Safety first.

"Why are you so tired?"

"I just didn't really get much sleep. It really bothered me that the hotel room didn't have a second lock on the door."

"You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. Hotel doors should have second locks."

"That is ridiculous. You cannot for a minute tell me you were actually worried someone was going to break in."

"No, you idiot. I was worried that our son might wake up before us and try to break out."

"And go to the front desk..."

"...to get that candy he loves."

"Shit. I hadn't considered that. And I'm glad I didn't, otherwise I wouldn't have slept well either."

It was the best of signs, it was the worst of signs.

A few weeks ago, we went to Rome for the weekend. As we walked from the hotel down to the Forum area of the city, the Colosseum appeared to guide us. After most of it was visible, my son stopped, looked up and said, "Ooooooooooh, wow!"

CPT Dick and I both smiled. Because you know, the Colosseum is awesome, but it takes a pretty hip kid to get it in toddlerhood. So my husband bent down to explain what it might have looked like half a millenium ago and what the building was used for. We were going to take hold of this yoke of interest and ride it into a Rhodes scholarship in history.

But as my husband talked, my son just looked perplexed. And after a moment, my son looked up at his Dad, smiled, and said, "No, no. Little Einsteins."

And that's how I knew that my son spent most of our trip not oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the ruins of Rome but waiting for Rocket to show up.