The Face That Launched A Thousand Pinches

Baby Shea's an inquisitive girl who likes (insists on, really) sitting up and seeing the world as much as circumstances will allow. This means she's almost never content on her belly, rarely content on her back, and only partially content in her buzzy chair--and only as long as it's angled so her immediate view includes some good action to watch (usually, her brother). What she really wants at all times is to be upright and facing the world, preferably from the warm comfort of my lap.

I try to indulge her as often as possible, knowing from recent experience that the days of babies allowing themselves to be held and cuddled are unfortunately numbered and I'd better get my fill now since the opportunity's here. But since I have to live my life, too, which often includes doing things other than sitting with a baby on my lap, I have grown to rely on the convenience of my Baby Bjorn.

For those of you unfamiliar with what this is, no, it's not a juvenile Swedish pop group (although think how cool--and safe!--that would surely be), it's a cloth infant carrier contraption that essentially straps your baby to your body and allows you to keep your hands free for other things, like wiping three-year-old noses.

Shea rides around on me every day in the Baby Bjorn, whether we're grocery shopping, picking up Finn from school, or just walking to the mailbox. She drinks in the world with her big, bright eyes and drools the rest out all over the thankfully washable carrier. But somewhere in between are the two greatest assets our baby's face has to offer the world, the pinchable mounds that allow her to be identified from 40 paces, the place where a thousand nuts could be stored for the winter: her chubby, ever-lovin' cheeks.

It never fails: whenever baby girl's Bjorn-bound, I hear, "Oh my gosh, look at those cheeks!" They're like beacons of cuteness to all who pass by, pulling the masses ever nearer to get a look if not a squeeze. People, so transfixed by the cheeks, are often actually startled when the bigger person attached to Shea speaks from behind her.

Shea, of course, loves the attention, which further underscores her argument for sitting up at all times: "See, Mom, we would be depriving those around us of my facial greatness if I was forced to be laying down at all times. Better keep me up, for everyone's sake."

Point taken, sweet girl. Point taken.