17 January 2007

Rantings of a sleepy dad...


At 3:18 AM this morning, I had just under 2 and a half hours of sleep. That's when I heard the coughing, followed by, "Mom-my!" then "Dad-dy!"

My youngest son was awake and I knew he wasn't feeling good. So, I went in his room and got him. He was warm, but not hot and he was coughing pretty good. It still wasn't time for his cough medicine, but I decided to give him something for the cold I could hear in his chest. If I put him in the bed with my wife and I, all three of us would have been awake, so I decided to go downstairs to my favorite spot for coughing kids in the middle of the night - the sofa. I propped him at a comfortable angle on a throw pillow in the corner of the sofa, covered him in a blanket and laid down alongside him. He stopped coughing but was still breathing kinda' funky. I could still hear a little rattle in his chest. I decided that I'd give the medicine 30 minutes to work, before I step my Doctor Daddy game up.

So, there I was at 3:30 in the morning, in the dark, wishing I was the one that was congested instead of my boy. As I watched the minutes tick away in the green glow of my VCR, I couldn't help but be amazed at the millions of sounds a house makes in the middle of the night. Floors creak and crackle as the temperature outside drops degree after degree. The refrigerator makes a loud click sound before the motor kicks on - I'm not sure I've ever even heard the refrigerator motor before. My wife has some wind chimes out back that were banging like Grambling's band versus FAMU at halftime.

Then at 4 o'clock on the nose, my resting eyes where shocked wide open by a loud bang behind me! I had an instant adrenaline rush that prepared me for the horde of monsters from my childhood that were about to leap from behind the sofa to devourer me. They weren't going to harm my son, because as everyone knows - monsters don't eat kids, DUH. But I was ready for Freddie Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, JAWS, Micheal Myers and Jack Nicholson [whatever his name was in "The Shining"] I was amp'd and ready to stand down whatever caused the loud sound. Then, I used my Hyper Sensitive Daddy Record and Re-Play God-Gifted Sound System and I was able to quickly replay the sound I heard, filter out the light haze of sleep, triangulate the direction, duration and volume of the sound and determined that it was NOT a nightmarish horde of villains, but was instead my oldest son dropping his big plastic HUMMVEE out of his bed. He was obviously stirring about and knocked the toy out onto the floor.

Noticing that my son was breathing a little better, and I probably wouldn't be getting back to sleep, I allowed myself to imagine who I would have enlisted to help me fight off the Freddie Kruger lead assault. My immediate roster of Allies consisted of: The Incredible Hulk (The REAL Hulk - Lou Ferrigno], Bo & Luke Duke [w/The General Lee], K.I.T.T. [w/o Michael Knight], Mannix and Danno. While I don't expect many people under 35 to remember Mannix or Danno, suffice it to say that I have put together a mighty group of characters to do battle in my living room at 4:00AM.

I never did make it back to sleep.

Maybe that's why I just wrote this...
TSBM

9 comments:

Tasha said...

Aww, I hope your son gets well soon. You sound like a great Dr. Dad!

Anonymous said...

Jack Nicolson in "The Shining" scares the crap outta me even today.

The "A Team" coulda helped you without anybody getting shot and the Justice League shoulda been on that roster too! LOL!

Glad The Thinking Black Son is feeling better and hope you get some much needed rest tonight baby brother!

Anonymous said...

lol, I thought this only happened to me when I have similar situations with one of my boys! I, however, generally enlist the aide of Galactus, Thor and of course, Black Adam lol (look over me, I spent to much time in my youth at the comic shop).

The Thinking Black Man said...

Hey there TASHA -
Thanks for the compliment! And, my little man is back in the game as of this morning!

What's up Sista' CREOLE?
The A-Team!!! Now why didn't I think of that? To be honest - it was a toss up between Columbo and Mannix, but Columbo never struck me as a tough guy!

Hmmm, the A-Team... they DID have cool guns and that VAN!!! : )

DJ BLACK ADAM My Brother!!! Speaking of Glactus... have you seen the trailer for Fantastic Four Two? Man - go to the official movie website - THE OFFICAL SITE! And check out the trailer! It's a 90 second clip featuring Human Torch and THE SILVER SURFER.

One word can describe it... SWEEEEEEEEEEET!

Gunfighter said...

Oh. No. You. Di'nt!

You didn't just start rattling off Marvel superheroes in my face!

You didn't do that in front of a guy who lovingly collected Marvel comics for years and years and years!

Uh Uh!

You should have added Dr. Strange and Ghostrider to your list! Not to mention Luke Cage, The Power Man!, oh, and The Falcon and Black PAnther, too!

By the way, I truly dug MAnnix as a kid... and I just learned that Hawaii 5-0 will be released on DVD starting this year!

Yeah, baby!

The Thinking Black Man said...

GUNFIGHTER!!!!

I've always been a mark for The Hulk, Ben Grimm and Silver Surfer. I was big into comics years ago and just kinda' got away from them. That is until a friend of mine slid a copy of 2006's Marvel Civil War under my nose. Well, I sorta' kinda' had to keep reading the series... I mean - to NOT finish the series would be rude - right?

But, I digress-
I just read about Hawaii Five-O on DVD YESTERDAY!!!

I've been spreading the word to my buddies!

You know what is going to be very funny about that series on DVD? All of these people under 25 are going to be stunned to see where the phrase "Five-O" REALLY came from!!!

They hit the street in March!

Speaking of old school and STREET...

When is S.W.A.T. and THE ROOKIES coming to DVD!?!?!?

Huh? What?
Do I have to write my Congressman or something?

onefromphilly said...

HAWAII Five-O ?? did somebody say Hawaii Five-O on DVD???? That was my SHOW, I loved McGarett...book-em Dan-O !!! And I loved Mannix!! he was my first real life action hero, in the opening scenes jumping out of a moving car!! Boy...I just had such a good flash-back..
I had to laugh-out-loud at you preparing to battle with the villians of the night. I thought I was the only person who is always ready to jump into superhero mode. hahahahahahaha

dreamyj said...

Awww, too cute! What a great dad you are! Glad to hear he is feeling better! =)

Lisa Johnson said...

So cute! Noises always seem to sound louder late at night!