Amelia’s Circles
At 20-odd weeks pregnant, pretty sure that I wasn’t going to miscarry anymore, I finally bit the bullet and signed up at all of the formula companies websites. Having had a breastfed one and a bottle-fed one, I figured it was safest to err on the side of caution. Plus! Bonus coupons!
A couple of weeks after Amelia was born, Similac began to descend upon our house. I got a couple of freebee cans in the mail (hooray!) and was signed up for their new program crap they mail me. Obviously, I read it VERY closely. But, along with some $5 off coupons (bonus!) were some printed sheets of colorful circles. The sort of shit that babies are supposed to see and love. I’d not bought into that craze, so I didn’t know one way or another.
Figuring, what the hell, I threw them up on the wall by her changing table. As long as my cheap ass didn’t have to shell out for them, why the hell not?
Well, those circles are Amelia’s best friend on the planet. She coos to them, beams her million-dollar smile at them, carries on regular conversations with them, and would probably lay there, kicking and squacking happily if I didn’t have to do such things as 1) care for her brothers or 2) occasionally pee.
Well played, Similac, well played indeed.
But I can’t help but wonder, what the hell is it that she sees when she looks at them? Nancy Regan? The remains of Elvis? A treasure map to a pot of gold coins at the end of a rainbow? Children in general mystify me completely, but babies even more so. What I wouldn’t give for a moment inside their head.
Then I might know what they’re thinking when they do things smear their walls with toothpaste so that they can wake up in the middle of the night and lick them. Or what makes Amelia giggle when she sleeps. Or even why Auggie has adopted some of the wee Beanie Babies Amelia was given in the PICU as his very own babies.
Wait, Auggie is my dog and he often eats poo for sport. I don’t care why he does what he does. Just so long as he doesn’t bathe any of us with his Tongue of Doom.
I read somewhere on one of the blogs I frequent (okay, sorry I can’t give credit. I am both high and sleep deprived) that when babies smile in their sleep when they’re playing with the angels. Considering how many I know who have lost so much, I like that idea best.
Girlfriend is thinking about her circles.
I know, I know, the angle of this is all wrong because you cannot see the rapture in her eyes. Here’s where I confess to you, Internet, that I am short. Not abnormally so, but I’m not a gangly one (hehe. Say that out loud. It sounds like “ganglion.” hehe) (What? I’m easily amused!). Sadly. If I were taller, I’d have been able to take a better shot.
Perhaps I’ll buy some lifts for my shoes. How hot would THAT be?
Make sure the circles aren’t telling her to kill mommy when she’s old enough to move. Corporate brainwashing and all that.
She is just beautiful….love that smile. I too wonder what goes on in my kids heads sometimes, but as Jenn said…it’s probably better that we don’t know. 🙂
What a cutie she is!
Just purple circles huh… that is trippy that she loves them so much. But hey whatever keeps her occupied whilst your changing her diaper is a very good thing indeed.
She’s so cute!
I’m thinking that it’s safer NOT to know what is going on inside a kid’s head at any given time. 🙂
Gorgeous! And I agree with Jenn. It’s probably safer not knowing whats going on inside their heads.
Especially when you see an evil thought moving through their head.
Like when my daughter goes from this:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd98/katarianna/Aviendha/week%20032309/DSCN1209.jpg
to this:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd98/katarianna/Aviendha/week%20032309/DSCN1208.jpg
to this:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd98/katarianna/Aviendha/week%20032309/DSCN1207.jpg
Course, I already know she’s evil since she LOVES Ozzy, laughs when people die on CSI and is best friends with Richard from Looking for Group (webcomic) and Cthulhu (the epitome of horror and evil).
My son likes aluminum foil. Not that I’m trying to cast aspersions on his character at the ripe old age of almost six months, but I’m a little worried. I should have gone for the Similac coupons.
I completely agree. It would be amazing to be in their heads for a day.
Amelia is so beautiful Bec.
Adorable. My little Beauty is similarly fascinated by this cheap-ass mobile we bought on Amazon. It doesn’t sing or move or anything. It’s just a bunch of plastic cards with different colored shapes that hang above her head while I change her diaper. She frickin’ loves them. Like Amelia she laughs, coos, smiles, waves and kicks at them. She does not seem to know or care that they are inanimate objects. I, the woman who gave birth to her WITHOUT drugs, have to resort to embarrassingly stupid human tricks to get that same reaction – go figure.
Farty loved a card like that I got from one of the formula companies. It was white with red and black dots. I think he loved it more than he loves me. Until he puked on it, and I threw it away. The first of many incidents where he will undoubtedly be pissed at me.’
Amelia is adorable. We are really blessed to have these little beasties after all they’ve gone through, aren’t we?
My firstborn was incredibly entranced by the light fixture in the ceiling. I mean, he LOVED that thing. Cooed to it. Smiled at it. Yes. It was his best friend. I agree with Stacey- for babies, everything is new and wonderful. Unless they hate it.
