NaNi has learned to joke. (As most parents know, this is an amazing and fascinating part of child development.)
A couple of months ago she was entertaining us by putting a 1/2-gallon pitcher on her head, and asking herself, “Hat?” and responding, “Noooooooo,” in her songlike voice.
A few days ago, we were looking for the handset to our cordless phone, when she piped up with “Where’s phone? I know. I ate it!” and openened her mouth wide to emphasize the point. Later she followed up with a variation including, “I swallowed it!”
The real kicker came yeterday. Our friend Mary Jo stopped by briefly, and I asked NaNi, “Where’s my cell phone?” She responded, as I expected, with, “I know … I ate it!” Then MJ asked her, “Where’s my cell phone?” Naomi replied, “I know … pocket!” and pointed to Mary Jo’s jacket pocket, where she keeps her phone.
Clearly she gleans her brilliance from her (admittedly not frequent enough) visits with her Uncle Mark!
Of course, the really scary part of childhood humor development is yet to come: The Knock-Knock Joke Years. Somewhere between ages 3 and 5, children learn the “formula” for producing a knock-knock joke.
Unfortunately, the ability to understand the formula and the ability to create a knock-knock joke that is actually amusing (to anyone but the child) tend to be several long years apart.
Leigh is past the Knock-Knock stage (fortunately) and is on to the more sophisticated jokes such as the following:
“What does the turkey do when he leaves his brain in the lunchbox of the mitten? — He gets the mitten!”
Something for you to look forward to. 🙂
I grew up with a close family friend who is 11 years older than me. When her youngest was in the “joke” stage I bought him a MEGA-Joke book. He loved it…his mother glared at me. Then when MY youngest, Tim, was the same age…you guessed it…she gave it to him. So the moral of the story is to be careful what you give friend’s, especially vindictive friend’s, children.
PS I eventually passed it on to a younger friend’s child. She can’t get me back! 😉 Of course, there’s always the possibility of GRANDchildren…
NaNi is learning to express her selfishness and jealousy a little better, too, by adding “Hey!” to her ever-increasing vocabulary. (She has always been particularly jealous of parental attention given to a sibling.)
NaNi currently has a cold, and a couple of nights ago at dinner, she coughed. A moment later, David coughed. NaNi exclained, “Hey! NaNi cough!”