The funniest thing I've done in a long time

Last weekend we were over in New Hampshire for a friend's wedding - one of the old Utah horde who now lives in New England. A couple people we were hoping to see were there, including some friends who used to live 2 blocks from us in Salt Lake. Their oldest son is now 4, and they have an 8 month old baby boy now, too. Oldest son (OS) is one of those super-active skinny-ass kids who can't be bothered to eat when there is SO MUCH to SEE and DO and EXPLORE! New baby (NB) is roly poly and totally chill.

OS is so much fun to talk to - at one point he told me that he was the QUEEN of ALL EVIL! (He only has one volume - and that volume is LOUD.) In the last few years he has picked up obsessions with the various Disney heroines - as in, he claimed to be Ariel and every night for three months wore the mermaid costume his (conservative, Republican) grandmother sewed for him. She is now making him a Belle ballgown. He's also showing signs of liking Jasmine, who he insists is a doctor. Which kind of makes sense when you know that his mom works at the hospital and that Jasmine wears blue pajamas and a face veil. Sure. A doctor, of course. His mom isn't psyched that he's watching Disney at all - she extended her arm and tapped it to raise a vein to indicate her feelings about it - but she had to admit that the women were much better characters than the men. After all, rather to want to be Belle (who likes books and is nice to people) than Gaston (who is a raging idiot who beats up his friends).

ANYWAY. All that to get to this:

We encountered the OS and his father within the first five minutes of our arrival at the farm. They had been camping out in the field with a bunch of the other wedding guests. OS was wearing pajama pants (inside out) and a pajama top (backwards) with no shoes.

At one point he was climbing up Jay's leg and I looked at OS's skinny ankles and said, "I bet I could swing you around by your ankles."

"OK! YEAH!" said OS, scrambling over to me.

He laid down on the grass and I picked him up by his ankles and swung him back and forth like a pendulum. Kid weighs 30 pounds soaking wet. I swung him higher and Jay caught him by the hands like a trapeze artist and flipped him back upright.

"AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!" OS says, already climbing back up my legs.

I reached down and caught him around his knees and flipped him upside down. My hands slid from his knees to his ankles... taking his pajamas along for the ride.

Jay and Dad kind of gasp and start smiling. Dad says, "So is this the kind of thing you do with all 4 year old boys?"

OS is laughing.

I look down and see skinny bare tushy swinging back and forth.

Jay's laughing, dad's razzing me, OS is giggling... I laughed so hard I almost dropped the poor kid on his head. Snorting and crying with laughter, I manage to plop him on the grass and collapse in a heap of giggles. Dang... just thinking about it makes me laugh again.

Five seconds after OS pulls up his pants, I hear, "AGAIN! AGAIN!"

I look up and OS has one leg extended and his hands firmly clenched at his waistband.

Love that kid.