I am sitting on Chloe’s bed, hanging out with her as she cleans, yes cleans, her room. And not only is she cleaning her room, she’s doing so out of her own volition. I did not ask her to do it as I’d given up, waiting to see how long it would take her to get fed up with her pigsty.

Problem is, she’s cleaning at the pace of a sloth. She’s chatting away, which is my fault, actually. I suggested she start a blog about young adult books. And she proceeded to run on about blogger vs. tumblr vs. reddit vs. twitter vs. you tube. It’s quiet again now. Oops – spoke too soon. She’s back to yapping.

I don’t believe she’s genetically capable of keeping silent for more than a few minutes, except when she’s either reading or sleeping. She’s now testing all her pens and sharpening her pencils. This clean-up is not going to be a very quick affair. A nap might be in order.

We also had a discussion during lunch about what she can do over the next few years to differentiate herself for college. We are all in agreement that sports will not be her ticket to ride. She’s now thinking about photography (she’s starting a class at the local museum next month) or writing (hence the discussion about blogging), two activities that show much more promise than anything involving physical exertion.