The explosion of toys had spread clear across the living room. The floor was no longer visible, so I said to baby daughter, "C'mon baby, let's play a wicked fun game called 'clean up your toys'". I wasn't really looking in her direction when I said this and I didn't really expect her to join in full heartedly. She's only a year and a half old, so I didn't really expect her to totally understand the concept of the game either. I started picking up toys, hoping she would follow my example and at least put a few away.

There's a small play tent taking up a corner of the room. It takes up a fair amount of space, but that's OK because a) she loves playing in it, "Daddy tent, Daddy tent, tent Daddy!" and b) it hides and prohibits toddler access to the CD collection, which she loves to tear through, emptying the contents of all the jewel cases into a Daddy-stress-inducing heap on the floor. As a parent, one learns a new appreciation for the concept of 'out of site out of mind'.

So I'm putting away toys not really paying attention to the baby, hoping she'll follow my lead. She hasn't come into view after a minute so I figure I should see what's happening. I turn around to find her stuffing everything she can get her hands on into the tent. Not just toys, everything. Every item in the room that isn't furniture went in. The remote, some mail, magazines, a bank statement, pillows, an empty cup, recently folded laundry, everything.

When she was done the living room was completely clean and clear of debris. I think my girl is a genius.