Stuff That Makes My Kids Laugh

A few months ago, blogging about all the reasons your toddler or preschooler had a meltdown in the course of a day was all the rage. Most of the reasons were random, senseless things like, “I dropped a grape” or “The dog looked at me funny” or “I was wearing my red socks instead of my blue socks.” And as I was reading all of those lists, I was nodding in exhausted sympathy, because my kids have meltdowns for much the same reasons on a regular basis.

But this morning, as I watched my daughter doing a happy dance for no other reason than that I had just put my glasses on (“Mama, you can seeeeee!!!!! YAAAAAYYY!!!), it occurred to me that I’ve never seen a blog about all the random, senseless things that make my children do a literal dance of joy. So I wrote one, and here it is.

• She ate a blueberry.
• His friend let him borrow a favorite book.
• We got to go swimming in our pool. (We do this on a nearly daily basis this time of year, but somehow it never loses its delight.)
• She found an ant.
• She squished an ant.
• We had pancakes for breakfast.
• He built a cool “thing” out of Legos.
• We stopped for ice cream.
• Her brother made silly faces at her. (This is also sometimes a cause of meltdown, but it’s close enough to 50-50 that it really belongs on both lists.)
• His sister jumped on him. (Ditto the 50-50 thing, above.)
• The supermarket cashier gave her a high five.
• He got the empty crayon box to whistle, just like Daddy does.
• I let them watch “Handy Manny.”
• She found a matchbox car that she’d lost under the car seat months ago.
• He found the World’s Most Important Lego Piece between the couch cushions.
• There was a bunny in our back yard.
• Daddy came home from work.
• Mommy came out of the bathroom. (I had been in there for maybe 30 seconds, but you’d have thought I’d walked to Siberia and back.)
• Her stuffed monkeys survived the washing machine.
• I let him play with the garden hose.
• I tickled him.
• I came in their bedroom and said, “Good morning!”

My children may occasionally be frustrated or sad or angry because of tiny little things, but when I get frustrated or sad or angry because of that, I need to remind myself of all the times they made me smile because they get excited and happy and joyfully wriggly because of tiny little things, too. They’re two of the best tiny little things that make me excited and happy and joyfully wriggly!