Sunday, March 2, 2008

“You’re only allowed to say mama three more times today”

My friend, who is an excellent mom, was telling me this story over lunch about her four-year-old daughter, Ella. After a day of repeating the word “mama” seven million times, most of the time for no credible reasons, my friend Jill was reduced to the following dialog with her:

Ella: Mama, mama, mama.

Jill: Ella, you’re only allowed to say mama three more times today.

Ella: Mama…

Jill: That’s one.

Ella: Mama…

Jill: That’s two.

Ella: Mama, mama, mama…

Jill: Okay, three, four and five. That’s it, no more saying mama all day today…

This is the kind of conversation, that if heard from the outside, would sound absurd. But, you know exactly what she means–don’t you? Come on now…if you’re a mom you’ve been there. It’s like when you hear yourself saying something crazy like, “You’re going to sit there until you finish every last bite of that cupcake, mister.”

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