This is an observation I made when my kids were toddlers: You call a friend to vent. It’s a miracle – you actually get her and not voicemail. Quality phone time with a friend is so precious and rare when your kids are little – it’s like ice cream without freezer burn. But something tells you you’re going to pay dearly. During those 10 minutes of blissful chatter, your toddler decides to have a tantrum, unravels all the tissue paper in the house, colors “pretty pictures” on the kitchen wall and disconnects the phone base that’s buried under the load of laundry you just folded. You tell her you’ll call her back. You leave two voicemails a week later and decide to catch up via e-mail and at the playground until your toddlers go to Kindergarten.