Help. If you were a three year old, where would you hide £100??

[Crapuccino]

MIL came on Friday, stayed, and went back home this afternoon. She's just now called to say that she has discovered herself £100 lighter (five £20 notes). Apparently she left said notes on a low shelf where toddler had easy access FFS. She swears she has searched all her own possessions from top to bottom and can't find the bloody money. So, where might you put £100 if you were three??

love that he delivered the notes to DH, have you checked all DH's coat pockets in case toddler put them in there?

Mine used to like putting notes through the gap in the floor boards, or posting them through gaps in drawers, down the side of the bed, and one brilliant time out the letter box.

In the fridge, or kitchen cupboards - according to DD. Anywhere there's a gap or a hole they could fit into. Have you tried putting another one there, letting the child see it, & see what happens?

"Why would anyone take £100 cash out of their purse and put it on a shelf in someone else's house?"

Exactly. It's weird.

DVD player.

Letter box.

Bin.

Toy kitchen.

Your handbag

Daddy's wallet?

Inside the filter of the tumble dryer .

If it were my toddlers, I would try behind all radiators and in any boxes of pencils and crayons.

How about putting some toy money on the same shelf and setting up a webcam to spy on what happens?

I used to like burning things...
That's what I may have done.

Hiding places: The wedding favours that are made of glass/porcelaine (for the bomboniere, no Idea what in English...), sock drawer, shoes, mattrace, under plant pots, in the dolly oven...

Mine hid £20 in the battery compartment of his toy remote controller* a few weeks ago.

*its a real controller and used to work our Virgin box until it went for a swim in the bath.

Asked my 3 year old where he would hide it he says "under my pillow"

In their own little bag or purse/wallet?

Presumably he's in bed now. Tomorrow put some notes where she 'left' them and watch him carefully!

Have you tried asking her?

Anywhere you store money yourself that the child might have seen. Anywhere you put supermarket vouchers or coupons (my 3 year old thinks sainsburys school vouchers are 'money'. Posted in any gap eg into the kitchen drawers or cupboards is popular in this house.

Any handy pockets within reach - any coats lying about?

My DD's used to put notes through the hamster bars at that age I only worked it out after I cleaned them out one day and discovered their bed was the queens head !

My 2 year old posts things back through the letter box/flap thing. Iv found my bank card there a few times

If it was on the shelf surely she noticed it had gone before she got home, because she would have picked it up from the shelf?

Inside the end of the duvet.
Behind the radiator (probably already said, sorry).
Inside shoes.

Those saying a 3yo should remember- my 4yo can easily get what actually happened mixed up with what happened ages ago, what she would like to have happened, what happened to someone else and frankly what never happened to anyone ever. Still hard to distinguish imagination from memory at this age!

OP have you asked your MIL why she took the money out/what she was planning to do with it?

Among his books on the same section of shelving. Or among your own books.
But even before your update I was thinking about possible memory issues with MIL. Losing valuables by putting them in "safe" places is very characteristic of memory loss in the elderly. MIL might have hidden the money herself in her own bag or somewhere.

gap in the floor boards

This. DS1 posted a number of cards through the floorboards at MILs when he was 3, and one in the coupon slot of the self-pay till at Tescos. He was very quick and silent when on a mission.

DS2 (3 right now) knows exactly what money is, would have taken it, gleefully said 'finders keepers' in a singsong voice, and posted it in his money box. He will go far.

My mum still tells the story about cleaning under my bed and spotting several notes stuffed under the mattress. Apparently i was using my bed as a till and, as DB had pinched my play money, I had to borrow some from mummy's purse. She asked why I hadn't told her the money was there as she'd been worried about it (she was actually worried she was having memory problems as money had gone missing a few times) but I just shrugged and said she hadn't asked me where it was

Do you own a dog?

Through the vent in the tumble drier... ,(inaccessible, unless you take it apart)

Apologies to those who think this is not believable. MIL is one of those people who just puts stuff down. Her house is a nightmare of coins/keys/junk scattered willy nilly in vases, trays, fruit bowls, mantelpieces, the bottom of every bag she owns, window ledges, everywhere. It drives me bananas when we visit because DS naturally wants to play with it all. Normally if I spot stuff put down at our house, I move it all to the mantelpiece but I've been avoiding her out of the house a lot this weekend.

I don't think she is so bothered about the money for its value (she's not poor by any stretch) as about proving that she's right and her memory is sound. DH is on the phone with her right now whilst I get DS to go to sleep. To press, the epic house search has turned up nothing. Unless some felt tip caps, a dried spaghetti noodle, three or four fluffy cheerios, and a long-time missing little toy car count.