I know. She looks so sweet.

I have a somewhat unusual family. For one thing, it's big, at least by cultural standards. I have three sisters and two brothers--I fall third in the lineup of six--plus two brothers-in-law, three nephews and a niece (thus far--my oldest sister is only 26). My parents have been married for almost thirty years. They've never had a television in their home. We've said Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours together every night as far back as I can remember. For the great majority of my time at home, we sat down to dinner as a family every evening, a pattern that underwent only minor changes once we got older and had increasingly busy schedules of our own. While we were kids, every Friday night was reserved for "family night," at least for a few hours.

As a result of these things, and due in large part to the unrelenting patience of my amazing parents, I can say with complete honesty that we are one of the most loving families I have ever encountered. I have a good relationship with every single one of my siblings. My dad writes me letters now that I'm always far from home, and I know that I can call my mom at any time, even if only have a few minutes to chat. Most of us are on Twitter and follow each others' lives that way; my 20-year-old brother calls me every Sunday from his Coast Guard post in Minnesota; I videochat semi-regularly with my two-year-old niece. We really, truly love each other.

Before you gag on all this syrup, I will get to the point I'm actually trying to make, which is this: probably because we are so close, my siblings and I have a special gift for knowing exactly how to get on each others' nerves. I'm not talking about malice--the banter rarely departs from a spirit of good-natured fun--but oh my word those kids have a gift for pushing my buttons. The best one at this is my oldest sister, probably because (as I've mentioned before) we're so alike. For example: a few years ago, when I lived with her family for the summer, whenever she wanted to mess with me, she would start speaking in rhymed couplets. Drove me UP THE WALL. She loved it.

I was reminded of this today when I was gchatting with Arwen and I brought up, not for the first time, one of my biggest pet peeves: capitalization. There is a group of People in the semi-literate American population who will capitalize, without any apparent Rhyme or Reason, random Nouns in their Sentences. Smart people, too, with College Degrees! Given that such people are relatively well- educated, I have absolutely no idea where they pick up this habit. In my generous moments, I'm inclined to credit it to the Germanic roots of our language, since German grammar requires the capitalization of all nouns. In my crankier moments I just think they're inattentive. Or overly emphatic. Maybe both.

In response to my (gentle) rant, Arwen did not sympathize. Oh no, my friends. Instead, she decided she was going to join the trend of Random Capitalization so she could entertain herself with my reactions. Furthermore, because Arwen dreams big, she figured: why stop at nouns? Isn't it Even More fun to adopt Completely unreasonable habits that Violate the Laws of grammar Altogether? I squirmed and protested, loudly, and then she had to go. No worries, though. I'm sure she'll be back at it again Tomorrow.