Baby Love

Our friends the Gay Lawyer (more on him here and here) and his partner the Gay Historian recently adopted -- after having to wait for way too many years -- what is, without any doubt or argument, the cutest baby boy on the planet.  I know this because as his surrogate aunt, I feel what I can only imagine is what those in the business call "maternal" when I see him.  And I don't even really like babies all that much (need I remind you of this?).  Though this is no ordinary baby . . . but I digress. 

Last weekend, after spending some time with my Darling Nephew, it occurred to me that when people talk about babies and what they want to do to them, the talk is often actually quite gruesome.  My exposure to babies is fairly limited, so it may just be that the cutest baby in the world induces this kind of behavior in otherwise sane adults, but somehow I suspect that all babies induce hysteria in someone.

Baby Feet
Image by deanj via Flickr

When I was talking with some friends who have also fallen under the spell of my favorite infant, the comments ranged from [tame] "I want to put his whole foot in my mouth," to [creepy] "I could just squeeze him to death," to [grotesque] "I want to eat him alive."  Much as I love the kid, I'm not sure I could resort to baby cannibalism.

This got me thinking . . . what is it about babies that make regularly sane people go batshit crazy?  Their little tiny hands and toes are cute, who can argue with that?  There's that soft little baby skin, people spend their entire adulthoods trying to re-achieve that.  And that punch-drunk way that their heads are too big for their bodies, what's not to like about that?    But when do we make the leap from toes, skin, and heads to the desire to squeeze, pinch, and devour a tiny human?  I don't get it.  Then again, those little bitty toes do look kind of like corn nibblets. 

Comments

  1. Tammy GordonFebruary 10, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    Jerry's shirt is terrible. That is all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 10, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    I just don't know what to say. Who can top Jerry and Elaine? I guess the best I can do is to say that nature knows what it's doing -- not with the grotesque wishes part but with the oh-my-God-I-can't-get-over-him part. What a lucky nephew to have you in his life!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AngieFebruary 11, 2012 at 11:08 AM

    Hee hee...yes why do we suddenly want to devour their cuteness?
    "Maybe the dingo ate yo baby!!" {said in best Elaine fake accent}

    ReplyDelete

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