Kate is a neat freak.  She is one of the only three year olds I know who will insist that her room is spotless before she will even entertain the thought of going to sleep.

You can see her little eyes scan the room for the smallest infraction such as fuzz, the lone sock, or one of Connor's little toy cars.  The floor must be completely free of any of that nonsense or Kate will stay awake, staring at the ceiling, letting that little sock or tag or dust ball consume her thoughts.

(and of course, it is an excuse for John or me to stay up with her.  One of her many sleep avoidance tactics)

Last night I put her to bed, sang to her, kissed her (and her butterfly stuffed animal and her rocking horse and all of the other little animals in her room that she insist get a formal "goodnight") and walked out. 

15 seconds later...

"Moooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmy"

"Yes, Kate?"

"The floor! There are things on the floor"

Me.  Squinting.  Inspecting.  Seriously completely dumbfounded.  I found a tiny bit of lint.  Phew.

"Is this it?"

"NO! RIGHT THERE! BY THE DOOR!"

Me.  Squinting, inspecting, on my hands and knees, literally my nose at floor level.  I am thinking about how incredibly ridiculous I look.

"Kate, honey, your room is spotless there is nothing on the floor that I can see.  Go to sleep, honey"

She sits up, crosses her arms, and points to the corner of the door frame.

"RIGHT THERE, MOMMY!"

And then I see it.  A pea.  A freaking pea from dinner that must have hitched a ride to her room on her clothes or something.  Literally 15 feet away from her in a dark room and she notices a pea.  My princess couldn't sleep because of a pea.


I picked up the offending pea, threw it away, kissed her goodnight (again) and proceeded to find Johnny and tell him that he was in deep deep trouble.  We are both in so much trouble.