Tracey Serebin, author of 101 Questions for Expectant Parents, talked with me about how important commujnication is between new moms and dads before and after a baby arrives in the family. Catch the interview on Tracey’s show, “Family Matters,” by visiting www.webtalkradio.net/content/view/598/30/ .

Aside from taking a fairly morbid look at why my wife is essential (http://www.familymanonline.com/columns.php?id=55), I’m attempting to highlight a few less obvious reasons to celebrate my partner in this month of the mommy:

She reads almost as many kid novels as my 10-year-old — at night by herself.

She rarely complains about our sons’ messy rooms because she’s the biggest slob in the house.

She knows how to say, “Sign here, honey,” after she fills out the kid-related paperwork I can’t stand dealing with.

She cleans the cat litter every day in repayment for the eight years I did so while she was in child-bearing mode.

She lets me hide in the bathroom to check my fantasy baseball scores under the pretext that I actually need that long to use the toilet.

She puts up with the fact that her four boys (me included) cry more often than she does.

She allows me to write almost anything I want about her (she nixed a whole lot of graphic details in my childbirth columns).

Happy Mother’s Day to you, honey, and to all the moms out there who do all the big and little things to make our family lives tick. For an extra laugh, check out the following goofy clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcA4Ry65FU .