Husband Is the Past Tense of Daddy: And Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of Motherhood

Zarnow writes a nationally syndicated column, ``Color Me Mommy,'' on surviving life with small children. Contrary to the title, ``Daddy'' gets only brief notice as the author's loving but incompetent partner in the grinding task of raising their three tyrants, infants through age six. These destroyers of domestic peace are beguiling but, like Daddy, are seldom heard from here. Mom's marathon recital of her role as a modern Sisyphus overloads the story with details on the joys, woes and--mostly--frustrations of a woman trying to civilize the tinies. Since the situations will be all too familiar to everyone who has ever stood in the author's shoes, readers' eyes may take on a glaze and skip much of the text. But skimmed in small doses, the book can be amusing and engaging. (May)