I've been laughing in sympathy all the while I've been catching up.
I did make it a point from early to listen to hours upon hours of cartoon replays, playground play-by-plays, and Mighty Adventures of Spiff the Spaceman-equivalent when my sons were small to middle-sized. Which paid off when they were larger and had Actual Problems to talk about, or How Should I Feel about this social skill, or that common habit of What I Feel is abuse? The payoff was massive. And also unexpectedly brought with it random friends with their own troubles, dragged home with them because, "You really need to talk to my mom." With my own it was not unheard of to sit and make it safe for them to spill until, oh, 3 or 4 am and then try to grab a few hours' sleep before work. Regrettable in the moment, but overall worth it, I think.