Singing animals

I may have written before about Brigitte's laughing fits (Barbara and Kim get them too, so I think it's hereditary). Anyway, it's quite funny to experience. One very memorable laughing fit took place on a street in Chicago last year. She was laughing so uncontrollably that she was doubled over and we had to stop walking until it subsided. People were looking and wondering what was wrong with her. When she says (as she often does) "geez I was only laughin' me ass off" it's almost not an exaggeration; she really does laugh that hard.

Anyway, one thing that will always get her going is a singing and/or dancing stuffed animal. She has one that sings show tunes, a little dog that dances and flips around on the ground, an angel that says a prayer in Spanish, and I'm sure there are others that we haven't seen yet.

So, we weren't too surprised when, on Luke's birthday, she pulled out a Happy Birthday singing bear. Over Skype this bear sang and sang and sang to Luke. And not only was Brigitte laughing (her ass off) but Bill and Keith and I got going too. And Luke, for the first time, started bouncing up and down. We've seriously never seen him bounce or shake or dance to music, so we thought this was very cute.