Ice Cream, Baths, Undies, and "Words of Wisdom" Laughter

Avery is weird. Have I told you that already? Check this out...

"What am I looking at?" you ask? 


Yes, it's vanilla ice cream. But this vanilla is anything but plain. Please note the sequential and proportionally placed bite marks surrounding the outer edges of the container. Yes, the middle looks fairly pristine, but even that got a few pokes of the fingers. What could have made such deliberate crevices in a world of whole creamy goodness?

Of course. Like it would be any kid else.




Here's more evidence:

Ice Cream Face.




But here is Morgan looking like a fake nail queen!

All of the marker tops on her fingers. Cheaper than a manicure!




But then there's the kooky one wearing Dan's underwear...

And then needed a bath...

and a washing out of the mouth (no she didn't swear...yet!)

And Morgan and Mommy watching from afar, avoiding Avery's splashing and throwing of rags.


But here are the "Words of Wisdom for the Week"

Comedian Bill Cosby once said, “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.”

There’s something to be said for the healing power of laughter. And of course, the best source of laughter is improvisation - the on the fly, collaborative, quick-thinking brand of humor that comedienne Tina Fey writes about in her novel, “Bossypants,” and the kind of artistry needed to be a super-duper teacher. Somehow, improv echoes life:

The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means that you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. So if we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not a gun. It’s your finger. You’re pointing your finger at me,” then our improvised scene has ground to a halt. But if I say, “Freeze, I have a gun!” and you say, “The gun I gave you for Christmas, You bastard!” then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is, in fact, a Christmas gun. Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything that everyone says. But the “Rule of Agreement” reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you. As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is “no.” “No, we can’t do that.” “No, that’s not in the budget.” “No, I will not hold your hand for a dollar.” What kind of way is that to live?

The second rule of improvisation is not only to say YES, but YES, AND. You are supposed to agree and then add something on your own. If a scene starts with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect, we’re in Hell.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here” and you say, “Yeah, this can’t be good for the wax figures.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here” and you say, “I told you we shouldn’t have crawled into this dog’s mouth,” now we’re getting somewhere.

To me, YES, AND means don’t be afraid to contribute. It’s your responsibility to contribute. Always make sure you’re adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile.

The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying, “Don’t ask questions all of the time.” If we’re all in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all of the answers. In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag. It’s usually the same person around the office the office who says things like, “There’s no calories in it if you eat it standing up!” and “I felt menaced when Terry raised her voice.”

MAKE STATEMENTS also applies to us women: Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says, “I’m going to be your surgeon? I’m here to talk to you about your procedure? I haven’t done this procedure before.” Make statements with your actions your voice.

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities. If I start a scene as what I think is very a clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike. Who knows?! Maybe I’ll end up being a police hamster who has been put on “hamster wheel” duty because I’m “too much of a loose cannon” in the field. In improve there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents. And many of the world’s discoveries have been by accident. I mean, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Or Botox.

Me: Final thoughts? Life should be filled with joy and laughter as well as mistakes and foibles. If we can’t laugh at ourselves and take silly mistakes in life and things we can’t control with a grain of salt, we may as well be carrying around bags of sand and crying rivers over the fact that we can’t move mountains. I vote laughter. Just saying…

:)