-Talking to Baby in falsetto baby talk. I have always scoffed at this language as sounding patently silly, childish, and uneducated. Why set out to raise a person to talk like a baby?? No son por me! Yet when one has such a cute, cuddly, adorable wittle baby to play with and talk to, one finds out how absolutely irresistable speaking this language can be. The comfort, however, is an article I read recently that explains how infants have a highly developed sense of sound that is keenly attuned to the higher frequencies, such that speaking in a high register appeals very strongly to their senses. Aha! So we as mothers are only acting on the impulses God placed in our brains in order to wire us more securely to our babies!
-Writing or talking as if on behalf of my baby. Although this has been carried off with great success for Ben, Stuart, et al, I always assumed that if I tried it the effect would fall flat and sound far too kitschy and kutesy, like someone who (no offense to Barbara Bush, who is a fine and gracious lady) writes a memoir from the perspective of a dog! And yet, now that I actually have a baby of such demonstrable and obvious cleverness, it is imperative that her profound and wonderful thoughts be written down, as I'm sure she would do for herself if she could only reach the keyboard. Besides, it's really fun to imagine what she would say or think and try to project what her personality might be like.
-Taking nude pictures of my children. Disgraceful and tasteless, not to say causing great embarrassment in later life! However, I have discovered that with such a cute baby it was almost impossible not to take a couple of topless shots of her in her bath, and then from there it was a slippery slope as I rationalised away any potential angst by deciding that with a digital camera, I could always blur away any indiscreet angles later. See, as long as we don't print any immodest pictures, it doesn't count.
Good intentions and all that rot. But I beg you, stop me cold if you ever overhear me saying to my child, 'Because I'm the mother, that's why!' or 'You don't need to worry about it.'
4 comments:
I remember receiving letters and cards from friends with young children and thinking, "This birthday card is not from little Johnny. He doesn't even know I exist." And if they dared write a thank you note on his behalf for the baby gift I sent, I thought that something must have been lost mentally in the birthing process. Now here I am with a blog written by my infant, now toddler. I justify it as my attempts to understand and communicate with my child better, but basically, I may have had something knocked out in the birthing process. -rlr
Resign yourself to the fact that it is extremely likely you will say "Because I'm the mother!" and "You don't need to worry about it." Sometimes that's the only answer that works. Why? It's almost why-proof, that's why.
For the record, I enjoy Jane's musings.
-- SJ
Regarding the baby talk - I've heard that babies respond better to high pitched voices. And I also read in a book on child development that it's good to repeat to your baby what you hear her say (i.e., if she says "goo," say "goo" back) so that your baby learns to converse with you. Apparently this will help her talk earlier. ??
Regarding nude pics - I think fat-baby bath pictures are some of the cutest pictures EVER. :)
If it's any comfort, Rachelle, I liked Ben's blog long before I had a baby, so objectively (and not just through some warped Mama-lens) you pulled it off well.
Sara, you should like the following exchange from Drink to Yesterday:
'They call her Diana the Wise.'
'Why?'
'Because she asks such an awful lot of them.'
'Why-? Oh, I see.'
Amy - Not that we're in any hurry to get our children to talk! Or that there's any worry about their verbal skills when once they do! =)
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