The exception

A dear and wise friend of mine often jokingly (or not so jokingly) says "I'm surprised that child abuse is the exception and not the norm." When I was a DINK (dual-income, no kids) I laughed along although I had no idea what he actually meant. Now I know. Oh boy, do I know. I think Buster cried for about 18 hours yesterday on and off. We tried everything. We fed him. We changed him. We took him out. Nothing helped. It was hellish to say the least. When I went in at 8:30 to put him to bed (again) Jimmy had to gently remind me "it's not his fault. be nice." This is just to give you an example of both of our mental state.
Which leads me to the next wise thing said by a dear friend - "I was a better parent before I had kids." Never were words spoken that are more true. Jimmy and I always said "we won't give our kid Tylenol to get him to sleep. That would be unethical and selfish!" Well...last night he got the Tylenol. It was hard for me not to give him double the dosage, actually. All we wanted was an hour of blissful silence. Of course, we didn't get it anyway. So then Jimmy decided just to lock Buster in his room in the hopes that he would cry himself to sleep. He didn't. Let's just say I've never been more glad to be at work!