I learned something recently: familiarity breeds contempt. If not contempt, then boredom. This weekend, our beautiful baby girl started to really smile. Seeing your baby smile has to be one of the best parts of parenting.
Yet much to my chagrin, she doesn’t smile at me even a third as much as she smiles at my husband, my mom, or her plush ladybug. I will admit, I am having a hard time not taking it personally.
I mean, when you spend all day with someone, taking care of them, playing with them…is a smile too much to ask?? I don’t mind that she smiles at everyone and everything else, I just want a piece of the pie! Just a grin.
Which, my pediatrician tells me, really is a lot to ask. I asked him about it today. The conversation went like this:
Me: So, I was sort of half-joking, half-seriously saying to my husband, “Why doesn’t she smile at me as much as she smiles at you?”
Doctor: No, you weren’t joking. That’s your polite way of saying “I don’t freaking like it.”
Me: Okay, true.
He then went on to explain that Daddy and Grandma are less familiar to the baby than me. They have different faces, smells, voices, etc. She’s used to me, so she simply doesn’t find me as interesting or amusing as Daddy or Grandma. He reassured me that she does know who I am, and likes me just fine.
My husband and mom told me, “She’s one month old, she doesn’t know anything.” Which is true. And I will keep reminding myself of this when she screams at me. Because when she stops screaming and falls asleep on my chest, that is worth every bit as much as a smile. : )
Katie Bertola 