And, another mystery...

On the heels of my Honor Student "case", I'm faced with another one. Here are the facts as I know them...

At 8pm Tuesday evening, M was sent to bed - given hugs and kisses and told she could read until I came up to call "lights out". D arrived home from a meeting at 8:15pm and proceeded to go upstairs to say "Hello" and "Goodnite" to our little princess. He returned downstairs and we proceeded to finish watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 on DVR (an aside...we have NEVER watched this show before, but since M has become enthralled with it and all things "TLC", we felt compelled to watch this season premier and make sure it was still appropriate for her, what with all the tabloid rumors and allegations of cheating and such).

At approximately 10:00pm, M came downstairs and told us that she wasn't feeling well, that she felt like she was going to throw up, and had even "tried", but couldn't throw up (I didn't ask how she "tried"...some things are best left alone). We asked her a few questions, then suggested that perhaps she move from the top bunk (where she has been sleeping recently) to at least the bottom bunk. I took it one step further and made her a "floor bed" with a strategically placed bucket just in case.

When I put her to bed, I palpated her abdomen (no folks, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV and I have NOT recently stayed in a Holiday Inn Express...BUT...I have been to enough doctor visits as a Mom to know that abdomen palpation is what is done to rule out some major stuff). She did not appear to wince or show any signs of extreme pain when I was pushing on her abdomen, although it did feel a bit firm, nothing out of the ordinary for typical gas pain and/or constipation. I told her that our first line of "attack" would be to have her lay on her side and pull her legs firmly up into her chest to "open things up" a bit. When I left, she was doing just that.

About 30 minutes later (after CSI Miami ended...on DVR, we don't watch much live anymore) I headed up to bed on the off chance that it was going to turn into a long night for us. I checked in on M and she was sound asleep - I opted against climbing over her to turn off her Radio Disney live stream on her computer, and left the fish tank light on so she had some light in there. I debated leaving her bedroom door open so she had a fast line to the bathroom, but figured we were covered with the bucket.

Shortly after climbing into bed myself, I heard her cough a little, but no follow up sounds to indicate anything other than her coughing. She has allergies and coughs frequently, especially when laying on her back, so I expect the occasional cough from her and thought nothing of this cough. Other than this *cough* *cough* *cough*, I heard nothing else and she never came into the room to tell me she'd thrown up. I debated going in for a quick investigation, but weighed the risks of waking her up against easing my mind and decided that all evidence pointed to me not going in there. Besides, my super sonic Mommy hearing was turned on by now, so no sound would escape me.

D came up to bed about an hour after I did and apparently (according to his report later today) did NOT check in on her on his way by, figuring that I had just checked on her, so why risk waking her.

Early this morning, D left for a meeting, leaving M and I in our respective beds.

I stumbled out of bed a little late and went to wake M up to get ready for school. I opened her bedroom door and looked in at her, then peeked at the bucket. Lo and behold, there was vomit in the bucket. M woke up, looked up at me and said Hi. I said, "Honey, did you throw up last night?" OK - stupid question, I know, OBVIOUSLY she did, but sometimes my brain doesn't work real well first thing in the morning. Well, her answer was, "No", then she sat up, looked in the bucket and said, "OH, maybe I did".

NOW, I'm far from an expert in the area of vomit, being blessed with a minimal occurrence of puking myself (think the last time I did was like 14 years ago when I had food poisoning). BUT, don't you usually notice? It's kind of a body shaking event.

She stayed home today since we couldn't identify the time of day of the vomit, it made it hard to invoke the 24 hour body fluid rule, so we kept her home from school. Well, that and the fact that she still felt pretty crappy, it was hard to rule it out as an isolated incident.

She eventually came around to say that she had coughed/puked at some point, then checked for a mess, didn't find one and decided she was sleepy enough to not get out of bed and come find me. Now, the question becomes, did she really, or was that her "story" since I expressed such disbelief at the phantom puke?

We have ruled out D or I puking in the bucket, and are pretty sure that neither of the dogs has that good of aim (or opposable thumbs to open the door, then reshut it behind them). M can't remember puking, so I'm wondering if we have a ghost with an upset tummy living in our house. OR, perhaps an intruder who gratefully saw the bucket, used it, then got the heck out of dodge before getting caught. I doubt that the Tooth Fairy had done a fly by and lost her lunch in my daughter's room, so I still don't know who puked in the bucket.

Perhaps our Honor Student Vandal is also a drive by puker?

Wonder what mystery tomorrow will hold for me... I think my new career should be as a Private Investigator...then again, my closed cases are minimal at present...