Comedy Central

My daughter has a wonderful laugh. She has several in fact. The one she uses most is her mad scientist cackle. It comes unexpectedly, inspired when passing dogs or flying birds are brought to her attention. It was her first laugh and she continues to refine it as the months go by. But it is a laugh that is as much performance as it is natural. She uses it when she knows it is expected of her.

Em now has a new laugh. She has learned how to giggle when she thinks something is funny without having to be told that it is.

Yesterday, I was still in bed when she came into my room. Daryl had gotten her up, changed her diaper, run a toothbrush more or less over the general vicinity of some of her teeth. I was wearing a nightgown. Emmaline, by way of introduction, skipped the Good Morning and led with, "Outside!"

"But Emma," I protested, "I'm not wearing pants!"

She looked at me. I didn't smile. I didn't laugh. But she did. It took a moment. But then she giggled. It was a new sound. One that was filled with knowledge and discovery. She was delighted to have realized something was funny all on her own.

Then the laughter stopped abruptly and she moved purposefully across the room. She picked up my jeans and walked back to the bed, holding them in her outstretched hand.

"Pants!" Emmaline proclaimed.

"Yes," I said. "We can go outside soon. How about some breakfast first?"

I'm enormously happy to find she has a sense of humor. And one that doesn't just include sneaking up on people and laughing as she tickles them. Or sitting on the dog's head while she's trying to nap. Or putting   stuffed animals on/in her training toilet. She's developing nuance. Not great subtlety, but at least it's a start.

We'll work on political satire next. Certainly she heard enough of Stewart's and Colbert's voices while in utero to come to it naturally. We'll just have to see.