Laughing Out Loud

One of the best things about having kids is when they make you laugh. Which is a lot, but personally, I have to be careful now because Roxy gets VERY insulted if I don't stifle my laughs in time. It's not like I'm laughing AT her - oh, who am I kidding? Yes, I am. I am laughing at my daughter, but I love her even more than ever when I am. I just have to turn my head or something, because she doesn't like it.

Anyway, a couple of days ago Roxy came in from playing with her friends and flopped down on the couch. She announced that she was "SOOOOO hot" and decided to take a bath to cool off. I told her that sounded like a good idea, and told her she could even take a shower if she wanted, because that would cool her off, too. But she was pretty set on a bath. Fine, whatever. So I go back to watching whatever it was I was watching, and Roxy leaves. She goes into her bedroom, and then walks out in her bathing suit. (Now you know why it is so hard to catch the laugh BEFORE it escapes. She TOTALLY catches me off-guard!!) I think I choked on my laugh, and managed to ask her WHY she was wearing a bathing suit to take a bath. She looked at me (as only an exasperated 10-year-old can) and replied, "MOOOOM! It's not like I'm going to WASH myself or anything!" All-righty, then. As I tried to figure this one out, I said, "Ok, but you STILL can be naked in the tub, even if you AREN'T going to wash yourself." Again, I get the look like I am the biggest moron on the planet, and she says (a little slower, this time) "Yeah, but I'm not going to use SOAP..." At this point, I figured it was best to choose my battles, and off she went to take a bath in her bathing suit.

A couple minutes later, I heard my neighbor coming in from walking his dog. I opened the door to give Steeler some leftover steak (Steeler LOVES me) and my neighbor asked if I got my bathroom floor and toilet done. I told him yes, and it looked REALLY nice - but Roxy was taking a bath right now. He was like, "Oh, that's fine, I'll come look another time." And I kind of laughed and said, "Actually, she's in her bathing suit, so if you REALLY want to see it now..." I think the look my neighbor gave me at that point was priceless too. But he decided that he would wait anyway. (Don't worry, I wouldn't have REALLY let him in, bathing suit or not, when my kid was in the tub!!)

Then last night Roxy was putting away her homework, and I asked her if I could see it first. She had to fill in several boxes with her own responses, and I think some of them were priceless:

I wish:

I could buy the mall
I could get everything for free
I was on the hundred dollar bill
I could get on any ride at Great America without waiting in line

If I could, I would:

Go skydiving
Bungee jump
Fly (These three from the kid who won't even go on a roller coaster!!)
Get a million pets (Yes, I nixed THAT one!)
Live at the mall (I'm starting to see a pattern with the mall...)

I wonder:

How much money is in the whole world (Now, that's a tricky one...)
How many people are in the USA (Currently - 295,734,134. I looked it up - have to tell her)What is the biggest spider in the world called (The male goliath bird-eating spider - again, I looked it up)What it would be like if I were a cat (Well, if you were one of MY cats, you'd have a pretty cushy life!)

I don't like:

Spider webs
Mondays
Fish
Paper Cuts
Country Music
Ugly Colors (I like that Country Music comes AFTER paper cuts but BEFORE ugly colors...)

My parents always say:

Try your hardest (Awwww!)
Don't give up (Again, Awwww!)
Good job (You got it - Awwww!)
No TV (Wait a minute - I don't ALWAYS say that!!)
Feed the cats (Well, if I DIDN'T always say that, they would starve!!)

There were more categories, but those were my favorites. And I must say, I was actually relieved that she didn't write any swear words in the "parents always say" box. Not that I swear. Of course not. Never.

I keep thinking that I should really enjoy these years, because the teen years are coming up quick. And I highly doubt she'll be making me laugh as much then. Maybe hysterical (literally) laughter, but that's really not fun. So I plan on laughing at her NOW as much as I can. Without getting caught, that is.