A Ray of Joy in an Otherwise Crap Day

One of my tricks to making Alex laugh or cheer up is to hold him tight to me, and then jump in the air while panting, "Jump!" under my not-so-fit breath. Alex always gets a giggle from that, and he much prefers that then me actually throwing him in the air. Without any human contact, he just doesn't like to be flung around. I don't blame him though, there's a strong chance he got that from me.

But anyway, I grabbed him tonight and was jumping around, and my wife was holding Zoe, facing out close to me. I heard Zoe let out a coo, so I decided that it was a minigame to be won. I have to make this girl laugh! So I jumped around some more, and she was making more coos in between her hiccups. Like a possessed needy child, I just jumped around frantically, coaxing a chuckle or two out of Zoe.

And so my wife heard Zoe laugh for the first time! It's such a great face - the often neutral or frowny features turn upward, and the usually chubby cheeks that's suitable for kissing and jiggles moved to enhance that smile. And her eyes just twinkle with joy. And her laugh is just so infectious. Her little chuckle sent me and my wife into rolls of laughter, because it was just so adorable.

At the end of it, I was completely out of breath and close to death, and Alex was slightly brain damaged because I had been jumping with him the whole time. At some point he probably stopped thinking it was fun, but I was too busy noticing Zoe's little laugh to register. I even tried to get it on tape, and if I find a usuable non-jumping segment, I'll post it. It ain't easy jumping, holding a 25 pound little boy in one arm, and holding a 3 pound video camera in the other, while trying to focus in on a bubbly daughter.

I also think it's hilarious that my wife's hand is still frozen. I handed her a piece of paper to look at while she was in bed a while ago, then I took a shower, came out, and she was still holding the paper, but she's fast asleep. It's been five minutes now and her hand is still gripping an imaginary piece of paper that I had extracted from her pinch since. I should go find a ketchup covered weiner or something and put it in her sleepy grasp, then yell out loud, "Oh my God! You broke it!"

Cause that won't be mean.