Father-Son Bonding...

Took Paco to the ER today for our Sunday activity. With a $50 co-pay, it comes down to about $8.50/person/hour for the 3 hours we were there.

It's not the easiest thing in the world to keep a 2 year old occupied in a confined space for that amount of time, but the boy was a trooper.

I felt so bad for him. He'd had 2 hard nights in a row and though he was in good spirits, it was clear to all that he was having difficulty breathing.

The nurses did a great job of keeping him happy (the ongoing popsicle supply helped) and with some books I had fortunately brought along, his desire to amble around the ER, and our discovery of how to raise the hospital bed to its maximum height and then lower the front part (thereby creating a playground-like slide), we had a good time.

There were moments when I will admit, I was wathching the clock, but I caught myself and said, "you know, this is LIFE. This IS parenting. It's these moments as well as the "great ones." This is the labor of love that parenting is all about. I need to cherish this one-tough as it might be-just as I would a day at the park."

Once I did that, my mood relaxed and my son, my adventure companion for the day, made it memorable through his attitude and jovial nature.

And all for a pretty economical price...