The Case of the Missing Porcelain

My cuddly little cub has officially entered the "prefers to walk, but is tragically unskilled" phase and has become a well-meaning but chaos-bent toddler. I, as his momma, have entered the days when I have to repeatedly remind myself that his curiosity and bold excitement are valuable characteristics even if he shows them by unpacking an entire Costco bag of wipes or reorganizing my pantry.

He often flees the scene before I can get a new diaper on him. He recently fell in his sister's bath, head-first, while I was watching. Last night, he and his unsuspecting Papa managed to do something fairly hilarious.

This is not an exact reconstruction of last night's events. These are merely the events as I recall them, retold in such a way as to make narrative sense to the reader.

The Case of the Missing Porcelain

"I went to the bathroom thinking one of the girls was in there, washing their hands or something because I could hear the water running." He said. But what he found was the Cub, who had, "turned the water on in the tub. But the tap handle was disassembled."

I went to the kids' bathroom to conduct my own quick search. I looked under the edge of the cabinets, behind the toilet, in the storage compartments of the step stools, and even fished in the bathtub drain until I determined that the ninety-degree bend in the pipe would have kept the porcelain handle from going out of view.

Papa said, "It could have gone down there."

"No. The bend is too sharp, and the handle is too long to turn down it. I'm more worried about... that." I said, as I looked toward the toilet.

Papa's eyes got wide with realization just before he admitted, "I flushed the toilet when I came in. Someone had used it and didn't flush."

So... without further investigation, I have to assume the porcelain segment of the bathtub tap handle is gone for good. Of course, it wouldn't be completely unprecedented for it to show up somewhere silly (In the case of the missing dog food bowl, it showed up in the kitchen cabinet).

It still works, it just looks ridiculous. Papa found the two metal pieces before he came to find me. Can you buy a replacement porcelain piece?