The Alex and Amelia mysteries

Alex knew this would be a tricky case. Every time he and Amelia tried to get close to it, one of the parents would step in and impede their investigation.

The item in question was a drink that mommy and daddy would both have on occasion. It looked a lot like his grape juice, but they always drank it in these clear glasses that started wide on the bottom, got super skinny in the middle, and widened out again at the top where the juice was.

Amelia tried to use her charms to get a sampling. By pointing and asking, she’d managed to sample different kinds of cheese, chicken nuggets, macaroni, bread with cream cheese, and on and on. But not in this case. Their refusal to let either kid try it only piqued their curiosity.

So, with some clever cunning, Alex and Amelia coordinated Operation Juicegrab. They had to wait for one of  the parents to be out of the picture, so both could focus on just a single one. At last, after waiting for brutally long three days, one evening daddy went downstairs to work on his computer, leaving mommy alone sipping from the funny glass on the couch. Alex and Amelia put their plan into action.

Alex cautiously made his way to the nursery, just beyond the living room, trying to act casual. Once there, Amelia took her place near the couch. The plan was for Alex to make a noise, mommy would put the glass down to check on him, leaving it free for Amelia to grab and crawl away with it.

At the signal, Alex cried out. Sure enough, mommy got up to check on him, but placed the glass on the counter, not the end table. Amelia scooted over as quickly as she could, pulled herself up, and reached out as far as she could, but the glass was too far away. She called to Alex to come help her.

Alex raced out of the room, saw the situation, and made a break for the glass. But, mommy emerged from the nursery with a puzzled look on her face. She saw where Alex was headed and took off in hot pursuit.

Alex leaned into the sprint, making every moment count. He was 8 feet from the glass! 4 feet! 1 foot!

But mommy caught him as his fingers brushes the clear, smooth texture. The glass tipped, and the juice sloshed around inside, but then settled as mommy reached out to steady it.

Both were heartbroken at the failure of the plan. Mommy looked at them both, still more puzzled. Then, daddy came upstairs to help put them to bed.

CASE: UNSOLVED

The Alex and Amelia mysteries

“Stairs! The Final Frontier! These are the adventures of Amelia Rose. Her one year old mission, to explore where she can’t get to. To seek out new toys and new things to chew on. To bravely go everywhere she’s seen her brother go before!”

Occasionally, Alex and Amelia’s Daddy would say this, or things like it when carrying Amelia around. Now that she could crawl, he didn’t carry her as much, so she didn’t hear it as often, but she still needed help with the stairs. But she did not understand why he said these things.

Alex had similar stories from when he was smaller. There were times that Daddy would be changing a dirty diaper and say, “In the words of JFK son, ‘Ask not what your diaper can do for you. Ask what you can do, in your diaper!’”

Daddy always had satisfied look when he said these things, believing them to be very clever, but Alex and Amelia simply found them cryptic. After comparing notes for several months, they arrived at the only logical conclusion: Dad is weird.

CASE: SOLVED

The Alex and Amelia mysteries

For a long time now, Alex was the primary investigator, with Amelia providing assistance, mostly in the form of determining what was and was not edible. But now, she could truly say they were partners.

Amelia could crawl.

No longer bound to the limitations of dad showing up to move her in for a closer look, Amelia could finally approach mysteries. Literally.

Her big break came with the appearance of the bag left on the floor. She’d seen her mother with it many times, usually when they were out, and from that bag came the most marvelous things.

Alex was not around, so she had to take this one on solo. Steeling her resolve, Amelia crawled over to the bag and began to examine its contents.

The findings were amazing. There was a treasure of wonders to behold. She pulled out a heavy black object that would occasionally ring, chirp, buzz, and glow. She pulled out an even heavier, smaller bag that was rolled up with lots of colorful plastic cards and some green paper with funny pictures on it. As she unrolled it, a little side pocket came open and small metal discs rolled out, making a wonderful sound as they hit the ground and rolled away in every direction. She pulled out a tissue. Then another. Then another. Peering in, Amelia found a little pouch full of tissues. Excitedly, she pulled them all out. She found a little plastic cylinder she’d seen mommy apply to her lips on occasion. She found bags of snacks that mommy would give her, but she couldn’t get them open. She could tell this was all only the top layer…

But then, disaster! Dad showed up, made a face, and pulled Amelia away right in the middle of her investigation. He picked up all of the things Amelia had found and returned them to the bag, except for the tissues, which he stacked up and placed on the counter, and hung the bag on the wall out of reach.

Amelia was crestfallen. Her first solo investigation, and dad ruined it! But then, dad picked her up carried her over to her favorite stuffed puppy dog toy. Within moments, the hurt went away and Amelia found herself laughing again.

CASE: UNSOLVED