Yesterday afternoon I took the Dude’s nap as an opportunity to go outside and freeze my fingers off by spray painting some chairs. When I came back inside, WonderGirl looked up at me with remorse-filled eyes and said “I’m sorry.”

This is never good a good opening statement. Before I could ask why, I heard the Dude crying. “I woke him up,” she said sadly. Ug. I braced myself for a workout and warned her to stay away from his room while I tried to put him back down.

Screaming ensued as I tried to snuggle him into submission, and I sat there in the dark thinking black thoughts. The Dude was now hysterical and exhausted and my tricks and patience were falling short. Just as I was about to just toss him back in the crib and hide under my own bed, I saw WG’s silhouette at the door. I frantically shook my head so she wouldn’t attract the Dude’s attention, and she thankfully got the hint and quietly closed the door. Then I saw this picture slip underneath it.

A few minutes later I admitted defeat and let the Dude run off to spend the rest of the day cranky and delirious.  WonderGirl came back upstairs to apologize again.  ”I made you that picture to make you happy again,” she said.  And there was much snuggling.

That, my friends, is the the fuel that gets Mommies through the rough patches.