Little Trifler

She insisted on taking this can of Diet Dr. Pepper to bed apparently, clutching onto it with both hands under the blankets, which explains why I found a can of soda among the sheets when making her bed later. This is sort of how things are around the house: I'll find two dried apricots stacked neatly on a random corner of the floor, one shoe on her foot but its matching pair on a side table in the corner of the living room, a stuffed rabbit tucked neatly into the baby's swing. You'd think all this was random capriciousness, but it's apparently quite calculated, as we find if we try to move anything--no, she specifically wanted the plastic spoon to stay THERE on the sofa. She usually follows instructions but with her own twist if I forget to be specific enough: if I ask her to put her brother's clothes back on the table, she will, but in the wrong pile; if I tell her to put my chapstick back on my dresser, she'll recap it but stick it carefully in the dresser drawer instead of on top where she found it. It's like a little fairy has come in and trifled with everything just the slightest bit when I wasn't looking.