There it was again. Crawling slowly up the side of my brown carseat. It was very captivating, that ant. It never went in one direction, it always was scurrying around everywhere. That ant looked so innocent to my wondering two-year-old eyes. Suddenly, it disappeared from view over the side of the booster. Oh why do I have to be so confined to this dreadful thing? The buckles strapping me in so tightly aggravated me. I heard Mom use that word the other day. She was scolding Julia for making a mess in the living room with her paints. When I’m six, I’ll never do that, I’ll be too grown up. Wait, there it is again. The poor ant! It is such a journey for even me to be able to stretch as far as my own confines allow me and look out the window! It must be quite a voyage for this little guy to crawl all the way up there! I hope he packed his lunch, after all, when he finally get’s to the window, he’ll probably be hungry. I sure am. I can’t wait to get to Grandma’s to feast on her scrumptious zillion chip chocolate-drop cookies. They’re my favorite, even if Mom thought that for some weird reason that I like carrots and lettuce. She says I will be healthy if I eat them. I can’t imagine what healthy means! I think it must be the worst thing you could be next to naughty. I found out what that meant pretty early on in my career as a human.

We have to be there now— I don’t care what Dad says, Grandma and Grandpa’s house must be all the way across the country, no matter how stubborn he is in convincing us poor innocent children that it’s only a fifty-minute drive. Is that Grandma? I can’t quite see over the edge of the window– I thought this carseat was supposed to help with that– it’s so hard to make things out. No one else seems to notice what misery I’m in though. They’re all busy hugging and kissing, abandoning me all alone in this stuffy minivan. Oh look, now that they’re all through with the embraces, they’re coming to get me out. Now Grandma’s saying how cute I look with that pouty face. When you leave me alone for ages, scared to death and completely helpless to defend myself against the foes of seat straps, you expect me to have a cheery smile for my betrayers?? Sometimes I just don’t understand adults at all.

Everyone’s unpacking. No one is paying any attention whatsoever to me. I thought Dad said we were only staying here for the summer. I used to think the whole summer was as long as a lifetime, but that was when I was a kid, and I didn’t know any better. Now that I’m almost all the way grown up, I found out that summer is never long enough, according to Julia. And she knows everything. Except maybe how to keep her paints off of the living room carpet. She hasn’t got that yet. She’s pretty immature. That means inexperienced in the role of being a big kid. I’m not sure she’ll ever learn. But as for myself, I seem to be a pro at it already, it’s just no one has noticed my natural skill yet. Sometimes I think I must be another Albert Einstein in disguise or something, that’s how much of a genius I am. I think Albert Einstein was the person who found out about the periodic table. I’m not sure what that is, but I am sure that if I had been born first, I would have figured it out way quicker than he did.

One good thing about being the youngest is you don’t have to unpack. Instead, I think taking a look at those delicious cookies on the counter would be more fun. Oh why do I have to be so short!! If only I could reach to the top of the counter, snatch a cookie or two, and then disappear into the refuge of grandpa’s office, then I could eat some in peace! Grandpa never minds how many cookies I have, in fact, he often joins me in my dangerous expeditions and takes a few for himself. But Grandma on the other hand, is very particular about such things. You can’t eat treats an hour before meals, and not more than five cookies a day. I think that she doesn’t know how to raise growing children. It doesn’t matter if she says we need protein, (probably something to do with being healthy), I know for certain that kids can only survive off of sugar.

Even though my neck is aching from the strain of looking up to the counter top, I just can’t pull my eyes away from those inviting cookies. Wait a second, I hear footsteps coming. I better get into my super-secret hiding place quick! Phew! That was close, I barely got in in time. Who ever it was just passed by me, so I’m safe, but this cupboard is getting cramped! I think that means I must have grown since last year. I can never tell the difference, but others are always exclaiming about “how big that darling’s getting!”. It’s dark too, but I’m not scared at all. I kind of wish there would be light bulbs in this cupboard, but of course I’m still not scared. I’m practically grown-up! Of course I’m not afraid!! Whose afraid of the dark? Do you think bats live in this cupboard? I hope not! What if there are?? Bats are MONSTERS!!! I need to get out!! The dark is swallowing me up!! Phew, there’s the light again, opening up little by little. Wait, I’M not opening up the cupboard. IT’S GRANDMA!!!! What’ll I do? Oh good, she’s smiling, I thought I was dead there for a second. She can read my mind sometimes, it’s creepy, I thought for sure she knew I was planning to steal some cookies. But how did she know I was in the cupboard? Grandmas seem to know everything sometimes. I’ll have to find a different hiding spot later, but right now I just want to rest.

Phew!! What an adventure!! Oh good, Grandma’s bringing me to my crib. I’ll sleep the hours away while everyone else unpacks. I just hope I wake up in time for cookies. If I had stolen them now, they probably would have been to hot anyway. Yeah. They were definitely too hot. They had to be. Humf! The only annoying thing about my crib is that I can’t get out. It has a nice soft mattress, my yellow and green bear, and the blanky I got from Grandma the day I was born. Sleep, come forth!