Hearty

I complain about my kids a lot in this space – about their behavioral and speech delays, or Aaron's temper, or Jada's idiosyncrasies – but Amy and I are fortunate in one important dimension: our kids are hearty. Every week seems to bring news of a friend or family member whose little one kept them up half the night on account of illness or monsters or who knows what. I'm of wimpy composition, in that when it comes to sleep, I fall apart after just one night of relative jaggedness.

Thankfully, such interruptions and disruptions are few and far between. With Jada and Aaron, we know that with very rare exceptions, once we get them down for the night, we'll neither hear nor see them until the morning. Both have strong stomachs. Jada's been exposed to every germ in the book, so she's seldom even a little sick and almost never laid out. And Aaron's been of the same stock since he got tubes: no major ailments, and an increasing ability to slog through any minor ones.

Of course, flu season is far from over, so perhaps I shouldn't tempt the fates by trumpeting our kids' heartiness. Still, I record these words not to crow but rather to express gratitude, that though they are a handful to parent, at least we can usually count on them to be healthy and to sleep through the night.