Creative Skills: verbal, musical

Since a rather young age I have been the possessor of a certain set of verbal and vocal creative skills which more than probably drove my mother to the brink.  And most probably while she was driving and I was in the back seat.

Rather unbelievably, I was in the backseat of the car on Sunday and was able to put those skills to good use to help keep my husband, the driver, sane.

That is because Anne had seemed to have used up her nap quota before we started our drive back from Oregon, and she was not entirely pleased to use her awake time sitting strapped into her car seat while traveling I-5.

My entertainment for her included:

• Practicing "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle thumb" - the first step toward making a bowhand - for way too long, inspecting the wiggling thumb from every conceivable angle
• Singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider with personalized lyrics in a sequence of keys, modulating up a half step each time
• Repeating all of the English pronouns in all of their cases as quickly as possible in tongue-twister style:  "I I I I I I I me me me me me me me me my my my my my my my my mine mine mine mine mine you you you you you you..."

I'm also slightly concerned that she learned more from the experience than she should have and in a couple of years I will thoroughly regret it when I am the one behind the wheel.

That's why I've been mentally rehearsing this super useful boundary phrase:  "I know you're not done talking yet, but I'm done listening for right now."