You honestly can't make this stuff up.
husband took the kids out to run errands yesterday. I stayed behind to get ready for an outing with my mom. The gang got back just as I was headed out the door. easy child was distraught and crying because she had taken her beloved pet alligator lizard Gibble with her and it crawled into the defroster vent on the top of the car dashboard!
She had set her down there for a second to grab a cricket she'd dropped (they were on their way back from the pet supply store for crickets).
husband said they stopped at a car repair shop to see if they could help, and they sent him to the Ford dealer but their service dept. had closed just 20 min. earlier. They showed him how to at least get the glovebox safely lowered, but that wasn't really very helpful in this situation.
I went outside with all of them to see what could be done. husband, being the reactionary head case that he is, was frantic and barking orders at everyone, which got all three kids wound up. He's trying to dismantle the dashboard (I surprised with his luck he didn't detonate the air bag).Next thing I know, difficult child 1 and 2 are fighting and coming to blows, easy child is yelling at me, and husband is yelling at all of us in the middle of the driveway (I can only imagine what the guy across the street was thinking while he was standing in his garage watching the drama unfold).
I sent the difficult child's to their rooms, briefly consoled easy child and helped husband get our EZ-Up canopy over the hot car so the critter wouldn't bake inside. Then I left.
I called a few hours later to check in -- husband said easy child had been crying for about two hours. Gibble had popped her head up out of the vent briefly when easy child was standing guard in the car, and easy child tried unsuccessfully to grab her.
So today we are looking at another marathon stake-out until this reptile decides to crawl out. And if it doesn't come out today, it's looking like husband will be taking my car to work tomorrow. But at some point this creature has to come out. I put a tiny bowl of water on top of the dash in hopes of luring it out. easy child said she'd just fed her a cricket before she crawled away, so hunger is not going to be a motivator for a while.
Any suggestions?