A baby laughing is an irresistible sound and very hard not to laugh along with. YouTube is overloaded with babies laughing - of which my favourite two clips are the laughing quadruplets (but just imagine when they all cry?) and the baby who laughs at ripping paper. Both are brilliant. Whole commercial campaigns are built around laughing babies.
But babies learn to laugh, and what they choose to laugh at (such as the ripping paper) can be mystifying. Some things, they learn are 'supposed' to be funny from us. My husband, convinced that all babies must love raspberries blown on their bellies, took a deep breath and blew a huge raspberry on our baby's belly. The response was widened eyes followed by sobbing in terror. The poor man had to start all over again with very soft bubbles and work his way back up. Now, apparently, it has become funny.
My baby cousin blinked in confusion when I lightly blew in his face and laughed. But by the fourth or fifth time he was starting to smile and then began to laugh, deciding that since I was laughing it must somehow be a funny thing. You could probably teach them to find all sorts of weird stuff funny.
But some things they decide are funny on their own. I discovered this by accident. While our baby grumbled over teething, I poked about in his mouth to see if there were any teeth showing, which provoked giggles and a wide-open mouth to facilitate my investigations. The inspection has now been built up into a comedy routine. Pulling back his lips from his gums and poking a finger against the gums inside, I keep up a manic running commentary: "What teeth? Where? I can't see any teeth! There are no teeth! You're making it up!" This is apparently very, very funny. I've no idea why but I think future trips to the dentist are going to be a lot of fun.
But babies learn to laugh, and what they choose to laugh at (such as the ripping paper) can be mystifying. Some things, they learn are 'supposed' to be funny from us. My husband, convinced that all babies must love raspberries blown on their bellies, took a deep breath and blew a huge raspberry on our baby's belly. The response was widened eyes followed by sobbing in terror. The poor man had to start all over again with very soft bubbles and work his way back up. Now, apparently, it has become funny.
My baby cousin blinked in confusion when I lightly blew in his face and laughed. But by the fourth or fifth time he was starting to smile and then began to laugh, deciding that since I was laughing it must somehow be a funny thing. You could probably teach them to find all sorts of weird stuff funny.
But some things they decide are funny on their own. I discovered this by accident. While our baby grumbled over teething, I poked about in his mouth to see if there were any teeth showing, which provoked giggles and a wide-open mouth to facilitate my investigations. The inspection has now been built up into a comedy routine. Pulling back his lips from his gums and poking a finger against the gums inside, I keep up a manic running commentary: "What teeth? Where? I can't see any teeth! There are no teeth! You're making it up!" This is apparently very, very funny. I've no idea why but I think future trips to the dentist are going to be a lot of fun.
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