Joke's On You

Note to readers: This was written back in April. I had finished 95% of it, and set it aside because I wasn't sure it fit here on the girls' blog. Now I think that if I don't include it here it might be lost to my feeble memory forever, so away we go. (this might end up being the first in a series)

Dad here:

There are many momentous occasions in a child's life: first word, first step, first birthday, etc. This week, though, Clementine had a first that made me particularly proud. She told me her first joke. It was last night at bedtime, and we were all in the girls' bedroom. She said something to me that sounded like "tinkwa" and I was confused and chuckled as I asked her to repeat it. Well, after repeating it she chuckled. Her chuckle made me laugh, and my laugh is all it takes to get her going, so off she went. "Tinkwa", "tinkwa", "tinkwa" she would repeat and laugh. (I never said it was a good joke) She kept at it for at least a minute straight while I tried with all my might not to laugh, and failed miserably.

It wasn't a very good joke (does that comment make me her first heckler?), but I felt all-encompassing joy to hear her laugh so richly at her own gibberish. I can't wait for the second joke.

Postscript:

Tonight Julie figured out what she was saying, and it turns out it wasn't gibberish, it was her way of weakening her "L"'s. She was saying "twinkle" as in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, as we sometimes sing at night.