I love to mention how amazing my wife is in all appropriate regards, and this situation is no different. She called me earlier today to say that son number 2 (who barely slept at all last night due to a hacking, barking cough) was obviously sick. More than likely some respiratory flu of some sort. Tired and listless, he vegged out on the couch all morning, coughing, fever, aches, and sore throat – not a happy camper.

The wife then called much later and informed me that the boy hadn’t drank anything since first thing in the morning. According to the hospital nurse hotline, at 12 hours with no fluids, children 2 and under are considered technically dehydrated and need to be brought into the emergency room. So, we desperately needed to get him to drink something. Unfortunately, he wasn’t having any of it. Yikes.

She sounded a bit panicked when she talked to me. I was little help at work, and even less of a help due to a mountain of responsibilities that I needed to accomplish in a relatively short span of time. But the wife was patient and she persisted.

I took off early and came home to help out. But I didn’t really need to. Sometime after I got home, she got the brilliant idea to host a miniature tea party in the living room. Complete with the entire play tea set, juice, and crackers, she and the sickly one sat down and poured each other drinks. Within a few minutes, he was happily chugging away, smiling, and quickly after that, began to feel rejuvenated. And we relaxed. A bit. We’re still watching him like a hawk. We’re not out of the woods, but at least now we can see the clearing.

It’s situations like this that remind me why she is the amazing mother, who is great at caring and doting and comforting; and I am the poor, hapless father, who has funny voices and lets the kids play video games.

All us boys are lucky ones indeed.