Hi all,
I never knew how much I liked babies until I had one of my own. Aside from the snuggles and their adorable squish, I think one of the things I like the most about babies is how they take nothing for granted. They experience life with utterly pure naivety. I remember reading somewhere once that they're actually small physicists, and when they're playing with baby toys, knocking them against things, dropping them, chewing on them, etc. they're actually conducting experiments, building a mental model of how the world works.
Anyway, it was several years ago and I was at party. There was a new mom there with a baby, the little guy was maybe four or five months old. He was staring at some helium balloons and I'll never forget the expression on his face, because his eyes were wide open, popping out of his head, like his mind was just completely blown. He couldn't stop staring at the balloons. His world was exploding.
I smiled and said to the mom, "You know, if every day of your little life, gravity made things fall down, and then one day, something comes along and instead of falling, it floated up to the sky, your mind would be blown, too."
Whether my comment was the giveaway, or my appearance, or my mannerisms, this little baby's mom paused, looked at me, and said, "are you an engineer?" to which I said, "I am," but that's not the point of this story.
The point, is that I think that one of the things I like about babies so much is the vicarious thrill I get from watching them experience things for the first time. We can't unsee balloon for the first time from our brains, but maybe children are meant to be a reminder that we can take joy in the small wonders of the world.
best regards,
Sam Feller
aka THE Awkward Engineer