Not Amused

I said I aimed to update once a week, but I thought I'd throw in one of my older cartoons/observations mid-week to shake things up.

Do you ever feel responsible for your baby's reactions (or lack thereof) to others? I'm not even talking in a few years' time, when he will really give me something to be embarrassed about.

I'm delighted to have one of those boys people call "a real charmer". He's got mad flirting skillz. Huge open-mouthed smile combined with aw-shucks eyelash-batting and coy head-turn at anyone who makes eye contact with him.

A few days ago, sonny had an elevator of people oohing and aahing (the fact that his hood had cat ears certainly helped). I felt all proud, as if it was a result of my teaching him good manners or something.

Flirt.

Other times, though, he couldn't care less about the cou-cous, boops, tongue clucks or what the answer is to "who's that handsome little fella." He just sits there deadpan, so people pull out the big  baby-amusing guns. No dice. He continues to stare stone-faced while they flail about. It's like he's doing it on purpose to see how far people are willing to go.

In those cases, I feel the need to launch into an 'it's not you, it's him' explanation, such as, "He just woke up" or "he's due for a nap" or "he's a little bummed 'cause Two and a Half Men isn't the same without Charlie Sheen."

Maybe it's my way of showing that I appreciate that they took the time to make a fuss over him. Or maybe I don't want them to feel that their antics weren't funny or that they don't have a gift for amusing babies (been there. Ack). Or maybe I want people to know that he's usually pretty awesome with people and I'm sorry they're missing it.

Some may figure, "oh, he's shy," or "he's so SERIOUS", because naturally it stands to reason that any good-natured baby would be ROFL about now.

But when I think of it, I don't laugh at everything that's meant to be funny either, and I figure I'm pretty good-natured.

I often wonder at times like this what he's thinking. Oof, one day it won't be an inner monologue, and THEN I'll have some 'splainin' to do.

Click to Enlarge. Please note: This was my first attempt with my Wacom Tablet and Photoshop, thus explaining the craptacular job with the lines.