Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kissing Mommy

Everybody loves babies. They are cute and cuddly. Women like to dress them up in cute outfits and ferry them about the town. It is easy to watch them for hours enjoying every facial expression. They are the perfect entertainment.

While they may be the perfect entertainment it usually requires work on your part. Babies respond to certain types of stimulation in ways that are funny. Braden may laugh at a toy or scream after being tickled. The work won't always be necessary. One day he will be mobile. He is slightly mobile now. He rolls around and finds some toys on his own. I know this is only the beginning. Soon Braden will be able to "entertain" us by crawling into the entertainment center or finding old Cheetos under the couch.

For now it is still fun to watch him in his quasi stationary state. Seeing his mind work is amazing. He looks at toys and noise makers so seriously sometimes. You can practically see the wheels turning. A babies mind can work at humor too. I always thought a baby Braden's age could only be passive entertainment. In other words they are funny without knowing it. They can't get on stage and perform like Chris Rock.

Braden proved me wrong a few days ago. Arica and I were sitting together on our over sized chair watching TV. Arica was holding Braden. He was facing Mommy when he reached out, grabbed her by the cheeks with both hands, and planted a big kiss right on her mouth. It was a perfect kiss. It couldn't have been executed any better by a seasoned ladies man.

I started laughing uncontrollably. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen Braden do. Arica was laughing pretty hard too. Braden raised up his head and looked over at his Dad the laughing hyena. He smiled and kissed his Mommy again. The second kiss was just as perfect as the first. He finished the lip lock and looked back to find me laughing even harder. Guess what happened next. Yes, he did it again.

Braden repeated the kiss four of five times looking at me after each one. By the time he was done I was in tears. It was absolutely amazing to see Braden recognize what was going on. He got a laugh and knew what to do with it. A true stage performer knows how to interact with his audience and work a joke. Braden seems to already be developing those skills.

I am a huge fan of stand up comedy. I have seen virtually every comedy special HBO has ever done. Many of those performances are comedic gold, but none of them past, present, or future will ever be able to compare with Braden's first stand up act.

9 comments:

Melisa Wells said...

I love that! What an awesome memory you'll have forever. It's always fun when the babies figure out how to actively be the center of attention. :)

Tom said...

Hilarious! Babies can do the funniest things, but it gets better when they know they're being funny.

Daddy Files said...

That's hilarious. I live for moments like that one, and it's going to get even better as he gets even smarter and more agile.

Jen said...

I so know the kiss of which you speak. To bad that you didn't have a camera. That would have been a great picture.

WeaselMomma said...

It's always great when they find out that they have an audience to play to. Soon he we start using that power against you.

SurprisedMom said...

This is just way more than funny! Isn't it wonderful when babies discover what makes us sit up and pay attention? I hope you enjoy this memory and the laughter accompanying it forever.

Bee said...

Awwww so cute! My niece just learned giving kisses too and they look so proud! :o)

Super Mega Dad said...

The little man is learning cause and effect. That's pretty cool. If I do this, daddy will do that. It's pretty amazing to watch your kids learn all these lessons.

Mike said...

Hopefullyy when he's older and kissing girls for real, he doesn't make them laugh...