This is a repeated Lost in Suburbia column, which has appeared in GateHouse Media newspapers since 2008. “When they don’t smell so good anymore, you give them back to their mother.” “Well see, this is the best part about sniffing someone else’s baby,” I said calmly, taking the baby from him. You might not want to sniff her right now.” I commented. He stopped, frozen, with the stinky baby in mid-air, and looked around helplessly. He reached out to take her, but just as she passed from my hands to his, a huge, earth-shattering, nose-singeing explosion emanated from the direction of her diaper. Try it,” I insisted, handing the baby over to him. Slightly better than you in a cherry lip gloss, bubblegum shampoo, strawberry-scented body lotion kind of way.” “How about her?” my son asked, nodding to his sister. If you are a 10-year-old boy or a professional frog wrangler.” I jiggled the baby on my knee and inhaled her cheeks again. “Well, it’s better than you what you smelled like a couple of years ago,” I added. That smell is only appealing to teenage girls and video game manufacturers.” It’s a combination of dirty socks and too much body spray. You used to smell good when you were a baby,” I retorted. “What did you expect her to smell like? Dog?” asked my teenage son. I plunked her down in my lap and immediately stuck my nose in her cheek. I went for the under-the-arms grab and got the whole baby. My other sister-in-law and I both grabbed for the baby. “OK, who wants the baby,” she asked holding the baby out for takers. With a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, my sister-in-law was happy to share the baby wealth and get a break while the rest of us took turns holding and sniffing her kids. I was way overdue for a good baby sniffing and intended to spend as much time as possible with my new niece in my lap. A big, deep, nose in the hair, snort.Īlthough I was happy to see all the members of my extended family for Thanksgiving, I was most excited about holding the new baby. This is why the first thing you see so many people do when they are passed a baby is to sniff it. This is a shame because that good-smelling stage is very fleeting and before you know it, it’s replaced by significantly less-good smelling smells like morning breath and body odor. Sometimes when you are in the throes of child-rearing, you forget to stop and smell the baby. But for those hours (or minutes) in between, after a bath, when they just smell like soap and baby, they are a little bit of olfactory heaven. Not right after they have spit up or have a stinky diaper, of course. Before kids start smelling like peanut butter and dirt, they smell really good. For anyone who has ever had kids, you know what I’m talking about. Once my kids became teenagers, I didn’t get many chances to sniff babies anymore.
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