Giggly Girl!

Our Little Britches is a total gem! She smiles and often squeals with delight when you tickle her or kiss her neck, but before today her true laugh has eluded us. We've caught a glimpse of it every now and then like when we are playing on the bed or when the dog does something funny. On those occasions she would let out a "ha, ha". That's it! Two ha's put together. I wasn't even really sure those were real laughs, so I hadn't recorded any of them in her baby book, but today's date will go down in Little Britches history as the day she first laughed and laughed and laughed some more.




We had friends come over for dinner. They arrived not too long after Little Britches had gone down for a nap. The extra commotion woke our sleeping princess, but she was in a good mood. It was early enough in the afternoon to give us time to walk to the park that is about a mile away, so we set off on our field trip. About half way to the park Little Britches started to cry in her stroller, which she rarely does. I didn't know if she was still a little tired from her shortened nap or if she was hungry, since it had been just about 3 hours since she ate. Daddy carried her the rest of the way to the park and that seemed like it was what she needed. Our friends have a one year old daughter who started to swing. We put Little Britches in her own swing and she started to cry. She is not normally so fussy, so I knew we were dealing with tiredness and hunger. These were certainly not the circumstances that I thought would lead to her first laugh. I finally sat down in a swing to just have something to do while I talked. Daddy handed Little Britches to me and she started to gnaw on my wrist. I started making hints and starting towards home, but to no avail. The husband of the couple that was visiting with us sat down in the swing next to me and started to swing. When he wanted to slow himself down he let his feet drag through the pebbles below the swing set. Little Britches let out a BIG giggle! I didn't believe it at first, but every time our friend would drag his feet through the pebble Little Britches would laugh and laugh and laugh. Well, Little Britches's Daddy would not be left out, so he started to swing while dragging his feet through the pebbles, too. The more he dragged his feet, the more she laughed.



It was a sweet, contagious, wonderful, joyful laugh. I hope I hear it many more times in the coming days, but each time I hear it I hope it reminds me that even less than ideal circumstances can render sweet moments that I will treasure forever, if I am on the lookout for them.



Thank you Giggly Girl for that sweet laugh today!

Thank you God for the abundance of blessings that you continue to pour out in my life!



(Here is a picture of us swinging just prior to the giggly moment.)