Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Is There Anything Better?


Baby laughter makes being a parent worth all the sacrifice. I get up at least once a night, every night, I frequently am unable to shower, and meeting up with friends takes a lot of planning. Being a mom is so hard. Still, the moment Oliver's mouth freezes into an open smile, and I hear the ringing of his laughter, I feel happier than I ever have before.

I read an article in Time the other day (I was perched on the toilet, and Oliver was tearing up another magazine in his infant seat in the hallway as I monitored him by glancing up at the article every 30 seconds or so), and it talked about advertisers. Apparently, more money is going to be spent on sound instead of visual effects in commercials and such. Research has shown sound is underutilized.

Where does this fit in? Well, advertisers' research has also shown that (by far) the most appealing sound to the human ear is the sound of baby laughter.

Before being a mom, there was nothing worse than the sound of a baby shrieking and screaming and crying. Wait. Even after I became a mom, that was the case! I think it must be a very innate feeling to hate the sound of a baby crying. As a mom, it makes me run to my baby and soothe him. Conversely, somehow, we must have evolved to delight in the sound of our babies laughing.

I discovered a couple of days ago that Oliver laughs to the sound of "Gobble, gobble." If you stepped into my home, you'd likely find me holding Oliver above my head (him looking down on me, drooling all over me), saying, "Gobble, gobble, gobble!" just to hear that precious laugh sing out to me.

Alas, I just heard Oliver's cry through the monitor. It's time to start my morning. Get ready for the "gobbles," Ollie!

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