>I’ve Got Talent!

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Last night, I had just put the kids to bed and found a moment to myself when I heard a strange-sounding cough coming from my children’s bedroom.

Unfortunately, it was a cough I recognized. For the last few nights, Bruiser has had some residual congestion from an old cold. Shortly after going to bed, he begins coughing, and doesn’t stop until he’s puked his guts out.

Fun!

When I was still a rookie mom, this would have meant several nights of changing crib sheets, wiping my child down with a wet towel, and a change of pajamas and diaper. But now, things are different.

Now, I’m a veteran.

And so this time, when I heard the coughing, I quickly ran to the kids’ room and grabbed a receiving blanket from the pile I keep in the cabinet. I picked Bruiser up and patted him on the back, while spreading the blanket around his neck like a bib. And just as I got everything in place, he puked. Right into the blanket.

SCORE.

I set Bruiser down, wadded up the blanket and threw it out into the hall. He kept coughing. I grabbed another blanket,unfolded it, and held it out. He threw up again, into blanket number two.

Deftly, I wadded up that blanket and grabbed another. He threw up again. I grabbed another blanket and he threw up in that one. And then he did it again, into yet another blanket.

Finally, his coughing quieted. I wiped off his mouth with a wet wipe, laid him down in my lap and he instantly fell back asleep.

I put him back in his crib, picked up the blankets in the hall and dumped them all into the washing machine. Crisis over. And there were no sheets or pajamas that needed to be changed, no naked, crying child to deal with… nothing.

All was well.

I realized then that I have developed a major league puke-catching talent. And really, there should be some sort of compensation for this, or at least an appearance on America’s Got Talent. Because it’s a pretty incredible skill, if I do say so myself.

So if you’d like to be my agent, feel free to contact me. Right now, I’m considering my options.

This post originally appeared on Parents.com.