Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
--- Albert Einstein

I'm curious at what age the repeated use of the word "again" stops being a favorite command to immediately re-live a much-anticipated action or joke or other fantastic childhood event. I ask because our daughter (who is 5 years old) made me repeat the same joke for approximately 2 hours on our drive to Ohio recently. OK, maybe it wasn't two hours, but I think it was the whole way from Lafayette, IN to well past Indianapolis. So an hour?

I certainly didn't mind the repeated telling of this joke. On the contrary, I took great joy in seeing her crack up like crazy at the same exact joke over and over and over and.... I was actually tempted to see how long she might be able to go on laughing hysterically at this silly joke. But I suspect she would have far outlasted me on that front. Actually, I'm really sure she would have.

So what was this fantastic joke that Claire had to hear over and over all the way through Central Indiana? It's a classic. It's incredibly funny. It's.....well childish. Good thing she and I are both children. Otherwise, the silly joke would have worn out its welcome much more quickly.

The joke in question:

Me: "Knock, knock"

Claire: "Who's there?"

Me: "Impatient cow."

Claire: "Impatien......."

Me: "MOOOOOOO!"

So there you have it. The funniest joke in the world to my daughter for about an hour or so during a 5+ hour trip in the car from Chicago to Ohio. She actually tried to tell a couple people in Columbus that joke, but ended up just cracking herself up when she tried. It still never got old for me to see her laughing that hysterically over such a simple and ridiculous joke. I hope I never forget that sight.