All for a giggle.

Why is it, that we can let everything go and we can be our crazy, goofy and embarrassing selves, all to get a laugh out of an 18 month old? Is it that we know they aren’t old enough to judge us? Or maybe, it is a chance to act like a kid again - without a care in the world. All I know, is that I will quack like a duck or snort like a pig, just to hear that little giggle. That amazing, contagious giggle, that is the most precious sound I have ever heard.

I saw my niece Paige last night and she makes me laugh harder than most people can and she is not even two. She understands everything I say, she just hasn’t quite gotten the talking part down... yet. As we were in the middle of our usual dance party in my sisters’ bedroom (just the two of us because she now knows how to shut the door), we were having the time of our lives. We were jumping around, laughing and dancing like two crazy people to a clock radio, shaking our butts in front of the mirror and acting too cool for school with our fashionable sunglasses. She brings out a side of me that is wacky and carefree, a side of me that I really miss. Are all children like this or is it because she is my first niece?  Either way, I absolutely adore her.

The little things she has learned in her 18 months instantly bring a smile to my face. Watching her pat her little (well, not so little) belly as we say, "get in my belly!”.. taking my hand so I will go with her wherever it is she wants to go at that moment or giving me one of her new kisses (where she sticks her bottom lip out when she kisses you so you get more of her drool than anything) or playing hide and seek because she loves being found, even if she is only putting her head down so we can’t see her face. I know I will "moo" like a cow, carry her around in a laundry basket, dance like no one is watching or cuddle up to Diego with her any day of the week, month or year, just to hear her giggle.