my cellphone and i trace the sound to underneath her bed .. good place for my phone eh .. at least its better than being in the parking lot of the grocery store

now mind you, i'm not complaining .. for several very good reasons:
#1 it doesn't do any good

#2 in a few short years she'll be heading off to college and i'm going to long for the days my young daughter and i spent playing "find the cell phone"

#3 it doesn't do any good
#4  she's slowly realizing on her own that she is ultimately responsible for the location of her cell phone

#5 it doesn't do any good

#6 her inability to learn the "cellphone responsibility" lesson is overshadowed by her recent attempts to take care of her room and clothes .. every sunday evening she washes her own laundry and leaves a note for me asking me to be sure and dry her clothes when i wake up in the morning

as it was this morning ..

after i loaded up her laundry into the dryer, i heard an unmistakable "ka ka plunk .. ka ka plunk" .. and i've done enough laundry to know that is NOT the sound of wet laundry rolling around in the dryer

opening the dryer, i retrieve her long lost cellphone .. wet but clean .. the same cellphone that "MUST have been stolen from her backpack at school"

and apparently, its still in working condition

i win the latest round of "find the cellphone" .. do i get a prize?