Laugh-In

Since we hadn't yet gotten around to putting the furniture back after having the carpets cleaned, there were some wide-open spaces in our house that weren't usually wide open. One such space was the landing outside the kids' bedrooms, where we handle bedtime business like flossing teeth and reading books.

The four of us were hanging out there--something we can't generally do for lack of square footage--sort of lolling around. Then I got us arranged in a "laugh chain" like I had done in Brownies once: you lay your head on someone's belly, and someone else lays their head on yours, and so on. Then you tell jokes, and everyone's heads bob up and down, which leads to more laughing. It's a good time.

With our boy left out ("Why isn't my head on anyone's tummy, Mommy?"), we decided to make a laugh circle so everyone could fully participate. Then came the jokes.

The funniest was from my beloved, who asked, "How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" The answer: "Two--one to get the giraffe and one to fill the bathtub with brightly colored power tools."

Of course, the kids didn't appreciate his humor, so we had to listen to their jokes, too. And since one of the cherubs is four, that meant not all the jokes made sense.

There was one from our boy, which he'd read in Highlights: "What's a dectective's favorite dance?" Answer: "Evi-dance."

Yuk yuk. Then came a series from our girl, all of which involved either bunnies or objects that were within her line of sight. An example (shared haltingly as she made it up in her head): "Why...did the spider...go on the lightswitch?" The punchline: "Because it was his food!"

Inspired, her brother piped in with, "What did the bunny say to the carrot man?" What other than, "Hey, Mr. Carrot Man, give me a carrot!"

To that one, our girl responded, "Hey, I know that joke. It's one of mine!"