the apple and the tree

I don't ask my children to do a whole a lot of cleaning up. The one thing I do ask Maxwell to help with is keeping his books picked up, as they become a tripping hazzard (I am usually the one that trips).

So off I send him, and wait, and wait and wait.

Then I go up to check.

One of the coolest things about being a parent, is having this tiny person who looks just like you, and has a lot of personality traits like you...
In my case we both have this sort of serious, mildly, Eastern European look going on in most photos, that makes it seem like we fear, some Cossack is going to come pillage any moment.
For most of my life people have been commanding me to SMILE! and I hate it, so I almost never ask it of Maxwell... it's ok, with me that, along with my dark circles and tragic high cheekbones he got my sense of drama, and love of books, and zany lack of organizational skills.
This is Maxwell "cleaning up" the library area- you are soooo busted!

This is me giving up on the library (landing), ever being tidy for longer than five minutes.