I was in the kitchen stealing some chocolate the other day, when I heard my oldest confront my wife.

“You really need to do laundry,” he said.

Uh, oh. I palmed the Hershey’s and turned around to watch.

His momma carefully put down the dish she was drying. “Okay,” she said. “Looks like you get to do laundry today.”

“What?” His voice was almost a shriek.

“You talk to me like that, you get to do it yourself. Don’t worry. I’ll show you how.”

“Oh man.”

I couldn’t help myself. I chuckled. The big guy looked at me darkly.

“More chores?” I said. “Looks like you’re growing up.”

He rolled his eyes. “And not in the tall way.”