Fast running out of ideas to entertain her little friend, Lily J whipped out her secret weapon: a green, sproingy ball thing with googly eyes that had been hiding in ElilyMommy’s Mary Poppinesque mommy bag.

Something like this.

It worked a charm. In the almost-dead silence – right when the fruit of the vine (grape juice) was being distributed in the middle of the Lord’s Supper, Arddun burst out laughing. She thought Mr Green Sproing was HALARIOUS. The rest of us, having spent most of worship up to that point trying to shush her muted baby gurgling, promptly gave up in a spate of silent giggles ourselves.

Gorgeous noise. Hysterical baby laughter: a burbling brook of excitement, a tremendous reminder that Life is full of wonderful discoveries, and that googly eyes are heaps funny – even for adults.

Did not catch it on video, given the context. So I’ve decided to cobble together a collection of Arddun’s other laughs, just so you might get the idea.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you, my baby girl.