June 29 Photo: Soft

“Soft” is another concept on the Photo-A-Day list that’s, well, a softball when you have a baby. You’re surrounded by soft clothes, soft blankets, soft toys, and soft baby parts. Soft feet, soft bottoms, soft noses, soft hands, soft hair. It’s difficult to choose which soft thing should be the subject of the “soft” photo! But of all the soft things I see around me, the one that I always find myself patting and snuggling and wanting to touch is my daughter’s fuzzy baby head.

My son had fine, soft, downy hair when he was an infant, but it thickened up and started to lose its baby softness when he was 4 or 5 months old. My daughter, on the other hand, still has beautifully fine, soft, baby-textured hair even at 10-1/2 months old.

I love her hair for so many reasons. First of all, because it is so soft. Second, because it has a magical way of retaining just a hint of that sweet, clean baby shampoo smell long after her bath. Third, because it is such a glorious buttery blond with just a hint of coppery undertones in sunlight. And lastly, because it picks up the tiniest bit of curl when it’s humid. And because of all those things, snuggling my face into her hair makes me happy.

In fact, it makes me so happy that on more than one occasion when I was having a rough day, my husband has handed her to me and ordered, “Snuggle. It’ll make you feel better.” And he was right, it did. Ahhhh, soft.

Mr. Whipple Had It Right

I'm probably showing my age by referencing this, but hopefully at least some of you remember those wonderful Charmin toilet paper commercials with Mr. Whipple begging his customers, "Please, don't squeeze the Charmin!", all the while hugging a package himself.

Mr. Whipple couldn't resist the squeezable softness - who could? The package even has a cute baby on the label, since babies are always associated with soft squeezableness.

Well, pretty much everything about Ryan is soft and squeezeable. We had friends over for dinner last weekend who happen to be anticipating the arrival of their first grandchild in a few months, and when the grandma-to-be met Ryan, she immediately called to her husband, "Oooh, come feel how soft his skin is!" His arms and legs and face are so perfectly smooth. I often laugh that he doesn't have a single pore anywhere on his body - his skin is just a perfect, soft, supple sheet. Whenever I change his diaper, I kiss his belly because it's so soft and warm and, well, kissable. I rub his nose with mine all the time because it's so perfectly soft and smooth. And when he's getting ready for his bath, his naked, dimply little bottom perched on my arm feels like silky satin, it's so soft.

And then there's his hair - it's softer than a puppy's fur, softer than a baby chick, softer than the down on a duckling. I can't even think of anything soft enough to compare it to. It feels as soft as a muppet's fluffy ostrich hair looks.

(the resemblance is uncanny, isn't it?)

Even aside from Ryan himself, all of his stuff is soft. His stuffed animals are the softest plush, just begging to be cuddled and squeezed. His blankets are fleece or fur, and his clothes are all soft, nappy, touchable fabric. Everything around him is an invitation to pat and caress and snuggle.

(for those of you who have seen the "Sandy at the Dentist" video, this is NOT Ryan in the infamous "unicorn reindeer" outfit - but it's the closest approximation I could find)

So I'm with Mr. Whipple - I won't be saying not to squeeze anything, but I'll certainly be walking around giving the soft bundle in my arms all the squeezes and snuggles I can.