The mom brain hits hard sometimes. This mystery was solved within seconds of me stating the problems.
Explanation: The little toddler fork had fallen into the disposal. I had not checked in there. I might have been avoiding it because I didn't want to fix it because I was fixating on finding the fork. Oh, the irony.
Text:
Title: True Story: Mystery
L: I cannot find Ori's little toddler fork anywhere - I've looked all over! Also, the sink disposal is making a weird grinding noise.
M: Hmmm.