Things that go "bleep bleep" in the night

About 48 hours or so. That's how long it took me to figure out exactly where the sound was coming from. Determining that the annoying little musical recording was coming from Jack's room was simple. But figuring out which toy was teasing me with random and unpredictable chirps and alarms proved to be the difficult part.

I first heard the sound in the middle of the night. In my half-conscious state, I thought it might be my wife's cell phone signaling that the battery was almost dead. But that theory was quickly dismissed. In a nearly pitch-black room, my eyes scanned up and down a six-foot shelving unit that holds dozens of Jack's toys. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a flashing light or something that would expose the guilty culprit. No such luck. This search would have to continue after sunrise.

Maybe you've been in my situation before. If your kids have ever owned a small battery-operated toy that incorporates sounds and/or flashing lights, you know that the manufacturers include an automatic shutoff function. After sixty seconds or so of non-use, the toy shuts itself down to save battery life, even though the power button has not been physically turned to the "off" position. To get the toy to re-activate, you simply start playing with it again.

This is where the situation got really frustrating for me. The toy in question was blurting out beeps, bleeps and cheeps for no apparent reason. It was as if some phantom force was activating the sound mechanism, but only when I was in the hallway, or one room away. And since it wasn't occurring at regular time intervals, I couldn't just stand in Jack's room waiting for it to happen again. It was like trying to photograph a lightening strike. Even if you knew it was coming, you couldn't get your camera in position fast enough to capture the moment. It seemed no matter how patient I was, I was never in position to locate the instigator.

Finally, I got lucky. After strategically weeding toys off of the shelving unit, I focused my attention on a small basket that contained a number of miscellaneous toys. And just at the right moment, the toy went into its musical outburst, and I found my nemesis.

Turns out the culprit was a dinky little American Idol-themed toy that Jack probably acquired with a McDonald's Happy Meal. As I had assumed, the power button was left in the "on" position. The toy is designed to play music when you lift the character's left arm.

Why the toy was going off by itself is anyone's guess. But I can assure you, that toy's power button is now in the "off" position.