What makes a good "Laughing Baby"

Hey all,

I've been away for a while. Working on a novel. Painting animals. Trying to get things done.

Many people have asked me, "Christine," they say, "What are the elements of a good 'Laughing Baby Video'?"

And I realized as I was surfing YouTube this morning that I do have some criteria in mind when I am picking a video

1. Baby with infectious laugh.

2. Minimal coaxing of child--i.e., the presence of an adult cooing should not be louder or present for more of the video than the laughter of the baby/babies/puppy/kitten.

3. A stress free environment. I don't want to watch babies cracking up with other screaming children running around, or with drunk parents yelling at a football game (not that these things don't happen around babies, I just don't want to watch it). Also, let's skip the weird lighting situations that make it look as if the baby is being interrogated. Also count me out when a child is overstimulated. Babies learn empathy and to take cues from the adults who interact with them. There is a term for this. It is called interactional synchrony, and the process is very important for the development of social skills and empathy. Babies can laugh hysterically when they are overstimulated--or they can cry, or through a fit. The point is, they don't have complete control over their volume buttons, and adults can accidentally turn them up to eleven, when they might need to take a breather. Trust me when I say these videos are not funny. Even if their YouTube label says they are. Nobody wants to watch the baby who looks frightened or distressed laughing while someone goads them on. "Make him laugh," you hear in the background, "Make them laugh." Subtext: "We might win $10K on AFV." It's obvious when it's forced. It's just uncomfortable.

4. Spontaneous joy. This is a little harder to define and I think it is actually the result of the above circumstances coming together to create magic. Let's just say, I am here to do a service for you--that service is to inject a little innocence and happiness into your day--and if I don't keep the above in mind while surfing through laughing babies, well, then, I am not doing my job. I watch the uncomfortable weird videos, so you don't have to.

I welcome your suggestions as to what makes a laughing baby joyous and funny, and what constitutes an uncomfortable viewing....

Without further ado, here is this post's laughing baby. I think it is a fine example of the above criteria.

Enjoy and keep laughing, babies.....

Test

Put it out with a perdurable

Puppies are Babies Too

It needs no words...

Kittens are so inspiring!

I have to give a shout out to my girl JCuz for these two videos. When Julia sent me these videos, I immediately exclaimed, MEOW!

Check Julia's paintings out here. She's mad talented.

Plus, she lead me to the second video, which has frankly changed my life. Watch it, you'll see what I mean.

Meow, cats.

(WARNING: JESSICA, YES, YOU, MY SISTER, you might want to skip the cat fight, it has something that you particularly don't like. But you should definitely watch #2)

Oh, babies and animals again

Hey thanks to my loyal reader dropout/postgrad for this one.

Guys, I am so sorry I have been away. Life takes over you know. My husband-to-be and I have moved into a new apartment and that has kept us very busy. Very busy indeed.

This video is not babies, really. But if I ran into this elephant or this dog, I would probably call them baby. "Hi baby!" That is what I say to cute animals.

Laughing Babies have talking siblings...

Today, I want to talk to you about a topic that is very near and dear to me. My sister just had her second baby, which makes me Aunt Christie 2.0. My beautiful little nephew is no less beautiful and in fact with the arrival of the little bundle we call Meg, he has blossomed into a most excellent toddler. The other day when I called my sister, I could hear him talking in the background. He was dismayed that one of his balloons had popped. He still had one balloon, but the balloon he had popped did not have helium, and he liked it better. Of the balloon that had helium, he said, "This one's too fluffy!" Genius child. Takes after me.

So, with that in mind, I have an assignment for you. Don't just listen to the little cuddly babies, listen to the voices in the background, the oft overlooked older sibling. They are sweet and funny too...

In the second clip in Video #1, you can hear another little cutie saying "It's Ariel!" followed by the vocal stylings of everyone's favorite mermaid. Ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah. Or something like that.



And in video 2, our laughing baby Morgan has a sibling, and this sibling seems alternately entertained and frightened by little Morgan's laugh (as we all are). Saying "Mommy it's scary" and "Again Mommy."





