Mom's the Word

Recently, my daughter learned how to get my attention. It started at dinner as an innocent game: "Mom, Mom, Mooooom!", followed by a giggle when I turned and looked at her. This was a game that lasted all dinner long. It got our whole table laughing.
Well, the pattern has been learned, and now I can expect to hear my name in any variety of ways, innumerable times a day until she is acknowledged. There's: "Mom", or "Mmmom", or "Moooom", or Mommm", and the ever urgent "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" This is something that could be found annoying, but it's not.
Because, several months ago I was watching a home video of my daughter as an infant. As I videotaped her newest trick, my son was overheard in the background calling, "Mom?" And right then, I heard my son's voice in a new way. I heard the sweetness and innocence, instead of the neediness that can sometimes be so exhausting in the moment. And I thought to myself, that little voice will one day be grown and gone, and my background noise will no longer be little people calling for their mom. And in an instant, I realized that as repetitive as my name can become, it is truly the sweetest sound in the world. 
I love to be a mom- their mom. I I belong to them, and they belong to me. They need me, and I can help them.
And I need them.