Jokes & Sarcasm

Katelynn loves cheesy kid jokes now, even though she doesn't seem to completely "get" a lot of them yet. Today she heard a joke on TV and a lightbulb did seem to go off for her. She came to me giggling: "Mommy, who does a bee marry? [Pause] HIS HONEY!" [Hysterical laughing] I find it fascinating how sophisticated humor truly is, now that I see my four-year old trying to understand all the innuendos, plays on words, etc. I have heard a saying that you truly understand a culture once you "get" their jokes/sense of humor, and I really do think that is true.

She has also started to figure out that I don't always mean exactly what I say, but she still doesn't quite understand the nuances of sarcasm. Today Tyler spit up on me (yet again- daily occurrence, multiple times per day) and I said "Thank-you so much Tyler." Katelynn was confused, so I told her: "I said 'thank you' but didn't really mean it. That is called sarcasm. You can tell I didn't mean it by the tone of my voice." Katelynn: "That's silly to say thank you for spit up, mommy!"

Well, she does have a point...