Most days the kids are such beautiful creatures. They are learning, experimenting, cuddling, playing games with me... I wish I got to see more of them but I'm in office 5 days a week with a long commute, and we're all feeling it.

But every once in a a while there is the day where they smear an entire dresser with zinc cream and that shit takes ages to wash off. Or they piss on you the moment you remove them from the bath. Or they spend an hour fighting you about going to bed so you just throw them into their bedroom and use your body to block their door until they get too tired from banging it and screaming and pass out; really started to appreciate my Steam Deck after that.

You remember these events well because they don't happen often. You don't remember every time you cuddled watching a movie, worked on a project together, made food together, or felt proud of them, because that's pretty much every day.

I will add the caveat that this is for "normal" kids. I used to volunteer for a few groups for seriously disabled children and you didn't see too many couples at those events... Usually one parent wants to keep the child while the other says they cannot effectively raise them, and you can guess how that goes. Having spent a lot of time with those kids and seeing the damage families suffer because of it, I do not suggest taking on the challenge of serious disability unless you are able to secure substantial material assistance; it's far lonelier and harder than you can imagine.