We were all rather loopy and snappish by the time we got to Omaha at 9 o’clock this evening. Annalie and I just spent three full days driving halfway across the country with my parents, and this was my view for much of the time. Well, Annalie wasn’t watching movies the WHOLE time. She actually shut the DVD player a lot and colored or played with toys or told stories to herself or just watched the scenery. What she didn’t do was nap. I napped more than she did. I whiled away the daylight hours in the not-nearly-as-spacious-as-our-minivan’s backseat, crocheting or reading or playing with Annalie. Once it got dark I drove, since my mom doesn’t like driving at night and my dad’s night vision isn’t what it used to be. We had one small collision with what we think was a blown tire—it was dark, I was driving, we saw nothing till we drove over it, bumper was dented, otherwise no harm done—but no other incidents.

It’s 12:43am and Annalie is lying in bed behind me quacking. Now she’s asking me if I like her quacking. When I shushed her and told her to close her eyes, she said conversationally, “Mama, I hate you.” I told her that was not a very kind thing to say, and she immediately said in the exact same tone of voice, “Mama, I like you a lot.”

I think I’d better go to bed so she’ll go to sleep.

P.S. It’s now 12:48. As I was typing that last paragraph Annalie said, “Mama, I think while I’m waiting for you to come to bed I’ll just close my eyes and have a little nap, okay?” Suuuure, you go ahead and take an 8-hour nap, kid. She’s asleep now.