The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

My five-year old has a mild fever; she put herself to bed at 6:30 p.m. tonight: "Ok, mama, it's bedtime." Her two-year-old sister, sucker that she is, followed suit — god forbid she be left out of anything, even an early bedtime: "Me sleep! No, me sleep!"

My two year old has a stuffy nose. She woke up last night at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. Then she woke my five year old, who normally would grumble a bit, then roll over and ignore the disturbance, but instead said, in a terribly awake voice, "mama, you're home!" Clearly not enough mama time lately. It's been all of three days, and rehearsals are already taking their toll. She was ready to chat. So I ping-ponged for a bit between them: