a moment 6 years in the making

Ever since Anna was very tiny, she has been fascinated by the laundry. Heaps of dirty washing, mountains of clean washing, even hanging things out on the line. When she was about 2, I think, I started asking her to help me sort the socks. Of course I didn't expect much then, but we had fun doing it. Over the years we've become busy, and I haven't taken as much time getting her involved in the process one-on-one: Thomas quickly surpassed Anna in matching ability, and Iain started joining in by grabbing handfuls of socks and throwing them in the air gleefully.

Today, though, she came indoors before the boys and wandered through to the living room, where I was making my way through a sizeable mound of clean washing, including a great many socks. We put the socks off to one side, and she identified items of clothing by owner. 'That's mines' or 'that's daddy's' she said as she handed me T-shirts and pajamas. I came across a sock and asked her to find the mate for me. Although I wasn't surprised to receive it back together with the matching sock, it was a wonderful moment I have waited a long time to experience. She sorted most of the rest, with prompting, as I folded the other things. Eventually I brought out the sock bag (where I keep all the single socks when I finish the washing) and found some whose mates I knew we had. Anna helped me match them, and I put a couple of the leftovers from today's bunch in the bag without saying anything. When we'd finished, there was one sock left. Anna picked it up without a word, and put it in the bag. 'There' she said. 'All done.'

Amazing.