You should never say it unless you mean it. “If there’s anything I can do, just call.” I think a lot of people say the words, and maybe they even mean them at the time, but secretly they’re hoping that the call never comes.

As a person who is comfortably settled into a routine, I could easily fall into that last category. That’s why I try never to say it unless I mean it, and I meant it when I told Tammy that she could count on me during these trying pre-baby days. Her condition has been upgraded to “modified” or “partial” bed rest. You might think that would mean there would be less chance that she’d need my help, but instead it means she can get out more and could possibly have occasion to require the services of a baby sitter.

So that’s how I found myself refereeing a wrestling match between D.J. and Dakota for an hour or so tonight. And trying to keep them from teasing the dog so that the dog wouldn’t turn on them. And assuring Dakota that he really was a T-Rex (he kept insisting, “Not pretending! I’m sorry!”). And expending a lot of energy convincing D.J. not to say the word “pretending” just to get a rise out of his brother.

They were mostly fine. They might have had a little more energy than I was prepared to cope with, after another sleepless night and hectic day, but I’ll never admit defeat in the face of a challenge from a couple of small boys. No one was maimed or otherwise traumatized, so I guess it was a successful evening. And, as I said, it only lasted an hour.

Here’s the new game Aiden and I invented: I sit on the sofa and he walks up and (very dramatically) turns around and flings his hands in the air, so that I can pull him up next to me. He giggles, and then he scoots down to the floor and repeats the game about eight times in a row, or until he’s distracted by something he sees out the window behind me (“Truck!”).