This is my 5 year old son, Anders, making his first phone call to a girl.

Not any girl - the girl. His first real crush.

Clutched in his right hand is the number the girl gave him on the bus home from school. He left a message, which I'm sure was muddled and impossible to understand, and then... he waited.

Every time the phone rang, Anders would run yelling "it's her! she's calling me back!"

Alas, she never called back. I explained to Anders that sometimes, unfortunately, she doesn't call back.

I really didn't expect to be having this conversation with him so soon. Before you know it, we'll have to talk about "you know what."