Prior to Alethea’s arrival Peter and I spent quite a bit of thought and energy in creating what I hoped would be a fun and memorable nursery for her.  (To see pictures of the nursery, click here.)  However, it seems that her favorite part of the room is the only thing that was in the room before we started, the ceiling fan.

Now I can’t see anything particularly special about it, but Alethea will stare at it for minutes on end, laughing and talking to it.

I suppose you are all thinking, “Of course she likes the ceiling fan, it moves and lights up.”  But the funny thing is, she only stares at it when it’s not on.

This it seems to me is a clear illustration of The Cardboard Box Principal.  That is, no matter how cool the toy (or room in this case), nine times out of ten, your kid will generally prefer the box it came in.  I guess I didn’t need to spend all that time painting after all.