"Alexis," I say, "What is your new gymnastics teacher's name?"
Alexis is sitting in the back seat of the van after I have just picked her up from her gym class. She is drinking her chocolate milk that I bought her at the Exxon and trying to curl her legs up underneath her, criss-cross-apple-sauce style (that's what she was telling me). "I ... uh," she chugs a drink of milk, "I dunno."
"What do you mean? You didn't ask her her name?" She's usually so good about people's names.
"I forgot. I think it starts with an M," she says sheepishly.
So, being the puzzle-solver that I am, I say, "Well ... is it ... Madeline." No. "Is it Maxine?" No. "Is it Meridith?" No. "Is it Mary?" No. "Is it Margie?" No, and she begins to giggle. "Is it Molly or Milly?" No, and she giggles more. "Is it Maude?" Nooooo. "Is it Michelle or Margaret or Madison or Marie or Mindy or Marilyn .......?" she is laughing hysterically and I am having quite a lot of fun thinking of all the M names - there are a lot of M names! I then say, "Is it Michael or Max or Morgan or Mor-eese?"
She can't hardly control her giggles but tries to speak through her piggy snorts and cackles and says, "Maybe it wasn't an M," and she sighs loudly. "Maybe I don't 'member."
"You don't re-mem-ber?" I scream, in a joking tone. "After all that ... and now you say it may not even be an Mmmmmm?" she loves this game and is laughing so hard the chocolate milk is coming out of her nose. And so I say, "Let's start with the A's. Was her name Ann-a-bel?"
She screams, "Nooo. I'll ask her next time," and I stop the alphabet-name-guessing-game before she starts spewing chocolate milk all over the van.
And ... the two little piggy's snorted and laughed .... all the way home.
On the upside ... It doesn't take all that much effort to make them laugh - does it? They are just looking for reasons to laugh. And ... it is those moments of sweet laughter that just make my day!