Talking To A Mom

I love talking to my sister, the mother of a 4 and 1 year old, on the phone. We'll be in the middle of a conversation, as we were yesterday, when suddenly she'll break off and say, "Take your hands off him," and then continue our conversation as if nothing had happened.  Ten minutes later she again interrupts herself to calmly say to someone behind her, "Stop choking him." A few moments later, "I mean it."

I finally started laughing and she admitted that as a mom, sentences now come out of her that she never thought she'd utter. My favorite is from several years ago when her four-year-old was just one or two. We were on the phone and I could hear this low, semi-moaning, echo-y sound in the background.

"What is that noise?" I asked.

"Oh, that's just J----" she said. "He has his head in a bucket. He likes the echo."

Okay--maybe I'm missing a little something not having kids. But that's what nieces and nephews are for.