Ha ha ha

Anyone who spends even a small amount of time with a small child can easily discover that children often go to extremes in expressing their emotions.  It is understandable that as a new member to society and it's emotional waves, a child may have a difficult time translating what he or she is feeling in an appropriate way.  After all, it can be devastating to wrap a little mind around the tragedy of a case brimming full of donuts at the super market and not one of them getting to be eaten by you.  A tantrum is an easy example of this dilema.  In a mere moment, a docile creature becomes a raging beast to be reckoned with, and just as quickly as the beast appeared, it dissolves into a whimpering puppy-child, large teary cartoon eyes and everyting.  Heartbreaking.  And also kind of inconvenient, because aside from not knowing how to properly show emotion, kids are also oblivious to the notion that Target is not really the place to do it.  There is one emotion, however, that I really think benefits from their exaggerated range of expression - amusement.  Have you ever heard a kid laugh?  It is awesome.  Not only will a kid laugh at just about anything - a dog with it's tongue hanging out, farting and burping, the word "tortilla" - but when they do laugh, they really put a solid effort into it.  There's no demure giggling or lighthearted chuckling, it's a real, forced, highly entertaining laugh.  Whenever the blonde laughs at something lately, she really goes for it - throwing her head back, falling on the floor, clutching her stomach - and she sounds like a weird combination of Ricky Ricardo and a sea lion.  It is both odd and also entirely appropriate, because her sister trying to put chapstick on is just that funny.  The best part is that when the blonde has finally caught her breath, she stands up, rolls her eyes and lets out a good long sigh.  A satisfactory laugh.  The brunette, as usual, does absolutely nothing even remotely similar to the blonde, so when she finds herself tickled by something, she generally breaks into hysterical giggles followed by a piercing scream.  Not my favorite, but she has a pretty cute bubbly giggle, and I generally expect the scream, so I just make the necessary prepations for it.  The baby is especially funny, and I think part of it is because she has always kind of laughed weird, and now it's hard to tell if this is just natural, or if she is tapping into everyone being amused by her and milking it.  She starts out with a regular chuckle, and then it takes a turn for borderline worrisome as she sticks her tongue out just a tiny bit, leans her head forward, and lets out a motor-coughing sound, followed by a brief moment of just holding her breath (this is where I always begin to question "Is she laughing? Is she choking?  Oh, no she's fine") and a long gasp.  So, um, weird, but her sisters all think it's a riot, so as long as she doesn't ever pass out or anything, I think we'll just let this be what it is - hilarious.  As animated and over the top as they are, one thing is for certain - whether they are throwing a tantrum or rolling around laughing, there is nothing more amusing than a crazy child.