This is my funny bunny.
And I'm even allowed to call her "funny bunny"!
I refer to Mary all sorts of ways: little, big, pumpkin, cupcake, beautiful, smart, sweet, babes, cute, talented, yummy, silly-bun, adorable, you get the picture. She much MUCH prefers her name, Mary, to any other noun, adjective, or combination thereof. We do get away with calling her "Bear," but I think it's because we've been doing it consistently for so long that she doesn't notice it.
The other day I was teasing her a bit, asking if I can say that she's "super smart" or "extra sweet" or "really beautiful" or "amazingly strong''--and each time she said no. Then I asked if I could say that she's funny. And, a little sheepishly, she responded in the affirmative.
"Can I call you my funny bunny?" I asked.
She nodded yes. Seriously.
I was shocked!
I realized Mary likes to see herself as funny. And why not? She is funny!
She's been telling knock-knock jokes since she could talk. They went something like this:
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
Then should would make a silly face and blow a raspberry.
It was funny, trust me.
She's had potty humor down for well over a year now. She's got good comic timing. She knows that something incongruous or unexpected can bring a laugh. She uses rhyme, word play, alliteration, and a lot of physicality to get a laugh. (She also stood on her chair and showed us her bare bottom at dinner time. That did not get a laugh. Which made for a very uncomfortable moment or two between our bites of enchilada.) And now she can tell a real knock-knock joke, start to finish.
I wish I had specific examples, but I don't often pay close attention to her comedy routine, because, quite honestly, it doesn't fit perfectly with how I define my daughter. I guess I didn't expect to give birth to the class clown. What else do I miss about her personality and desires because it doesn't fit into the paradigm I've created for her? It's so odd to me that I have a daughter for whom the ultimate compliment is "funny." We've never had a comic in the family, unless you count my dad's satiric stuffed animal stories or Tio Dave's middle school antics. And I don't think there's a lot of funny bone material in Greg's DNA.
But here she is, our little funny bunny.
My children never cease to surprise me....
....if I open my heart and my mind.
P.S. I think I've struggled with this before.
