Funniest. Kid. Ever.

I think of all the things we were told and not told about having a baby, the one thing we were never told is just how much he would make us laugh. For example....

1. We frequently toast each other at meals with a clink of glasses, and it wasn't long before Jack wanted to join. Now when we raise our glasses, Jack lunges for his cup of milk and breaks out into a huge smile. And we toast each other and drink.

2. Tonight I taught Jack this thing one of Emily's co-workers was doing at a Happy Hour last week, knocking fists and "blowing it up" - pulling his hand away afterwards with his fingers splayed out wildly. I did this with Jack, and he cracked up. Repeatedly. Causing us to crack up, repeatedly.

3. In the evenings, as Jack runs around burning off his evening energy, he farts a lot. There's nothing quite as amusing as Jack bending down to lift a heavy object and ripping a little toddler fart. Which he is indifferent to, of course, which makes it all the funnier.

4. We expect children to get attached to certain toys, or stuffed animals, which is why the things that Jack has so far been attached to -- his shoes, and a box of magic markers -- are pretty entertaining. He'll walk around the house holding his shoes, or our shoes -- once he was wearing a pair of my shoes on each arm. And he of course accompanies his journeys with dialogue, which goes something like this: "Shoe............................Shoe...........
........Shoes.................Shoe....." As for the magic markers, I don't really understand that one, but he likes to carry this box of 8 thick magic markers around the house, and occasionally they fall out, and he'll stop, stoop, sometimes fart, and methodically place them back in the box, then continue on his way. The height of amusement was when we had taken the box away at some point, when he was distracted, and he couldn't find them but DID find the strip of cardboard that used to be on top of the box, before it had torn off in his hands. So he walked around with the strip of cardboard for a little while.

5. He tends to like to treat me as a horsie, whether I'm ready for it or not. So I can be sitting or lying on the floor, say, and he'll climb on top of me, get into a sitting position, and then start bouncing up and down on my stomach. And he's beaming and going "AAAA! AAAA! AAAA! AAAA!" in time with his horseback riding, and I'm going "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" as my midriff gets worked over painfully. And I'm laughing, which makes me even less braced for the bouncing. He's not light anymore.

I guess I just didn't realize I'd laugh so much, even though I feel like I'm incredibly busy, not getting enough sleep, and have way too much on my mind. So thanks, Jack, for the laughs. Keep 'em coming.