The Best Medicine

She laughed for the first time today! Three times! I tried to have her demonstrate her new ability to her daddy when he got home from work, but she resisted my best efforts. She gave us great big grins, but held back on the chuckling, as if to say, "I am not your trained monkey!"

I need to have a video camera permanently attached to my forehead, like a third eye. That way, I wouldn't miss any moments that absolutely require commitment to film. Grrr.

I really want her to start giggling on command so I can use the cuteness of it to my advantage. Say, to lure Mom to the midwest. Things like that.

I've been trying to remember to read her Good Night Moon every night, but I haven't been very good at it. I've also tried telling her fairy tales and discovering that I can't for the life of me remember what happens in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White after "Once upon a time" and before "They lived happily ever after." I've had more success with Rapunzel, though I'm sure I've butchered it beyond recognition.

No, I'm not sure. I know. Here's how my version of Rapunzel went:

Once upon a time in a land far far away there was a princess who lived in a very, very tall tower without any doors or windows. No, wait. There was one door, because the witch had to get in. Right, there was an evil witch who had locked the princess in the tower. No, wait, the witch got in another way. Right, the hair.

Okay, the princess had really, really long hair, and whenever the witch wanted into the tower, she would stand at the bottom and say, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Okay, so there was no door. And no windows, except the one at the top. And I'm guessing no stairs either. Just the one window and the long hair. Anyway, the witch would climb up her hair, and then I guess they'd have tea or something. And then she'd say, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." And Rapunzel would, and the witch would shimmy down her hair, and go home.

Or -- wait. Did she live in the tower, too? No, she didn't. Right. She didn't. Rapunzel did.

Okay. Moving on. Tower, evil witch, princess with outrageously long hair and evidently a scalp made of iron. So what am I missing? Right, the prince. Okay one day this prince goes hunting in a nearby forest, and he gets separated from his hunting party, and he happens upon the tall, tall tower.

He sees Rapunzel sitting by the window and immediately falls in love with her. He's about to go up to the tower when he sees the witch approach. He hears her say, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" and then he sees Rapunzel drop her hair, and the witch crawls up.

So he waits for the witch to leave, and then he goes up to the tower, and he calls out, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Rapunzel drops her hair down, and the prince climbs up. At first, Rapunzel is scared of him, but he talks gently to her, and she falls in love with him.

And then -- umm. I don't know. Okay, I guess the witch comes back? And does the, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" thing and climbs up and the prince kills her, and then they both climb down and escape --- wait.

No. Rapunzel can't climb down her own hair unless -- right. She cuts it off. She cuts off her hair, and they both climb down it and escape and -- what a brainless twit. She couldn't think of this on her own? She's sitting around all day long every day staring out a window and it never occurs to her that she could use her own hair to escape? What the hell kind of story is that?

Oh. And they lived happily ever after. The end.

Thanks to Kristin, every time I get into story telling mode now, I can't resist starting with the Brady Bunch and the Beverly Hillbillies.

For the longest time I'd only remembered two lullabies: Mockingbird and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I've played Pat-a-Cake with Kiki, which she loves, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider which puzzles her. And lately I've recalled Yankee Doodle and, thanks to her bouncy chair, the Farmer in the Dell. I know I know more childhood songs. I'm beginning to think I need to resort to renting Barney videos (shudder).

And probably I should refresh my fairy tale memory. If they're all as inane as Rapunzel, I'll probably keep them out of my repertoire, but it certainly can't hurt to re-read them. It's got be worth a giggle at least.