I always feared this would be a problem for me in the child discipline arena, and tonight it was proven true. If something is funny but I shouldn’t laugh, I suddenly cannot contain my laughter. This is critical, because I have learned that kids do things sometimes that parents must discourage, despite the fact that they’re pretty funny.
My inability to contain inappropriate laughter has been a problem all my life. Especially in church. If something even remotely amusing happened, or a friend whispered something slightly funny in my ear, the problem would begin with a tug at the corners of my mouth. A smile would slip through, despite my attempts to control my cheek muscles. Useless. Then, my shoulders would start to shake and my breathing would become erratic as I tried to stifle the giggle bubbling up from my diaphragm. Usually it would take a stern look from my mother (or from my dad in the pulpit!) to scare me enough to counteract the laughing spasm. It felt like choking back a hiccup. Sometimes, you hold your breath but it still erupts.
Tonight, we were eating dinner and Camille was furiously signing the word “more.” But then I realized for every bite she ate, she also took a bit of turkey or green bean (especially green bean!) and threw it on the floor. To the dog’s great joy. We’d sternly told her “no.” She signed “more” again, so I gave her some more turkey. She lifted it to her lips and I was in the process of saying, “Good girl!” when she suddenly threw the turkey across the room like she was trying to break a fastball record. Then she looked at me. With those sweet eyes. Like, “Did you see that? That was awesome!” Her hair was all sticking up because she likes to play with it while she eats, and she just looked so adorable. I couldn’t be mad. So the smile started creeping up. I covered my mouth with my hands, but then my shoulders started shaking. Then I made the mistake of looking at Lee, and it was all over. I just laughed and laughed. And Camille did too. So much for getting her to understand that bit of discipline.
Speaking of her sign language skills – she has learned several words in baby school, but “more” is the one we see most often. She doesn’t do it exactly like the teacher demonstrated, but she gets her point across. I’m so glad Camille loves to eat, and I can’t seem to cut up her food quickly enough. Especially if it’s something she particularly likes.
However, I still can’t put more than one or two pieces of food on her tray at once, because she shoves everything in sight into her mouth at one time, whether there’s room for it or not. As evidenced by the following video clip, when she demonstrated her love for rice noodles.