And now, on to Video #3. I've posted Aubrey before, but she is just proof that the fun doesn't stop when they start talking!!! Love these guys. Props to 'Max's world' and 'Ask a Preschooler' (previously, 'Ask a Toddler'). Their's is the only channel on YouTube to which I am a subsrciber. A Shout out to Little Falcon Studios!

Because Laughter is the Best Medicine

My life has been a nutty whirlwind of late. I absolutely have to find a job, because my severance is running out, and my partner and I just found an apartment together and will move NEXT WEEK. Oh, yeah, and we are also going to get married. I love him so very much, and sometimes its just that precise feeling of gratitude wakes me up at 5:00 in the morning with heart palpitations.

When life is good it can be hard too, because you feel so lucky and you don't want anything bad to happen to the good things you have. That's why, when you are feeling like that I want you to come see the doctor here at Laughing Babies. Take three of these and call me in the morning.

Okay, this is really the cutest thing I have ever seen. It's not laughing, it's not a baby, but I want it to lick my face!!!



The puppy lives here: http://www.kn34.com/screenclean.swf

Smooches!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay all, in a rush to get out the door to spend the night at my boyfriend's parents, to get up the next morning for a morning kirtan and then for a Thanksgiving dinner in Long Island. Should be a blast, if I can just figure out what to wear!!!

Hope you all have a fantastic thanksgiving, in the meantime, here's a couple to help you make it through. Hope you get to play with some baby's on Thanksgiving.

Okay, she's not laughing, but she makes me laugh. This little tot sage is one of my favorites. Enjoy!



and her brother is pretty cute too. And he's, that's right folks, LAUGHING!

I get on a soapbox about babies...

Okay, I am seriously distressed.

First, I am sorry that I have been away. I am apartment hunting right now and that is a hard job! So, I am back to trolling youtube for videos.

But, before we get to the videos, let me tell you about two things that are disturbing me. 1) I actually got reprimanded on facebook for the language in one of the videos I posted. I don't have any Facebook friends under the age of 21, so I do not edit for foul language. If you watch videos on Facebook with your kids in your lap, that is not my problem. Ever. So, friends, I should warn you I guess, that despite the fact that there are babies on my website, it is not for babies. In this case, since this is a public site, I will warn you if its gonna be gross, or have a bad word in it.

2) There is a video on YouTube of a baby playing in the TOILET! I am not embedding it on my website, because I am morally opposed to it. Seriously, it IS kind of funny if the baby sticks his hand in the toilet and says "I found water." It is not however funny that instead of stopping said baby from sticking his hands in the disgusting toilet, you are filming it. Not cool. Come on.

But, Marie, you ask me, what IS cool?

Well, this IS cool.


Also, this is cool. Babies love this game. My nephew calls it Octopus.

An Oldie, but goodie

I think this is what started the laughing baby craze.

Circa 1999...

From my favorite show...America's Funniest Home Videos

I swear this is the first thing that came up when I searched today....

Is it a sign?

Whatever, I love me some Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

I'll see you at the crossroads.

Peace.

baby, baaaabbbyyyy.

She's cute, and funny! Weeee!



And now she is something entirely different. Still funny though. Funnier?

I don't know what do you think?

Okay, this is not a baby, but it was made for one

The description of this video is "baby i made this for you, for you to see cookie on crack!! i was laughing like a crazy person!"

That's poetry.

WARNING: The following film is silent, but I think we all can agree that cookie is indeed on crack.

xoxo

Aunties are funny!

As an aunt, I appreciate this one a lot. I have crawled around on the floor with my baby nephs, and he thinks its pretty funny too! This aunt reminds me of my sister Kate, so I like it especially much.

A newer laughing baby...

So, I have been searching the archives, but I've started searching for new babies laughing. Have no doubt, I am spending hours trolling youtube, just to bring you the funniest babies.

Why Wii is way more fun with babies

Charlie bit me!

I used to be a biter. So, I sympathize with Charlie.