Parenthood, like life, is a continuum of making choices of varying difficulty. At this moment, Jennifer and I are struggling with the problem of Tara’s ear infections. Tara has gone through something like eight rounds of antibiotics for cold-related infections, and although the ear tubes are done something like two million times each year, we can’t help but want to get at the source of the problem. Tara was treated for her first ear infection two weeks after going into day care. We really like our day care, but the fact is that it is full of other germ-laden children. Tara, more so than most children, puts everything in her mouth, which makes her the ultimate germ magnet.

We have considered putting Tara in a situation with less children, but finding a nanny is difficult, expensive, and scary. Also, we’d really hate leaving our current day care because we like our provider and her family a lot; Anna spent three years there. Further, it’s tough to expend the effort and taking the risk of changing things without actually being able to spend more time with Tara. I’ve resisted Jennifer’s notions of nannies and au pairs primarily for this reason, but I’m getting to the point now that I’ve got to entertain the idea because we absolutely have to do something to get Tara more healthy.

We’re investigating a couple more options lately in earnest, and I really hope that a good solution presents itself.