To Tickle

One of my new year's resolutions is to make each of my children laugh every day.  Not only is the sound of a child's laughter medicine for my soul, it also boosts my mood and is fun to try to think of ways each day to get them to laugh.  My oldest is harder because you can't just chase him around the house and expect him to laugh anymore, so I have to get really creative. What this post is about, however, is how the easiest way to get my youngest to smile is to "tickle" her.  She can be in the middle of a tantrum and all I have to do is tickle her to get immediate laughter amidst the screams and crying.  Tickling is an art.  I remember being tickled as a child - sometimes just for laughs and other times out of real torture. I mean, sometimes when an older brother is holding you down you truly are being "tickle tortured".  Tickling is a good mood booster, whether being tickled or tickling a child, it's reaction is usually laughter.  It is flirty, fun and dates back generations. Your parents did it, your grandparents did it, and most likely even the President of the United States has participated in some sort of tickling.  It is an equalizer.  A worldwide pleasure.  Tickling is famous.  It's in movies, in books. It is a past-time.  So on a sad day, just tickle or be tickled. Immediate smiles and laughter will be the results.

The Towel

Towels are a funny thing don't you think? Even the word is funny, towel, tow-el. to-ow-el. Weird. But you don't realize how important or useful they are until you don't have one when you need one. Right? With that thought I begin my story: 

Today the towel I usually use to dry off with after my shower was in the wash. I therefore grabbed a different towel and went about my business.  When I needed said towel I soon realized that it was not as clean as I thought and was not only not clean, but dirty dish towel stinky.  What do I do? I could either stand there and drip dry, wave my hands and run around to air dry or use the stinky towel. So I stood there and ended up wrapping my hair loosely in the stinky towel and using the used, small hand towel that was just kind of dirty but not stinky to dry off. I know this may not be an appropriate picture in your mind or this post may not be appropriate for young readers, however it needed to be told so I could figure out one of my good mood triggers: CLEAN, FLUFFY, FRESH TOWELS. I didn't realize what I was missing until I had to use stinky towel and hand towel and put on enough lotion and hair stuff to mask the stench left behind by the stinky towel. I wasn't about to go out, find a new towel and then shower off again. Too much work! So by having a "stinky towel" experience, it really made me appreciate the days when I have a clean towel. Isn't that how life works? So get yourself an awesome, big, fluffy,  fresh towel and use expensive fabric softener just on it and enjoy the freshness. Sure to put you in a good mood. Because the stinky towel kind of put me in a stinky mood not to mention a stinky person in general. I am washing my fluffy towel today.

A Fresh Cut

Getting ready in the morning can get very tedious and boring. So much so that most days, unless I have somewhere I absolutely have to be, I avoid getting ready all together, doing the bare minimum.  Sometimes not washing my hair, not putting on makeup - just making it so my kids don't say "mom, you stink".  Today I figued out a way to combat the "getting ready" monotony. Get a new haircut.  A few days ago I got my hair cut by an awesome stylist whom I love and now I love getting ready and even look forward to it.  Now, this sort of thing doesn't happen for other monotonous tasks like doing the dishes for instance.  If I get a new glass or bowl, I don't make it dirty just so I can wash it or I don't stare at it in the sink just waiting until I can pour soap into it and see it clean again.  Even a new dishwasher might make doing the dishes exciting for one day, then I would be sick of doing them again. On the other hand,  a cute haircut can make me excited to get ready for weeks!  So today, a new haircut is all it took to put me in a really good mood and motivate me to get ready. Unfortunately, a bad haircut can have the exact opposite effect so be careful who you trust with you locks! Go out and get a fresh new haircut and see what it can do for you.