>
Are you ready to have a happiness festival right there in your chair? I’m talking a full parade of joy coming right at you and through you so that within minutes you are bubbling over with nothing but love, sweet love for the world?
Sounds impossible? It’s not.
All I have to do is show you these videos of babies laughing hysterically at the silliness of the world and I promise you’ll come alive again.
See, little babies laugh at lots of crazy things that we grown-up babies have forgotten were ever funny in the first place. Babies laugh at all the things we take for granted, all the things we find annoying and all the things that seem mundane and dreary to us now that we’re big.
In short, babies laugh at life. That’s because babies really know how to live. No matter how down you’re feeling right now, I guarantee that these babies are going to make you feel wonderful again. That’s the power of a baby belly-laughing and it doesn’t even have to be your own.
Mind you, if you happen to have your own baby, plan to get nothing done for the rest of the afternoon because you are going to want to try out every single one of these 14 ideas. Lucky baby.
1. Rip up some paper
Have you met Micah McArthur before? This very cute, very sweet video did the rounds back in 2011 and Baby Micah went on to laugh at lots and lots of other random household things. He was surely the world’s happiest baby. There was the laundry basket, the book drop and celery. Because celery is really funny, right? But first, there was the ripping paper and if you are not smiling a mile wide after watching this bubbly, crazy little baby, I’ve got nothing else to show you …
Incidentally Baby Micah went on to become quite famous for his lovely laughing ways. Then in 2012 he became a big brother and there’s a video of his sister Ruby laughing at the ripping paper too. Sadly newest addition to the McArthur family, Maisy, born in 2014, just isn’t much of a giggler.
2. Watch them sleeping
Sleeping makes babies laugh, did you know that? Or at least, giving them a little tickle or saying funny things while they are half-asleep makes them laugh and then they go straight back to sleep again. Can you make your baby do this? And if you do, could you share it with us on Facebook? The world clearly needs to see more babies laughing in their sleep.
3. Rev up a power tool
You would fully expect that the sound of a drill would send any baby into hysterical tears, not hysterical laughter. Baby Aubrey thinks otherwise and this little girl has the most irresistible laugh of them all. It’s kind of weirdly hearty, like a very tiny bloke might snort out at the pub. Which is possibly why Aubrey likes her power tools so much.
4. Blow on a dandelion
Blowing on a dandelion never really gets old, does it? Even though we know that all we are doing is helping the pesky dandelion weed spread itself all over our lawn, we still can’t resist puffing away at those wispy seed heads. The noxious weeds that result are probably the reason we stopped laughing long ago, but baby Buzz doesn’t know about the weeds. He only knows that watching a dandelion explode apart with one breath is the funniest thing on Earth. I wanna laugh like Buzz laughs!
5. Pour them a bubble bath
Nolan laughs so hard at the bubbles in his bath that he is literally doubled over with laughter. At one point I was afraid he was going to face plant straight into the water, but luckily he gets a grip on himself and returns to normality just in time. You know that crying-laugh thing we all do when it’s just. too. much? That’s Nolan’s laugh.
6. Blow your nose
At first little Emerson is terrified when his mum blows her nose then he can’t stop laughing the cutest laugh. His terrified face will make you smile even though you don’t want to. Actually, I confess that I laughed out loud at his terrified face and then felt really bad about it so I was glad he started laughing along with me. Babies are good like that.
7. Teach them how to blow raspberries
Mum or dad blowing raspberries is funny enough, but once your baby can blow their own there will be no stopping the laughs. Think of it as a learning tool. The ability to amuse oneself for hours is surely the most important step on the road to independence?
8. Feed the dog popcorn
Well, maybe you shouldn’t feed the dog popcorn, but when this dad feeds the family dog popcorn, his baby daughter just can’t get enough. Her laughter just melts away the blues, it really does.
If you don’t fancy feeding your dog popcorn, rest assured that dogs make babies laugh all the time. Try some of these:
- Putting bubbles on your dog’s nose while your baby is in the bath
- Blowing bubbles for your baby to watch and your dog to catch
- Getting your dog revved up and excited while your baby watches
- Giving your dog and baby a ball to play with
- Teaching your dog how to dance.
9. Eat some corn chips
Do not, under any circumstances, feed your baby corn chips, but by all means eat them yourself while you’re baby is sitting in your lap because that’s the kind of stuff that makes them roll in the aisles. Baby Ashlyn just giggles and giggles while mum smashes the chips. Mum reports that while they don’t know exactly what Ashlyn finds so funny about corn chips she “generally enjoys watching us eat.” So dig in!
10. Put them in front of a mirror
I feel like this whenever I look at myself in the mirror, but somehow it’s cute rather than sad when a baby does it.
11. Feed them
This one might make you cry as much as it will make your baby laugh. See, babies think spitting out their food is even funnier than watching the dog eat popcorn. Spitting out food is just a really funny thing to do. This little baby gets a few chuckles when the food goes in, but mostly he’s cracking up when the food comes out. Which is pretty much the most frustrating thing a baby can do at meal times, even though it makes us unwittingly laugh. But honestly, look at this little dude – how can we resist?
It’s the fact that he’s making his mum giggle that has this little comedian in hysterics. He’s so pleased with himself! You can bet that this little dude is going to grow up to have a really relaxed and healthy attitude to eating. He loves his food and his mum is making feeding time as much fun as a trip to the park. Love it.
12. Crack open a coconut
Baby Sixten thinks coconut cracking is the funniest thing going, so maybe all babies do? I can’t say that I’ve ever cracked open a coconut in front of a baby to find out, but I can tell you that my second baby, Arabella, used to laugh her socks off when I pounded the steak ready for the barbecue. All that hammering with the meat mallet used to send her into hysterics. So maybe it’s really just big, loud bangs that push a baby’s laughter button?
13. Pretend to sneeze
Sneezing is pure comedy, right? Well, babies seem to think it is. There are loads of documented cases of babies nearly falling over with laughter when their parents sneeze.
Babies just seem to like it when their parents look foolish. You can pretty much do anything silly and a baby will laugh like you’re Tina Fey circa Saturday Night Live 2008 (you really should watch Tina in action, it will make you laugh like a baby).
14. Do the vacuuming
Get a clean floor and a happy baby simultaneously by switching on the vacuum cleaner. Does your baby find the vacuum as amusing as Brantley does? He just can’t get enough! I love his little mohawk too. Don’t you love a mohawk baby?
So there you have it, 15 super-duper, cheer-you-right-up ways to make your baby giggle with abandon. I feel like the whole world should be smiling after watching that lot. Do you feel good too?