Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Basement Monsters

We have this puzzle from Melissa & Doug

It is a puzzle that makes sounds - i.e. the fish makes bubbles, the cat meows- you get the picture. It is in Micah's toy pile in our lower level. Each night the last person to come upstairs has to turn off all the lights. Invariably, when we turn out the lights, one of the sounds from the puzzle would come to life - usually the bubbles, which can actually sound very scary when you aren't expecting it. I think I almost cried the first time it happened - surely there must be a ghost in the basement who sounds like bubbles, right? I finally realized it was the puzzle - and that this ghost just must like to play with the puzzle the minute we turned out the lights. So, I would turn them off and bolt up the stairs two at a time followed by, "MEOW... MEOW."

I FINALLY figured it out - because I am so smart - it is the LIGHTS! This puzzle makes the sounds when the piece is returned to the puzzle - the chip underneath recognizes that it goes dark when the piece is placed in the right spot and makes the noise. So, it turns out we do not have a puzzle-playing ghost, or basement monsters who like kittens. Thank goodness.

P.S. I am only telling you this because you may have this puzzle too and you are currently being terrorized by it as we were. It's a public service announcement, if you will.

19 comments:

  1. you are such a hoot! thanks for the PSA! job well done! :)

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  2. This post made me laugh. I have experienced the same thing with toys going off in the dark. I am a total chicken and always get freaked out. I can remember hearing toys go off on the baby monitor and running into the room thinking someone was in there with the baby. Yeah, I am a freak.

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  3. OMG, I laughed at this too. It's good to know this stuff though, as I'm a bit of a chicken sometimes and would also freak if this happened to me!

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  4. Okay so I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. You are so funny! I get freaked out too, my poor husband has to "check" the whole house numerous times if I hear a thunk in the night.

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  5. That is hilarious! I have a LeapPad suction-cup toy for the highchair. It does not suction and it makes no noise when you play with it. However, if you throw it in the toy bin, it won't shut. I have no idea what the "trigger" is to set it off but it apparently would rather teach the toy bin its numbers than teaching them to Mari!

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  6. too funny. we had a puzzle like that. I say had because it drove me crazy so I finally got rid of it.

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  7. Thanks for the comment on my blog. I came over to check out your scene. Your baby is adorable! I can commiserate on the possessed puzzle. We have an Ernie (from Sesame Street) toy that shouts out "I feel great!" for no reason. Not funny in the middle of the night. :)

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  8. In case you didn't know, you are hilarious!

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  9. Ummm, thank you!! The little boy that I nanny for has this very same puzzle and it has freaked me out on more than one occasion! I kind of hate it. I am glad that we have this common bond of the psycho puzzle. :)

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  10. Too funny!!! Oh I would be right there with you running up the stairs double speed!! I'm just laughing as I type. Glad that you discovered what the mystery monster was!

    Dee Dee

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  11. Oh yes, the batteries mysteriously disappeared out of this toy! But Rhett is old enough to know it makes noise...it has a speaker. Yesterday, he made me put batteries in three of these puzzles, so last night we had a symphony of noise when the lights went out.

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  12. Did I really say that I hate the puzzle?? I should make it clear that I don't hate it I just hate it when it barks and blows bubbles at me.

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  13. ok... just want you to know ... it's not just that puzzle. There are times toys go off at our house and no one is around. It has totally freaked me out ... like Poltraguize (?? not sure how to spell that but I saw it when i was young (what the HECK ... who let me see this???) and it freaked me out. BUT ... I just figured... lots of toys made... not great manufacturing maybe... haha. maybe a short in the toy...
    Anywho.. glad your puzzle is solved ;-)

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  14. That just sounds so much like something I would do. Only, I would have made my husband go down and figure out where the noise was coming from : )

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  15. OMG Stacie, too funny!! I used to think my parent's basement had something watching me and would run up the stairs two at a time. It always felt like something was chasing me. Thanks for the warning. We will pass on the haunted toy!

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  16. Supergirl had a puzzle like that and I cannot tell you how many times it scared the holy crap out of me. Now Boomer also got one for Christmas and I am experiencing the terror all over again (mine comes in the form of zebra brays and snake hisses!)

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  17. This is so funny. Right after I read this, we were sitting in our friend's living room at our smallgroup, and the ottoman she was leaning against started mooing. Same type of puzzle.

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