If you’re a dad, you’ll excuse the fact that I launched this on Friday January 27 and it’s already Tuesday January 31 before I’ve added a second entry. That’s not the kind of focus I’ll need if this will some day rival CNN.com for readership.
In that time though, both kids have been sick – the kind where they wake up in the middle of the night and want to scream and cry inconsolably for an hour or so. My son, who is two, makes no apologies and just lets it out. My daughter, who seems to have a low-grade flu at the moment, is more the pitiful moaning type. In the middle of the night with daytime responsibilities looming, it’s all you can do to find the thermometer and the acetaminophen, and get through it. At 3AM, yours is to endure another Sisyphusian challenge of being a good and patient dad: Keep your eyes on the ball, and not on the clock. Time really has no meaning when the crying decibels are blinding your bleary eyes from even seeing the hour hand. Keep on repeating “she’s only a baby,” and take solace in the moral victory you can take over your spouse. After all, tomorrow night, she just may let you get a good night’s sleep.