hey big laugher!

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan's Aunt Alice, who watches Ben on Fridays, said, "He's got such a cute laugh!" It was a nice compliment, except for the fact that I'd never heard him laugh before. What kind of mother was I? Wasn't he supposed to laugh at me before he laughed at anyone else? I thought I was an entertaining person, but obviously something was missing. All I could ever get out of him were beautiful, wide smiles when I changed his diaper. Occasionally, he'd flash his gums at the dinosaur puppet on his Baby Mozart video. But laughing? Laughing I had never heard. I have spent the last two weeks trying to solicit at the very least a giggle from Ben. I'm a competitive person. If Aunt Alice could do it, so could I. I danced, I sang, I played peek-a-boo. Nothing. He would barely even smile. But then, this afternoon, I was lying on the floor with him, holding him in my arms and making silly noises, when it came: the prettiest sound I'd ever heard. Ben let out a husky squeal. Then another. Then another. I exclaimed, "You did it! You did it, Ben!" and he acted like it was no big deal, like it was any other day, like today was not the first time a person had made him laugh.