collection of things

Maya picks things up around the house and brings them to me.  Usually (but not always), she restricts herself to things on the floor -- mostly socks, dirty laundry, bits of paper, pens, dog toys, and sticks of firewood.  Once in a while, there is a surprise -- a USB flashdrive, cash, an orange.

This is a game I taught her, for better or worse.  It builds on her inclinations though: she likes to interact with me, often hopes I can be enticed into a game, and prefers to be given permission before eating/destroying things.  I started trading socks for snacks, and we went from there.

When she gives me things, it is my job to take it and admire it ("oooh, what a lovely used kleenax!  thank you!").  Then I can give it back, throw it, or confiscate it.

In certain ways, this is very useful.  Maya is less likely to eat dangerous objects, and my socks develop many fewer holes when she isn't allowed to chew on them.  When I accidentally drop things, I can be sure that they'll be picked up.

Of course, in other ways this is very inconvenient.  I end up with a constant pile of trash and random objects on the coffee table beside me, and a large stash of socks/towels/laundry tucked into my chair, and occasionally a few pieces of firewood across my lap.  Once in a while, I feel I am being buried. 

Mostly it's useful, though.  Just as long as nobody leaves a sock drawer open or expects a folded pile of clean laundry to stay that way!

In other news, snow finally fell in our mountains, and Maya and have been running away to play it in as often as possible.  It's lovely.