A friend of mine says, “The most heroic task of a parent is getting their child to sleep each night.” Ah, that’s a challenge. Mila & I have our routine. It’s changes every few months. The process usually takes about 45 minutes. (Yes, to those of you without children: parenting takes a lot of time.) After she falls asleep I stay with her for a few minutes to make sure she drifts into a deep slumber. Otherwise I’m rushing back to the bedroom to soothe a screaming toddler who can’t understand why she’s along in the crib. (We tried the “cry it out” method and that didn’t work.)

On this night, just as Mila entered her sleep zone, a frenzied roar echoed across the barrio as a football game ended. A fan in our building sounded as if he himself had been unleashed onto the playing field. All the while I made humming sounds into my little girl’s ear in hopes that she wouldn’t stir. The magic held and her rest continued undisturbed. (Her mother once fell asleep during a University of Miami football game…in the stadium..the Orange Bowl. A different kind of football, but maybe Mila will have the same indifference to it as her parents. We’ll leave that to her, though we hope she doesn’t become a botinera [one of those girls who pursue football players for the moneyed lifestyle…do a Google image search on botinera if you need a visual reference.])

Oh, and the ball game. Evidently it was quite a big game as a tournament is underway. I should follow the sport more often but unless it’s the World Cup I’m really can’t muster the enthusiasm.