Babies

I have recently discovered that I don't think I could adopt a baby. Maybe a toddler but not a baby. At least not after having my own.

With Frances, everything was wonderful. I liked her regular smell and I didn't mind her disgusting smells so much either. It didn't disgust me when she spit up. I'll even eat things that she's slobbered on.

Arial has started baby sitting for a couple from church. The baby is cute enough (not as cute as Frances but I don't see how any baby could be). But I've found that I don't like how he smells and his spit up kind of turns my stomache a little.

It really makes sense when you think about it though. Evelutionarily speaking, I should be attracted to protecting my offspring and not so much someone else's. Although, now that I really think about it, it could be that I am so used to Frances' smell that any other baby smell is bad, just like how every other baby looks wrong because they don't look just like Frances.

So back to my thesis. I don't think I could adopt a baby because smell and tending to their needs are the only ways to connect to a baby. Before they can give you any feed back, you have to be carried through (emotionally) by your intrinsic love for the child. I think it would be hard to really nurture a baby whose smell you didn't like.

A toddler though, can interact with you. You miss out on shaping a good portion of their personallity but you can fall in love with their smiles and giggles and their personallities. We are not looking to adopt but if we were, I would stongly consider a toddler.

mwz
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