Our plan while our six-year old was in the hospital was for me to spend days with him, and his mom to spend nights. Assuming he slept, this would let both of us work, her at school, and me on the laptop when the little guy was sleeping.

The little guy, however, wasn’t a sleeper. Not when his daddy was sitting in the room, at any rate.

On the second day of his hospitalization, he asked me a very quiet question. “Daddy, who is staying with me tonight?”

“Momma,” I whispered back. Even though it was a weekend, we were keeping our planned schedule, giving my wife a chance to get out of the hospital and spend some time with the little guy’s older brother.

He smiled and gave a satisfied nod.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “You’re glad it’s Momma staying and not me?”

He laughed nervously. “Well,” he said. “My best is to have both of you here.”

“She’s better to have here at night, isn’t she?” I asked.

The little guy visibly relaxed. “Yeah.”

“She’s quieter than me, isn’t she?” I persisted.

He smiled, his eyes sparkling, but didn’t say anything. 

“I don’t do quiet very well, do I?”

“No Daddy,” he said, closing his eyes.

“But – ”

“Shh, Daddy.”

Hmph.