This criteria explains a lot of melodrama.

An already grumpy Henry struggled this morning to put on his clothes. He has a tiny, almost invisible scrape on his thumb, which he explains makes doing even the smallest tasks impossible. He whined about pulling on his shorts, and made sounds I can only describe as air squeaking from a pinched balloon nozzle as he squeezed into his socks.

Henry: Oh, man! My shirt is inside out!

He picks it up and looks at it.

Henry: Oh, it's not. I guess this isn't the worst day of my entire life.

Landmarks on the way home

Jane finds it hard to stay awake on our drive home from Charlottetown. We're about 10 minutes outside of town -- just long enough for the lull of the car to put her out.

ALERT! THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN. IF JANE NAPS FOR ANY AMOUNT OF TIME, SHE BECOMES AN INTOLERABLE BEAR FOR THE REST OF THE DAY.

We've tried many things. Mostly, we shout, "Don't go to sleep, Jane!"

Leave it to Jane to devise a solution to her own problem. She has found a series of landmarks along Route 2 which she anticipates with glee, and announces at the top of her lungs when she spots them.

1. "Marshmallow farm!" (a field of hay which has been baled and wrapped in white plastic)

2. "Sleepy cows!" (a field of Black Angus cattle, who always seem to be laying down)

3a) "Llama farm! Llamalamalamalamalamalama!" (a llama farm)

3b) "Llama farm! Ohhhh. No llamas today. Llamalamalamalamalama!" (sometimes the llamas aren't grazing in that field)

4. "Marshmallow farm!" (a second field of baled hay)

5. "Space church!" (A church with wood shingles painted red and grey, which give it an oddly futuristic look, especially the rocket-like steeple)

From here it's a three-minute drive to our house. Just long enough that us shouting usually gets the job done.

I must say, I occasionally shout "Llama farm!" when I'm driving by myself. (helps keep me awake)