Monday, December 11, 2006

Giggles

I think one of the best parts about being a parent is discovering the many different ways you can make your children laugh. Tickling is very big in our house. My children have inherited my husband's hyper sensitive tickle genes. Evan loves to be tickled and will actually place my hand on his tummy when he wants to be tickled.

There are other less obvious laughter inducing things that get bigger laughs than mere tickling. A dinner time favorite is to have me take my glasses off and make funny faces at the boys. I think it is the combination of me being silly and changing the look of my face by taking off my glasses. The hand monster is also a huge hit, especially with Harry. The hand monster will sneak out from under blankets to prey on unsuspecting feet. It will also walk along dinner tables and try and gobble hands.

A game I call fake sneeze is the bath time favorite although Evan is taking it out into public. Fake sneeze involves one of the boys placing a bath toy onto the side of the bath tub. Mommy then fake sneezes and knocks it back into the bath tub. I have to keep control of this game since Harry has been known to laugh so hard he falls over and risks drowning. The other day I saw Evan throw a toy into the air and then fake sneeze. That was his toddler version of the game. He is also just randomly sneezes and laughs.

The number one thing that is guaranteed to get the kids laughing so hard they can barely stand is called "Daddy throws the yarn ball up the stairs and Mommy throws it back down". DTTYBUTSAMTIBD was discovered quite by accident. I was cleaning with my little helper Harry upstairs. I threw the yarn ball down the stairs because I had been intending on using it to knit with. Evan happened to see it go down and started laughing up a storm. He then tried in his toddler way to throw it back up the stairs. Luckily his efforts were quickly augmented by daddy who had a much stronger arm and could get it to the top of the stairs. Of course I had to throw it back down just for fun. We did this for as long as we could stand the mindless activity and the entire time the kids were laughing hard. Now and then on grumpy days we give that silly yarn ball a toss and everyone feels a lot better.

8 comments:

Suzanne said...

It's good to have a bag of tricks to help dispel grumpiness. One of ours is having the kids "hide" in plain sight and us cluelessly look around the house for them.

Gabriela said...

Never heard of the yarn game, but it does sound like a good time! :)

Anonymous said...

hehe giggles are big at our house too! Oh Oh I want to have stairs so the yarn game can be tried out!

Chellie said...

How cute! It's so nice to keep the house positive, fun and to hear that laughter! Thanks for sharing!

Anne/kq said...

I am the world's most ticklish person-- except for my daughters! They both got my tickle genes, which means that my husband has a HUGE advantage because he is not ticklish at ALL.

Our weird game is "look away and look back." You studiously look away from a young child, perhaps walking to the doorway-- then whip around to look at them. My dad did it with me when I was little, and now we do it with our kids, who never fail to collapse in fits of laughter!

Unknown said...

I love kiddo giggles and whatever it is in a family that makes them happen.

The sillier and less-intended, the funnier!

My brother has a girl baby, now five months old. A single finger poke in the belly makes those toothless giggles. I almost weep with joy, such a beautiful sound!

Hey, you have a new pacemaker tomorrow? Fingers and toes crossed all goes super-easy and you are all outta there soon!

Hugs and tickles,
TL

Anonymous said...

Good times ... just goes to show that you don't need big expensive toys for kids to have fun ... just silly time with mom/dad does the trick too! Esp when there's tickling involved :)!

Good luck tomorrow (Tues). I'll be praying that all goes well.

Jenifer said...

We have a tickling fetish at my house too! Every night when Paige gets out of her bath I rub her with lotion. Well, I take my hands, rub the lotion together, and place my hands on each side of her neck (picture choking hold without the actual choking!) and I rub the lotion from there down over her belly.

Well her neck is so hyper ticklish that she automatically shrugs her shoulders up trapping my hands around her neck and squeals uncontrollably. "Stop!" she yells. Then as soon as I get my hands out of the way she lifts her chin to the ceiling and giggles "Do it again!"

Too funny!