Friday, March 10, 2006

Knock Knock.........


Trying to teach the value of a good Knock Knock joke to a 4 year old is a challenge. I cannot tell you how many times Abram will come up to me and say, "Knock Knock Mama." I take a deep breath and say unenthusiastically, "Whoooos therrrre?" He rattles off some nonsensical statement. Okay for instance, "Knock knock...Who's there?...Door...Door who?....Why dont you answer it with a banana?" Then this is followed by a crazy amount of little boy laughter. I give him the raised eyebrow and fake "hahaha". After he contains himself he wants to do it again and again and yet again. So I have to say, " Abram honey, that's not really funny." Let me teach you some good ones okay. So he listens, and I even have him repeat them to me in hopes he will memorize them, and when trying them out on his brothers he will get the squeal of laughter he hungers for.

So today was another knock-knock day. The same droning on of missed punchlines. I have to be honest with him, I can't encourage something that lasts this eternally long if its NOT funny. So we rehearsed the same joke that I know, I'm sure there are more but I havent made it a hobby to expand my knock knock repetoire. Maybe this time it would stick with him. So after much rehearsing, I sent him out of my bedroom to practice them on his two older brothers. He proudly pounced off of my bed with his new joke ready to try out. So I listened from the other room, and this is how it went down.

Abram: Isaiah! Knock Knock!
Abram: Isaiah!! Knock knock!
The background has the noise of boys wrestling around with one another
Abram: Isaaaaaiah pllllleeeeease! Knock Knock!!!
Isaiah: ABRAM! Come on Man! I can't take anymore knock knock jokes.
Abram: But this is funny!
I hear the boys resume wrestling again.
Mom: BOYS??!!
Silence in the background
Boys: Yeah??
Mom: Listen to his knock knock joke please.
Abram: On cue says, "Knock knock"
Isaiah: In a silly loud voice says, "Whhhhhhhho's there???"
Abram: oblivious to the sarcasm, responds, "Boo!"
Isaiah: Sounding like he's crying, "Booohooo?"
Abram: *giggling* "Why are you crying?" *giggling*
Isaiah: HAAAAHHAAAAHHAAAA....HOOOHOOOHAAAHAAA!!!!
Isaiah: Give me 5! You are the Man!!
Abram gives him a hard 5. He shoves open my bedroom door with a puffed up chest, unaware that I have been listening.
Mom: So, how did it go?
Abram sits down on the bed and raises one eyebrow and retorts, "Well, to be honest I think it was a fake laugh." And then jumps off the bed like a superhero and gives me a HIGH FIVE, and says, "Oh well, do you know anymore?"
Mom: Nope, that's as good as it gets baby!"

9 comments:

mikster said...

Sounds like mom made the little guy's day. I know several jokes I could teach him...but it's safe to assume that would be a very, very bad idea...lol

Nan said...

ROFL! Sounds incredibly familiar!
Nan

momto3blessings said...

Very funny! Micah does the same thing.

Trina said...

Mike: I am sure YOU do have some knock knock jokes...hahaha

Nan and Cheryl: So its a boy thing huh?

Nicki said...

Trina, that is just too funny! I love that he caught on to the fake laugh!

I was laughing so hard about the subject of your post too! While sitting in the van today with my kids, they were telling knock-knock jokes one after another. Most of them made no sense at all but they were laughing uncontrollably. The whole time I was thinking, I need to blog about this. LOL!

Kim's Life said...

Look I just love your blog. I laugh and laugh and laugh. Thankyou
Your children look so beautiful In every photo

Jennefer said...

Hello. I stumbled upon your blog. 5 boys, huh? I thought I had a lot with 3. I totally relate to your post. My 7 yr. old is always trying to say something funny that pertains to a conversation my 11 and 12 yr old are having and they always ignore him. I have to start yelling, "CONNER is talking- please listen to him!" So they stop and listen- he says his "funny" thing which is always met with silence or a "huh?" It doesn't do much for his self-esteem. So I always make a comment like, "That was very clever, Conner!" This doesn't usually help. Thanks for the post!

Trina said...

MotherIsland: Yep he picked up the fake laughter right away, but that didnt stop him. LOL

Jen: I visited your blog and enjoyed it. Love your photographs, very beautiful. Its amazing that the internet makes each of us so accessible when we live so far apart. Very cool!

Nicki: I hope your kids appreciated each others humor, cuz the boys are smiling through gritted teeth at Abram's. LOL

Kimslife: I am so glad that you are enjoying my blog. That is sweet of you.

Jen: Well I have to agree 3 boys is a lot too...LOL Yeah having each of the boys find their own place in the group is tough. Teaching respect, compassion, and all that to each of the boys is a FULL TIME job.

Renee said...

That's funny. My girls went through the same thing. Sometimes Emma still tells jokes that don't make sense and off I go with the fake laugh!