The phone rings.  I pick it up.  “Hello?”

Heavy breathing.

I look at the caller ID.  It’s someone from my brother’s house.

“Hello,” I say again.

Heavy breathing and then a soft whistle.  Then a giggle.

“Omigosh!” I exclaim.  “You’ve learned how to whistle!”

She giggles again and tells me, “But it’s a sucking-in whistle.  Not one I blow out.”

She’s five and her previous attempts at whistling have been a vocalized whistle.  “Woo-oo-woo” she would sound off.  Now, she whistles in my ear…even if it’s just an inward whistle.  It’s music to my ears.

“Aunt Dawn…”

“Yes?”  I’m still reeling from one more action that is showing she’s growing up before my eyes and there’s nothing I can do to make her slow down.

“Is this how you learned?  Did you suck in before you learned to whistle out?”  She wants to belong, to know she’s doing it right.

“Absolutely,” I tell her.  “It’s the easiest way to learn.”  I suck a whistle in to show her.

She giggles and whistles, whistles and giggles.

And I’m in love all over again.