September 29, 2000 - Friday
We thought Harry was getting better yesterday, but he was still not himself last evening. He had a fluctuating temperature and was unusually fussy, so we scheduled a doctor's appointment for today. Harry's regular doctor wasn't in this morning, but another practitioner checked him out and suggested he was indeed just working through a bad cold and fever. He still had a temperature measured at over 102, but that's not usual for a sick baby. However, the mere suggestion that 102 was a good rule of thumb for keeping a baby out of daycare was more than enough to send us home for the day. It didn't happen right away, but we were headed home nonetheless from that moment.

Being with Harry through his sorry state on Wednesday brought an awkward combination of emotions: satisfaction from being there for and with him through a time of discomfort and the intense empathy and sympathy for his ailing. But his mother, being apart from him during that time, felt only the latter emotion. Put that with the instinct that tells a mother to be with a sick child and, from the doctor's word that daycare was less than ideal under Harry circumstances, this was going to be mother's day at home. Harry's mother didn't command us home right away - we both needed to return at least briefly to our respective offices - but the unspoken desire to think only of Harry was obvious.

I took Harry with me back to the lab for a brief time, since it is a more relaxed atmosphere, to collect some work to bring home and Harry's mother went back to her workplace. He napped for a short time in the car and then for a while in my lap, but when he awoke, it was time to go. I had my time with Harry on Wednesday. Today, he needed to be with his mother and she needed to be with him.


Comments, opinions?