Your daughter is gorgeous and obviously a genius.
I’ve always thought of babies as similar to stoners or people on acid trips..that “oh wow! look at that! that’s just soooo…wild….man” sort of thing. You know, when babies just stare at their fingers? I’ve seen people tripping stare at their fingers with the exact same look of wonder. Everything is new to them, with no preconceived notion of what they are supposed to expect from it. “Like have you ever really looked at circles man? I mean really LOOKED at them? They’re like awesome man. They just sort of flow in that circle way.”
Which probably says a lot about me, but really I always imagined my kids’ infant thoughts in that trippy stoner sort of voice.
man, i should have signed up for some milk company stuff – i could have sold the samples and coupons on ebay. it’s not too late is it?
meanwhile, your little lady is looking quite charming! now, how short ARE you exactly?
whatthefuck?? I signed up on Similac and guess what I’ve gotten? Here’s a list:
It’s baby subliminal message time.
as long as the circles aren’t arranged in a 666 pattern, I think you’re okay.
PS- she is just gorgeous!!
Oh so precious!
How CUTE! T used to be obsessed with ceiling fans and these little soft book thingies that had black and white designs in them. For some reason? I keep getting baby stuff like free similac in the mail, and free sample diapers and stuff…someone thinks I’m pregnant, which, HAHAHAHA!!!! NEVER again. If you want the free similac, hollah.
Its probably one of those 3D pictures that you can only see the image if you focus on it for a long time and cross your eyes.
The circles are a gateway product! They will get her all hooked on them, and then make you buy circle toys, and circle DVDs, and circle clothes! I heard they’re even making a circle amusement park somewhere in secret!
She is so adorable. I love those circles, too, by the way. They didn’t send you any extra. did they?
Oh she is darling…. that first picture shows off her ADORABLE smile!!
Oh, she’s just beautiful. I love that slightly crooked smile. And the cirles are terrific. It’s actually making me think maybe I ought to look for some scrapbook paper with a great fun design like that and put it on the ceiling over the changing table; maybe then kids would hold still for the 30 seconds I need to be able to change their diapers.
When my oldest was born, his “best friend” was a teal box of Pampers wipes. He smiled at it, talked to it, even named it. (Well, he made a “kaa” kind of sound so we named it Kyle.) Eventually Kyle wore out and had to be tossed, and by then he had moved on to newspaper. But I have several pictures of him chatting with his first friend!
When babies look past you and smile, I believe they are looking at their guardian angel.
I think Amelia’s is from the psychedelic 60’s.
First…Lifts WOULD be hot. Second – We had this plastic mushy teething book that some Corporate Baby Product Producer gave us around the same age as Amelia…and all it had was Black and White circles in it. And it was like a Miracle Baby Drug. Anytime she would get fussy you would hear us screaming from the other room “Get the Book! Get The Book! Get The Fucking Circle Book!!”
My daughter drew red and black geometric shapes on paper and hung it over the changing table. My granddaughter (who is now 9 and making straight A’s) was entranced by those shapes, and she had long, involved conversations with them. I wonder what it is that causes babies to respond like that so overwhelmingly.
he first picture says it all. adorable
Sounds like I need to get some of those circles for our bathroom walls! But then maybe my hubby would be entranced and never leave the toilet. Better not.
That is a seriously delicious little girl! Nom nom nom!
Ooooh, she’s so pretty!! Yeah, playing with angels. My Dad always said that. When the my oldest was asleep & you could see him in a REM state. I wondered what he could be dreaming about. Dad said, “Angels. That’s all he knows right now.” I thought that was sweet.
I STILL get coupons from Similac. Will is going to be 3 in July.
@DD should I mail them to you??
she’s gorgeous. 🙂 Maybe she’s wondering what I would be wondering, are those edible? If I smile enough will they give me food?
You and Tom Cruise can wear your lifts together.
So cute!!! I hope she grows up taller than you 😉 I have no clue why the wee ones love those shapes, but my son absolutely adored the ugly plastic mobile his aunt gave him with trippy red and black shapes on it that are supposed to make them grow up to be really smart. Judging from his report cards, I’d say he didn’t stare long enough at them.
Those are SO white and purple frosted sugar cookies, silly ganglionot.
She is so cute.
We had a giraffe that sat on the changing table. It was a music box; when you pulled its tail, it played “happy days are here again”. The irony killed me every single time.
The circle trend hasn’t come over here yet but they look great in a 70s trippy way. She is looking beautiful as ever.
Simply beautiful!
So cute!
And I totally believe that about the angels. I love watching my babies sleep, I told my hubby that it is like they are remembering heaven and talking and laughing with angels. Especially when they are really new and don’t smile or laugh while awake yet, but do while sleeping.
She is one gorgeous girl, Becky! *smooches*