baby sparklet’s gotten her very first illness this weekend, in an obvious salute to the start of my paternity leave. she has mild(ish) case of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which from all accounts seems to be about as menacing as your average cold even though it sticks around for a bit longer.

and with that, my idyllic visions of paternity leave — museums in the morning, a pint at the pub in the afternoon — have been put on hold for a bit. turns out that there isn’t any treatment for the mild version of the virus, so it looks like we’re just hanging around for the next five days watching bad TV.

the silver lining here is that one of the HD channels is running a Nash Bridges marathon (Don Johnson! Cheech Marin! Yasmine Bleeth!). It’s hard to be depressed in the face of such daytime TV excellence (i’m hoping for a “Walker, Texas Ranger” marathon tomorrow).

for the record, sparklet is taking this all in stride. she seems to be a little annoyed that Don Johnson hasn’t been properly recognized for the dynamic range he displays as the “smart-alecky” police inspector who fights crime on the streets of San Francisco.

other than that, she’s the happiest sick baby i’ve ever seen.

UPDATE: Not a full marathon, but i got FOUR whole episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger” this morning. My life is nearing a state of nirvana-like completion.