Laugh Out Loud

This past week, the girls have given us some good belly laughs. The other day, Conant came home from work for a very quick lunch. I had food waiting for him. He quickly ate and then, being helpful as usual, he prepared to wash his dishes. I didn’t want him to have to rush to get back for his meeting, so I said, “Just leave it, please. I’ll take care of it.” Emma looked right at me, took on a defensive stance, and with much intonation, said, “Don’t talk about my father that way. He’s not crazy. He’s a genius!” Conant and I looked at each other in shock that Emma would talk to me like this, and then realization hit. Recently, I let Emma watch her first Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, and after a moment, I recognized her line as one that Belle passionately delivers in the movie. I whispered, “Beauty and the Beast” to Conant. Much as we tried to contain ourselves, we let out a few giggles as Emma continued to say the line again and again with conviction. She is so good at delivering lines spot on. She gets the emotion of the scene and delivers it well…so well, in fact, that I couldn’t even reprimand her for “talking to her mother that way.” Last Wednesday, on our way to school, Emma was so excited that it was her share day. Once a week, she gets to choose an item to bring to school to show to her classmates. As we rode to preschool that morning, she joyfully announced, "This is the day dreams come true!" 

  

Lily gives us lots of reasons to smile and makes us laugh, too. Every time she hears the word “birthday,” she breaks into song: “Hap-py!” Whether she hears it faintly from another room or is sitting right by the person kind enough to mention a birthday, she belts out “Hap-py” with the same enthusiasm. Since her big sister likes to have a pretend birthday almost every day, she’s in luck. She gets an opportunity to sing quite regularly. The other day, I told her that Emma was tired. She looked at me and said, “Sssshhh, quiet.” I guess she’s heard me tell her to be quiet enough mornings when she wakes up before Emma. It sounded so cute coming from her eighteen-month-old mouth. It was not delivered in a scolding way…more with a big, dimpled, couldn’t-be-prouder grin. 

And as I sit here with a grin of my own on this Thanksgiving Eve, I am so thankful for two little girls who make us laugh as they learn about language and life.