Neat freaks: 1. Messy Boys: 0.

"Dude," my husband said the other day. "Our daughter is in the living room stacking books." He frowned slightly, no doubt feeling suddenly outnumbered. It's true; this is one area in which Suzannah definitely takes after me. Last weekend, we stopped by Kyanne's house to pick her up before we went out for Greek food. I trotted upstairs to use her bathroom, and when I came back down, Kyanne informed me that Suzannah was organizing their refrigerator magnets.

This afternoon, just after she went down for her nap, I heard her hollering for me. I poked my head in her room only to have her crossly inform me that her hoodie needed to be put away; her daddy had tossed it carelessly on top of her dresser when he carried her into the house after our afternoon excursion to the mall after church. She hopped down from her bed and padded into the study with it, where she placed it in its "proper" spot on the back of the loveseat.

Also, every afternoon, the first thing she does when we come home is take off her shoes and socks. She lines her shoes up on the little rug we have by the door, and she runs straight to her room to drop her socks in her laundry hamper. I'm not absolutely sure this is something I taught her -- not consciously, anyway.

That's my girl. Say what you want about us neat-freaks; I'm convinced our next child will take after Matt, so the universal balance will once again be restored. In the meantime, please let me enjoy these small delights without too much mocking.

Other things the Zannah-bean is up to these days:

One of her favorite things to do is tend to her "babies." She has three little dolls that she tucks into a doll bed that used to belong to me. This is a very involved process that requires me to help her make the bed after she tears out all seven blankets and the pillow, and then she tucks them in and kisses them all and feeds one of them (her favorite, I guess?) a bottle.

She sleeps with a pile of stuffed animals -- a couple of bears, a giraffe, a moose, and an elephant -- and they all have their place in a pile at the foot of her bed. It only appears to be a random pile. Word to the wise: Don't mess with it. Cookie Monster, on the other hand, sleeps snuggled in her arms, and it is JUST TOO CUTE FOR WORDS. Cookie gets the most kisses.

The Intriguing Toy of the Week is Daddy's flashlight. She thinks it's hilarious when I shine it on a spot on the floor so she can pounce on it, only to see it suddenly appear halfway across the room or on a spot on the wall. (This makes her sound rather like a kitten, doesn't it?) She likes to aim it at the ceiling and wave it around, too, and when she's finished playing with it, she very sweetly says "bye-bye" to the light as it's switched off and returned to its proper place on the shelf.

She and the dog continue in their relentless campaign to bother each other to madness. The only one approaching madness, however, is me. For now, the pug is doing a pretty good job as stand-in for a sibling.

***
In other news, I'm reading The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. I've been reading it for, oh, two months now -- but not really, because I keep putting it down to read other things, which happens sometimes. But I'm really into it now, and I've decided I should read some good old Victorian lit every fall. There's always someone escaping from an insane asylum, or being imprisoned against her will somewhere, or being switched with someone else at birth. There's usually plenty of fog, and perhaps some blood coming out of a wall. Good times. It is good to read something besides contemporary fiction, I think, especially as someone who writes and teaches English, because it works my brain in an entirely different way. I love it. Makes me miss college. Teaching literature is wonderful and stimulating, but sometimes I miss being on the other side of the desk.