While my students take their final

First, a note: if you know people who used to read Changing Lyla but haven't emailed me about this blog because they don't know me or whatever, tell them they shouldn't worry and that friend-of-a-friend-of-a-colleague is fine with me. My email is lylasdad@gmail.com.

Last night I slept downstairs in the guest bedroom so Julie wouldn't exhale swine flu into my nostrils. It was cold.

This morning I dressed a cheerful, babbling Lyla, and Julie plodded into the nursery to moan hello and tell me the outfit I picked made Lyla look like a boy. Thank goodness Lyla got her H1N1 shot. I think all of Julie's symptoms would pale in comparison to not being able to hold her daughter.

Julie went back to bed, and I fed Lyla yogurt and milk downstairs. When you're in a hurry because your wife has the swine and you have to drive your baby to daycare even though it'll make you 45 minutes late to your own job, just try to get that baby to eat quickly. The urgency and enthusiasm with which I offered each spoonful could not compete with the speck she discovered on the wall.

In the car, I made sure to put my laptop in the back seat. That's what you do when you drive your baby to daycare, especially if it's a change in routine. If I were to lose my mind on the road and drive to work instead, which isn't that difficult to imagine since I don't have much of a brain that early anyway, the backseat laptop would put me face to face with Lyla.

But of course, I didn't forget about her. She toddled over to her teacher, not caring about me whatsoever at that moment. "Bye bye, Lyla...see you later...okay, I'm leaving now...Daddy's leaving...bye..." Couldn't she at least whimper a little bit when I turn to go?

Having first period off is vital when you have a baby and your wife gets the swine. Now I'm sitting at my desk as my period three students take their final. Julie's hopefully still sleeping. Lyla's probably running around with her new favorite thing, the fist-sized plastic toy lipstick. When she chews on it, she looks like she's trying to smoke it.