Despite our worries and doubts, Daddy not only survived his “Double-duty Diaper Day,” he cleaned up afterward! Wow! Didn’t expect that! It was a long day for Danny and he deserves our respect. He managed a late morning play date at the zoo, followed by a four-hour play date at home with two precocious toddlers all on his own. Things were going so well when my friend Angie and I called twice that evening, that we lost track of time and were an hour late leaving the Mother’s Day Soiree in downtown Denver. We were having so much fun perusing all the cute, cuddly baby wear, chatting with all the awesomely inspiring Mompreneurs who had come out to show their wares, sipping tasty drinks and devouring delicious desserts, that we became completely detached from reality waiting for us back home. I can’t remember if it was in the middle of a bite of my thick slab of triple-chocolate cake or the enormous chocolate-covered strawberries that I glanced at the time. We knew that hour would cost Danny as it was already bedtime and the girls had surely turned into pumpkins by now. Panicked, I placed the call. My fears were confirmed. Having gone without a nap that day after running laps around the rhinoceros exhibit, Reagan had just walloped Sophia on the head with her princess wand. This sent Sophia shrieking around the room, elephant-sized tears streaming down her face as Reagan sat expressionless, holding her instrument of torture and curiously staring at the ensuing chaos. Our own daughter – a bully with no remorse. With Sophia hyperventilating beside him, Danny tried to get Reagan to say she was sorry, but if in her vocabulary, it’s not a word she’s chosen to exercise yet; nor “please” or “thank you” for that matter. “You’re going into time-out!” he scolded as he carried our daughter unresistant off to her crib. To his amazement, she laid down without complaint and promptly went to sleep — her secret desire all along. He and Sophia were now chillin’ on the couch taking in some King of the Hill. Envisioning the entire scene of my husband’s predicament sent Angie and I into guilty waves of laughter as we sat in the car ready to head home. “Is it okay if Sophia watches the Simpsons?” Danny wanted to know. Angie gave her blessing, just relieved to know that Sophia was now content and completely in her element as if couch surfing with her own father.

Danny now has a new predicament: Angie and I are plotting to do a weekly girl’s night out now. We’ve put both our husbands to the test and they have proved themselves “toddler-proof.”