Kiki was still awake when I got home from CONduit. She was being a good babysitter and watching the house and the sleeping kids. We spent forty minutes in the kitchen with late night snacks while her thoughts about the last two days spilled forth as words. My head was full of thoughts too, but my convention thoughts were unlikely to interest her much, so I listened. The three younger kids had spent the last day over at my backyard neighbor’s house, but Kiki mostly hung out at our house by herself. It was fascinating to listen to her as she processed this preview of what it would be like to live on her own. I can tell that it was a good experience for her. She had to take responsibility for feeding herself and curbing her tendency to watch anime all day. She also detailed her evening babysitting as she welcomed the other kids home and tucked them into bed to wait for my arrival. It all went so smoothly. There were no big upsets. No frantic phone calls from children in need of parental intervention. I was able to completely focus on other things and the kids were well cared for.