(Note: please just add a handful of exclamation marks at the end of each request, and imagine a childish voice yelling each request (command?) at the top of robust five-year-old lungs)

1. “Mommy, I want water.” (Yes. Classic. I know. But it gets better than this. Much, much better.)

2. “Mommy, I want to go get my own water.”

3. “Mommy, I want the blue cup, not the Boston Pizza cup.”

4. “Mommy, I want the Boston Pizza cup, not the blue cup.”

5. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes up. “I just wanted to tell you what I’m going to dream about.”

6. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes upstairs. “I just wanted to tell you what I’m going to play with when I get up in the morning.”

7. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes upstairs. “I just wanted to tell you what I want us to do tomorrow.”

8. “Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom.”

9. “Mommy, I’m IN THE BATHROOM and making brown tinky butt.” (Yes, we say that around here. It started out as a kind of cute saying and now, uh, has stuck. So to speak.)

10. “Mommy, I want new music.” (The CD player is there, within his reach. Yes, he knows how to turn it on. Yes, he knows how to change CDs.)

11. “Mommy, I want you to turn on the music again.” (See no. 10 above.)

12. “Mommy, I want to sleep on the other side of the bed.”

13. “Mommy, I want to sleep in the middle of the bed.”

14. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes upstairs. “Can you help me pick up my covers? They dropped on the floor.”

15. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes upstairs. “I don’t want to dream about Swiper [the fox, from Dora the Explorer].”

16. “Mommy, my back is itchy.”

17. “Mommy, I want you to put cream on my back.”

18. “Mommy, I need more water. I drank up all of it already.”

19. “Mommy, the curtains fell down.” (Because he was pulling on them while looking out his window.)

20. “Mommy, I need you.” Mommy comes upstairs. “Look at this mosaic piece that came off my mosaic picture. Can you put it back?”

There’s more but someone’s calling, “Mommy, I need you” and Mommy needs to go upstairs …