Punky Knobster

So I come across these cute knobs at the base thrift store and I immediately think of Sean-Peter. Like any typical four-year-old boy, he loves balls, and the current knobs on his old dresser had seen better days.

And do you know how expensive these things are at regular retail? I got about a dozen of these for $3.00, almost as much as you would pay for a single one at Tar-zhay.
I made a point of putting them on his dresser when Peter wasn't around, as they're just the kind of thing he likes to get his hands on: Observing how something is put together only serves to encourage him to take it apart. And really, he doesn't need any extra encouragement to take anything else apart around here.

Question: Why don't we buy crap stuff from Wal-Mart?
Answer: After five minutes alone with Peter, it turns to trash.

That same incentive does not seem to exist, however, when he observes the coming together of a meal: no amount of encouragement entices him to touch a piece of raw fruit or vegetable. He has no problem keeping his hands off of those.

But lo and behold, looky here. Doesn't there seem to be something amiss?
There were ten knobs there, last I looked. (Focus on the empty holes and not the dinged up paint, mkay?)

I put those darn knobs on as tight as I could get them without stripping the screws. I was so sure that Peter wouldn't be able to get them loose.

I was so, so wrong.

John found the vents pulled up in all of the bedrooms. He went investigating after hearing some odd clunkity-clunk noises echoing through the whole upstairs. The knobs, such enticing balls they were, were dropped into the nether regions of our ventilation shafts. We can't reach them.

Our central air has been off for several days with the mild temperatures we've been having. Anyone happen to know what dangers can come from foreign objects being thrown into the ventilation shafts? Where they end up? (What happens when you turn the fan back on?)

That little punk. Next time I'm going to come home with little plastic apples or peaches. It'll serve him right.