I used to cry when I heard it.
The smacking of teeny, tiny newborn lips.
My ravaged, raw breasts — trying so hard to get the hang of breastfeeding a newborn — would clench defensively.
Together with the hungry cry, the wet cry, the poopy cry, and the gassy cry, that lip-smacking sound announced to the world that I was a mom.
It’s one of five distinct sounds that is universal to this motherhood gig. Indeed, hearing these five sounds below mean just one thing:
You’re a Mom.
1. The smacking lips of an incessantly hungry newborn (didn’t I just feed you?!)
2. The distinct cackle-lackle of a child digging frantically in the bottom of the Lego box for that one-in-a-million piece that your child just HAS to have.
3. Silence. It either means the kids are home and there’s trouble brewing or the kids aren’t home and you go into shock because you can’t remember what silence sounds like.
4. A plaintive cry, not from hunger or a boo-boo. No, this plaintive cry is most commonly associated with trying to comb the tangles out of Barbie’s hair, losing in Candy Land to a sibling, or removing a band-aid.
5. The inane voice of a cartoon character: Dora, Spongebob, Caillou, etc. They. Are. All. So. Grating.
Yup, hearing lip-smacking, cackle-lackle, silence, a plaintive cry, and annoying cartoon characters mean you’re a mom.
What other sounds of motherhood are universal to us all?
“Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommy!” in the middle of the night. I was SOUND asleep last night when we heard it, so my poor husband had to respond! 😉
Rabia @TheLiebers recently posted…10 Things I Love About my Body! #TuesdayTen
Wow! That’s impressive that you slept through it. Usually, the dads are the ones who keep sleeping. 🙂
Katy @ Experienced Bad Mom recently posted…12 Things I’ve Learned in 12 Years as a Parent
And I was going to offer up a “mooommmmmmmm” too. However mine is uttered in reaction to a sibling’s unsolicited thumping, thievery or glance. Blessed in this regard are the parents of one child only.
Kelly l m kenzie recently posted…Don’t Mess With My Kids
Thievery – good one! I should do a post simply on the sounds that siblings make, per my Candy Land comment in #4. There’s nothing to inspire a blog post like the sound of one sibling losing to another!
Katy @ Experienced Bad Mom recently posted…12 Things I’ve Learned in 12 Years as a Parent
As a grandmother, I get mostly only the good stuff like “MWAH!!!” – the sound they make when they blow kisses. Get’s me every time!
Mo recently posted…Typos, Travel Troubles and Trucks
Awww, that’s a good one! I’ll take that any day.
Oh yes, all of them! Plus that gagging I’m about to throw up sound in the middle of the might….. That one is terrible!
Jen recently posted…Six Humorous Wedding Experiences And A Blog Post
Cackle-lackle…that is the perfect way to describe that Lego digging sound! Low pitched whining is something I hear a lot lately…usually because the car trip is more than 15 minutes. =)
Melissa (Wading Through Motherhood) recently posted…5 Phrases Parents Don’t Want to Hear in the Middle of the Night
“Low pitched whining” – good one!!
This morning, after my SECOND DAY of fitness boot camp, when my body is SCREAMING in agony, I plop down on my bed to rest for a minute. From the next room, I hear a distant, quiet “help me, help me!” that gets progressively louder. I jump off my bed, run into the next room to help my child (who must be in significant distress!) to find her sitting on her bedroom floor unharmed (thankfully!). I ask her why she called me, and she said, “I had to. My backpack was stuck under the chair.” Whew… but the pain… oh, the pain….
Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m laughing too!!
“Mom…Mom…MOM….MOM…..MOM…MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM …..MOM MOM MOM”
And so on, and so forth.
LOL
Chris Carter recently posted…The Mess of Mediocrity
OF COURSE!! 🙂 I love it, too, when “Mom mom mom mom” is followed by me asking, “what?” to which the kids reply, “I forget.”!!