01 May 2005

I made him laugh


in the infrastructure of our family, I am the head of what you might call the 'complaints' department. that is, I handle most of the complaints (aka: whining) filed on behalf of the three humans I love more than anything in this world. in the case of ezra, I am THE go-to person when serious comforting needs to be done. inconsolable and crying? over-tired? coffee table wipe-out? I am super-soother to the rescue! able to calm even the most cantankerous ezra with my super-magical nursing powers and freakish arm strength. I hold and sway, hum and whisper until said complainer is calm and happy, 100% satisfied with services rendered. ward, on the other hand, is in charge of providing the entertainment. seriously? he is a walking cartoon/carnival/vaudeville sideshow with comedic abilities beyond my scope. it's kind of like he has that special whistle that only dogs can hear but instead of the whistle, he uses crazy noises/faces and instead of dogs, it's children (namely his own) that respond so enthusiastically to his repertoire. and I love this about him. after all, he's the one who scored the very first smile from baby e-z. he has also been known to drive ava into daily breathless fits of giggling. this is not to say that I haven't made my kids smile. quite the contrary-- ava and I share all kinds of silly inside jokes and have a very similar (albeit wicked) sense of humor and ezra's grin lights up the joint the moment he sees me walk into the room. it's just that I'm not usually the one who makes them laugh that most beautiful-sounding gutteral laugh. ten months into this gig, and I had yet to make my son really REALLY laugh.

until about a couple of weeks ago. I was giving ezra his lunch and was sort of just playing around, pretending to eat his baby food. I immediately caught his attention as I brought the spoon to my mouth and made a loud gobbling noise. this fake-out scenario was met with loud, uncontrollable baby laughter and incidentally, took me completely by surprise. this wasn't some sweet little obligatory giggle-- it was hardcore and more in the vein of a 'hey-look-at-all-the-oatmeal-and-yogurt-in-my-mouth-wow-I-think-I-might-be-SNORTING' kind of laugh. it was the kind that made his little shoulders shake and forced his mouth wide open (allowing me to see for the first time just how many teeth were starting to push their way through). the sound that came from my son was so undeniably authentic... I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. actually, I think I passed out. knocked temporarily unconscious by waves of monumental cuteness. finally, I had made him laugh.

today, I discovered that maniacal tap-dancing also has a very similar effect. please believe me when I say that I will gladly hoof myself into a drunken-like stupor if I think it will get a big laugh from my bambinos. I'm not switching departments or anything (I'm good with complaints) but laughter is where it's at.

12 comments:

  1. I have to admit, I'll resort to mulitiple senarios of humiliation just to get a guffaw from our little ones on a daily basis, with nary a second thought. It's almost like my fuel for the day. And it was kinda fun to watch you slip into an ol' soft shoe routine yesterday. The things we do for our kids! And that sound of Ezra laughing was indeed priceless. It's nice to pass the baton from time to time. Great fun post, sweetie. Love hearing your take on this.

    Signed,
    Ward aka Daddy aka Head of Familial Entertainment

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  2. such a cute baby! love those cheeks and that smile! makes me want another one…

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  3. "...makes me want another one..."

    That's how they get ya.

    And mom, what? Compared to good ol' dad, I think you definitely have the humor genes. Dad's sort of humor is just....dry. Lots of awkward silences after his jokes. But seriously, you were a whole lotta fun back in the day! C'mon -- give yourself some credit here!

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  4. so great! It is quite amazing the things we will do to get a laugh! And often the things you least expect get them. Yesterday Luxie had a terrible diaper and I seriously made a "omigoshbleckyeck" noise and she laughed uncontrollably. So I made the sound again.

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  5. you know, with that group of people wearing roughly the same outfit lined up behind him, and him with his mouth open like that, it sorta looks like he's got his own personal music video going on. lead singer + backups. born to be a star?

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  6. That's so funny, madamemycroft, that you picked up on those people behind Ezra. As I was trying to get the perfect shot here, these two families (they were friends with kids) came up and silently waited for me to finish up taking photos of my kid in the swing. It was a little irritating, as I could tell they were getting impatient with me as I kept taking photo after photo (Ezra was swinging and I wanted to get him in focus right as he was closest to me). I took my sweet little time, I did.

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  7. great post, as usual, and it brought back great memories! Just picturing Ez doing this makes me laugh!

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  8. He is so cute. Wish he and Owen could play! :)
    Owen starts laughing practically the second Jeff walks in the door. Make me jealous sometimes, but at the same time - I LOVE IT. :) I usually resort to tickeling to hear that little scream/giggle :) Luckily he is extermely tickelish!

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  9. Ohmygod! That is so cute I am going to break something over my own skull. Curse you woman! Curse you for making me feel sweet inside from a
    "my baby" story. I think my heart just grew from two sizes too small...

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  10. Thats so awesome that you got him to laugh. We just had an Ezra and he doesn't quite laugh yet. He makes us laugh though. Here is a hilarious pic of him with his twin bro Kaleb in the background http://flickr.com/photos/patrickborn/11455851/.

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  11. elizabeth- I know! wouldn't it be great if we get the boys together to play? I bet they would be little buddies... so cute together.

    klahd- you make me laugh (out loud) and I consider it a HUGE compliment that I was able to illicit this sort of borderline violent response from you-- all because of baby cuteness.

    patrick- congrats on the birth of ezra and caleb! enjoyed viewing the photos... flickr is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

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