The Giggle Snorts

There is nothing more joyous than the sound of a child's laughter. Not just the "that was funny" laugh, but the all out giggling that is so intense that it's followed by a case of the snorts. We had a couple of these this weekend, and it reminded me how dang cute our kids are.

The first instance occurred at the dining room table. We had map placemats and my husband and I were quizzing each other on state capitals (we don't get out much). Our son decided he could play too and started just making up names of capitals. I can't tell you a single one, but they were hilarious. Then my daughter, who can hardly say "capital" picked up on it and tried. We were all rolling in laughter - and there it was - my son snorted. That prompted more laughter, followed by more snorts. Not much got eaten at that sitting!

Sunday morning, I was lying in bed with my daughter, who was snoozing peacefully - as long as I was only 1/2 centimeter away. If I so much as twitched, her eyes popped open. So I laid still as stone and just looked at her. I could tell she was dreaming - and then she started giggling. It only lasted a second or two, then a pause. Then another little giggle, then a snort. What in the word could she have been thinking of? I didn't care, it was adorable and I loved it.

There were a few other occasions this weekend, but the last one was coming home from a spontaneous shopping trip. We had about an hour car ride and the kids were watching a movie in the back seat. I heard my daughter talking about something and started paying close attention - she was singing "5 little monkeys." Somehow, the doctor was bonking his head, the monkeys were yelling at each other because they were so tired, mama needed a nap and was crying, the monkeys started bonking each other's heads - it was priceless. Here my two year old was making up her own lyrics to a classic. She thought she was pretty cute - and she was right. And she got cuter when the giggle snorts set it!

There is nothing more healing that a child's laughter - we should try to remember to get a case of the giggle snorts as adults every so often. Life might just be a little rosier!