The creature, I mean my nephew, went to bed last night at 11 o'clock.

Normally, I stay up late out of sheer enjoyment and don't fall asleep until 2 in the morning.

I stayed up until 2 in the morning today, but not out of enjoyment. It was more so out of residual fear.

I would hear him stir from the other room and panic would have me in it's cold grip - oh god, he's going to wake up and have a full blown energy attack and start zipping around the house again.

Luckily, he slept the night through with Patchouli the guard cat sitting beside him and keeping watch until the wee hours of the morning.

At the flea market the other day he picked up a small trinket ring for his girlfriend. As the aunt it is my right, nay my duty, to embarrass my nephew. So I made sure the seller knew he had a girlfriend.

The child turned so red you would have thought lava had dumped down his shirt.



The entire ride back he kept inspecting the ring.

"She's going to love this."

"She's going to forget all about that other boy."

Other boy? What the hell? My ten year old life was marketedly different than this!

"I think this is a real diamond, don't you? It's definitely a real diamond and I got a good deal on it - Two dollars!"

Heheheheh. Cute.

I awoke this morning and laid in bed, hiding under the covers and waiting for a sound from the other room. An hour passed, I sighed in relief and cuddled the dog like a security blanket.

Uh oh! He awoke! And immediately was full of energy.

I made my escape, a mad dash into the bathroom with doors locked and the shower turned on.

Sadly, eventually one has to emerge and so we made the forty minute drive back (after a trip to McDonalds - meat slaughter kingdom of the world - of which the dog was quite happy to eat the creepy faux chicken remains of the nephew's breakfast).

The kid tries to draw in the car all the way back and has now dubbed me "Miss Bumpy"! Every time the car came to a stop or I had to make a turn, I swear he tried to kill me with his imaginary laser eye beams.

Now, now I'm at my parents house which is five minutes from my brother's place. I'm contemplating the drive back home and only hope my twitchy reserves can make it!

Bry_M, I'm in your neck of the woods today since the parents live practically next door to you. If I didn't have Sam I would stop by and say hello to Pedro!