Friday, December 12, 2008

the value of a sense of humor

I just had this little toddler in my office. An overtired, cranky toddler having been kept up from 5 am on so that she'd nap here, and to say that she was not pleased with me, her parents, or the whole situation probably goes without saying, huh? But I'll say it anyway. She was pissed.

Her parents, bless them, were expending a valiant effort to keep her distracted long enough that I could set her up to test, with the singing and the funny faces and the raspberries on the tummy and their toys and my toys, the whole nine yards. So, one of her toys was a little stuffed cow. Her dad, as he made it "attack" her belly, was saying, "I'm the baby-eating cow! I've got four stomachs and they're all full of baby!" The mom and I were cracking up. (The baby, not so much.) Through her laughter the mom was scolding him for being a horrible, horrible person, while I said, "Oh, no! It must be one of those Mad Cows!", making us all laugh that much harder. (Well, again, the baby not so much.)

And it occurred to me once again that there is very little more useful in life than the ability to laugh in the face of horribleness. I highly recommend it as a coping strategy.

xoxo

No comments: