"I Can Tell When You're Pretending"

While working on the computer after the kids went to bed, my wife began telling me about a breakthrough with our exceptionally emotional toddler daughter. She discovered that our daughter is happy throughout the day when my wife takes about 10-15 minutes to simply snuggle with our daughter when she wakes up. Given that a usual day consists of half a dozen bona fide tantrums before her afternoon nap, this really was a breakthrough. Tired, with half my attention focused on what I was doing on the computer, I briefly looked up and said, "That's great!"


Wrong answer! She replied, "I can tell when you're pretending to be excited about something."

I realized the strange irony in the fact that the minute our kids are in bed, I often go straight to my computer to get stuff done and to email friends while my wife is sitting right next to me wanting to talk about her day.

Just before bed, my wife did admit, "Don't worry. I do the same thing to you sometimes."