What's so funny???

I really should be going to bed, but I just had to share this with you.

I love kids. I love MY kids- the two beautiful boys God brought into my life to nanny twice a week. For a kid like me, the chance to watch other kids and get payed for it is the job of my dreams! What makes it such a wonderful job are the stupid, side-splitting things that happened like the one I'm about to tell you.

We're all in the basement together. The boys want to buys some ice cream. So, I get in my pretend ice-cream truck right between the furnace and the water heater and I start handing our strawberry cones. They both have double deckers, so I sure that will keep them content for a while. The moment I step out from behind that truck, David suddenly realizes he's finished with his cone.

"Can I have another!" he demands. I throw my hands up in the air in exasperation and turn to get back in my truck. A shriek of laughter explodes. It was a hit! I exaggerate my scoops and hand both boys another pair of cones. No sooner do I step out of the truck again, then- "Can I have another!" Once again, hand fly up to the ceiling in disgust and the earsplitting laughter echos across the basement.

Scooping ice-cream and running back for more. Disbelieving hand gestures and irritated grunts. Laughter that gives you belly aches. Now I can't stop laughing because of how hard they're laughing and my laughing at them.

"I want some meatball ice-cream!" David gasps as I'm frantically scooping out two cones.

"Meatball ice-cream!!!" I roar. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! NO MEATBALL ICE-CREAM!"

Silence. Not because the joke is over but because nobody can breathe.

I just want to know one thing- what makes something funny? Why do we laugh at things? No one can predict a joke- they just happen. You may tell a joke to someone that makes that person drop dead laughing, but totally turns the next person off.

Why is it that in a house full of awesome toys the one things these boys want to play with is an imaginary ice-cream truck?