For those of you who know her, here's a story about my daughter, Licia (age 5 1/2) .

Licia has had a bit of a cold lately - nothing too serious, but a good bit of that nasty post-nasal drip, which has meant that she had a few rough nights where her sleep was interrupted by occasional coughing (now thankfully finished).

But the other night, she awoke a few times and called to me (our rooms are across from one another), needing a little bit of attention and reassurance that she would be able to go back to sleep.

The third time she awoke was around 3:15 in the morning. I heard her cough once or twice , but decided to wait and see if she would go back to sleep on her own or call out to me. Instead, she got up out of bed and came creeping into my room.

"Mom!" she whispered.

"Can't sleep?" I asked.

"No! I keep coughin' like a frog!" she answered.

I pulled my sleepy self out of bed and started guiding her gently back toward her room.

"Don't worry," I said. "You'll be able to go back to sleep. You'll see..."

"But, Mom," she insisted. "I just keep coughing like a frog! I'll never get back to sleep."

"Licia-lou," I answered firmly. "You've just been sleeping for five full hours without a single cough. You're gonna be fine. Just get back in bed. You'll be asleep before you know it."

"But, Mom. I keep telling you. I just keep coughing like a frog."

By this time I had gotten her back into her bed and she had pulled her covers up around her little shoulders and settled into the position she always assumes before falling alseep. I could see she wasn't going to be long for this world.

As I gently rubbed her back, I couldn't resist taunting her ever so slightly.

"By the way, Licia,"I said. "Frogs don't cough."

And from just this side of Orpheus' embrace, she nonetheless managed to shoot back,

"This one does."