It is my fondest hope that this Second Edition of The Portable Pediatrician winds up tattered and torn, splattered with coffee stains, down on the floor beside (or under; I’m not fussy) your bed. That’s where the First Edition often wound up—as many readers tell me—and I’m honored. After all, if you’re a pediatrician who’s portable, that’s where you belong: where the action is, and when the action is, which is often at night.