Don't let this happen to you.
As I opened the washing machine to move a load of the kids laundry to the dryer, something seemed off. All the clothes looked not quite clean.
I started lifting the wet clothes only to find clumps of wet paper. After calling my mother (who else would you call??) I decided to shake out the clothes, and then put them in the dryer - letting the lint trap (checked often) do it's job. As I was emptying the clothes of whatever had gotten thrown into the hamper (Paige has a slight obsession with putting things into the clothes hamper, which I should have remembered as I hastily dumped the clothes into the washer... ) I realized what had gotten thrown in. A board book. A counting board book that Paige loved. I say loved, because it's in bits and pieces. All. Over. The. Place.
The dryer is almost done its cycle, and the lint trap has definitely done it's job, and the clothes are looking better. I've checked on the lint trap every five minutes, and every five minutes it's FULL of the book. Sad, sad book. Always check your laundry for extras. Always!