Elliot's Laughter

I read somewhere the other day that the average toddler laughs 400 times per day while the typical adult laughs just 15. Laughing 400 times daily seems a little exaggerated unless they count each and every "ha" and "hee" separately. After all, that would mean that Elliot laughs 28 to 30 times per hour. Regardless, he does laugh a LOT...and it's a beautiful thing.

In the morning, the first thing I hear over the monitor is often the sound of Elliot softly laughing and babbling as he plays with the menagerie of animals that inhabit his crib. But, that's just one of the many laughs in Elliot's laughing vocabulary.

One of the funniest is the laugh of excitement when he's about to get something that he wants: a clementine, a look into the washing machine, the chance to brush Leo the Cat, a bowl of rice. The noise he makes is rather simian and sounds sort of like "uh-huh, uh-huh, hee, hee."

My baby also has a "hee, hee, hee" laugh that he uses in random situations. I'm not sure, but I think it may be an imitation of the laugh I use on the phone when I hear something that's only sort of funny.

Then there's Elliot's giggle, which he often releases with abandon when he's being chased, when he's "jumping" on the bed (with help from Mommy or Daddy) or when we're engaging in one of our many silly sings or routines.

While all of Elliot's laughs are pure delight, perhaps the most enjoyable is his "out and out" belly laugh -- the laugh he uses when Daddy is tickling him, when he's really into a game of chase, when we're reading the book "No Kisses for Daddy" (which involves acting out a lot of animal kisses on Elliot, e.g., a crocodile gives "snappy, watery kisses.") 

Even if Elliot doesn't quite laugh 400 times a day (and he might...it's not something I've counted!), he's a happy kid who's enjoying life. This makes me very happy. In fact, due in large part of Elliot, I'm sure I laugh much more than the average adult.