In the Still of the Night
Dear Madalyn,
Last night you woke up crying, "ma-ha-MEE! Mommy-mommy, mommy? Da-deeeeee!"
It was around 11:30 and you were thirstier than a seahorse in the Sahara, so daddy whipped you up a tall orange juice cocktail and nestled you into bed with us for a while. Sugar just before midnight, all cozy-warm in "the big bed" between two of your favorite people, what more could a 19-month-old wish for?
Not much. And you knew it, and were precarious in abiding by the night-hour rules of calm and quiet. You made eyes at us through the dark and took turns burying your soft forehead in each of our soft stomachs. But what really demonstrated your understanding of night-time etiquette, was the way you spoke to us in hushed whispers. Softer than a feather. You'd lean right up to daddy's face and wave in it, then say in a barely audible voice, "Hiiiiii," more like an exhale than an actual word. Then you'd whisper an entire sentence just the same, caressing our eardrums with downy softness. I've never heard a child whisper like this.
In fact, I don't think my brother ever learned how to whisper.
But you were so well-behaved and calm that you charmed me right to the edge of my dreamworld when- WHAP- you fell from the sky in a giant belly-flop and knocking our foreheads with a loud Konk!
"Ouch!" you yelled with spunky smile, breaking the silence like a laugh.
Daddy and I hooted and hollered over your Sumo move, and the way you waited until the maximum-opportunity moment to perform it.
Relishing the laughter, and before we saw it coming, you intentionally whacked your forehead into mine for a second time, with the skill of an FBI agent knocking someone unconscious, following it up with another, "Ouch!"
Yeah. You're on to our senseless humor.
It'll be interesting to see if you become a comedian for a living. You know how to make the most of an opportunity. That's for sure. Normally, a joke's only funny the first time. (Ask your dad or any other male in our family.) But you pulled it off a second with the comic genius of a Stooge.
So I just wanted to say thanks for the laughter. (Even if I did go to bed with a headache.) The magnificent heartache your humor induces is well worth it. I'll go to bed on that any night.
Love,
Mama
