I Hope You Have My Sense of Humor

Believe it or not, babies do not come out of your vagina laughing. You would think birth would lead to some pretty amusing stories, but they actually take the whole coming into life thing quite seriously. Come on babies, lighten up!

Supposedly infants don’t have authentic or intentional smiles until 3-months. They make noises, and what seem like happy faces, but according to the books, that newborn smile just indicates gas. Understandable.

So when your baby laughs for the first time it makes you believe in everything fictional yet beautiful like unicorns, dragons, or democracy. At first they laugh solely because of physical stimulation like tickling. But after a while, they start to laugh at something they see. I think it is those moments where their personal sense of humor is born.

So far, The Munch does not seemed amused by my ironic statements or sarcasm, which I will accredit to the language barrier rather than a need to improve my material. She does however, find my choking to be hilarious, but I am not going to read too much into it.

What I find myself wondering is what makes one thing funny to The Munch, and not another? Sure, I am may influence her with a gentle reminder that I am hilarious and if she knows what is good for her she will appreciate it… but what about the moments that she laughs on her own?

Maybe one of the most important things you can teach your children is how to laugh at themselves. To see the humor in the human condition, and have the openness to laugh at their own lunacy. The more seriously we take ourselves, the more miserable we are. There is so much joy in being able to acknowledge the hypocrisy of life, while giggling at your aura. Besides, this way I won’t have to feel guilty when I laugh at her for doing something dumb like falling down or gagging herself with a blade of grass. Silly babies, you know nothing about the world.

“If I could just get this lamp shade on my head than I would be the life of the party!”