Panel 1: That's actually a cute shot of Robin. But what's Merrie up to? Does she really want to play, or does she want to get him in trouble, like she did earlier?
Panel 2: Oh, man, the Pattersons Redux even sleep with their backs turned to each other. Mike has an alert ear, I guess, or perhaps he wasn't really asleep, but stressing about his writing.
Panel 3: Eek! Merrie looks like Ann Darrow in the clutches of King Kong!
Panel 4: Good lord, Mike looks like he has boobs.
Panel 5: Well, who didn't see that coming. Gah, the endless cycle of the joke about the endless cycle. But why does Deanna have bug eyes? Regretting her "planned accident", perhaps? Anyway, this is a flawed reasoning. I don't see how being the parents of a toddler in your twenties affects the aging process in your fifties. ETA: Anyway, what exactly is so stressful about picking up your kids and handing them over to your wife, or putting them back in their beds? That's really all we ever see him do with Merrie and Robin: pick them up and put them away like toys.
