Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Showing Off For The Boy

Stanley has mastered the courtesy laugh already; children are obviously more savvy than they were before. Sometimes we play "jump out from behind a corner and say 'boo!' or some other word or loud noise," and he laughs and laughs. Then, in a brief moment, he gets tired of it. Instead of looking away and playing with something, though, he continues to watch, and when I jump out and make a fool of myself for the last time, he sort of smiles and exhales a little. It's the equivalent of a comedian nodding her head at a joke told by someone else, instead of laughing--as if to say, "I appreciate your effort. Your effort is valuable to me."

I guess that is all I'm asking for anyway--to know that Stanley enjoys our time together. He did seem to enjoy last night's dinner, when I got him to laugh numerous times saying (in a somewhat-impolitely loud voice), "Leek tart!" and "I love dill!"

Don't tell me stuff like that isn't funny.

2 comments:

Derek said...

He laughed at "Leek tart" because he's a human, and all humans are wired to think things that even sound like "fart" are funny. Kmart. Hahaha.

Rob said...

It's the law of diminishing returns. I can make Robyn roar the first time, but then it goes chortle, chuckle, smile, sigh, frown, cry, wail. I am at once the funniest and scariest dad around.