Laughter

She started chuckling a while ago, monosyllabic grunts of pleasure, a funny noise that sounds like a joyful "Huh!"

She doubled-up on her "Huh!" the other day while watching TH dance. We counted that as her first real laughter, but it was still a baby sound, something that we hear her do and interpret with our adult brains as laughter, but falling short of mimicking real adult laughter by itself.

And then last night. Naked time. TH blowing raspberries on her tummy. It happened.

She giggled.

Not "Huh-huh-huh," but a real, adult, normal, hee-hee-hee of a giggle that was the most amazing sound I've ever heard.

Each step of this parenthood thing has been more wonderful than the last, but laughter, real, true laughter . . . there are no words to describe how awesome this is.

What a sound! I replay it in my memory like a drug, like the first time I heard "I love you," an audio memory played on loop so that I continue to get the surge of elation it releases each time.

I am addicted. And like a true junkie I will do all kinds of crazy things to get her to give us that sound again.

She laughs. 4 months, 5 days.