Babies - 2 Thumbs Up

Ellie is still sick.  

As of this morning we had been through all of our movies and watched every Nick Jr. show multiple times.  Next in my bag of tricks was to hit up our OnDemand and pay for a movie.  If only I could have foreseen this illness, I would have traded in Crazy Heart and Dexter for preschool favorites at Netflix.  But alas I did not. 

While browsing the kids' section I came across Babies.  Ellie and I watched the Babies trailer multiple times a day this past spring and I meant to see the movie at the theater but just never got there.  I did the hard sell and Ellie agreed, Babies it is.

Babies is a documentary that follows four children 'from first breath to first steps.'  The four infants are from San Fransisco, Tokyo, Mongolia and Namibia.  The movie flashes between the four all at the same life stages to contrast life in the different nations.  For example, the little guy from Namibia is digging in the dirt and chewing on a random bone and then we flash to Hattie in San Fran being lint brushed by her dad who just meticulously vacuumed the floors.

Hattie

Based on this movie alone, my preference would be to be born in Tokyo.  There are fun glass elevators, sushi, minimalist wooden toys and everyone seemed very pleasant.  Besides, I'm a city mouse at heart and you can't beat that view.

Mari

I think Mongolia would be last on my list if for no other reason than that pesky big brother who pushed the poor baby in the stroller into a herd of cows and left him.  Plus goats drinking out of my bath tub and roosters in the house might be a little bothersome, too.

Bayar

What surprised me the most was how happy every baby was.  Babies without diapers crawling after goats are as happy as babies in Maclarens on trips to the zoo.  Have you ever found yourself with a baby in a room full of toys and when you glance over you see the baby is playing with an empty box?  It's like that.

I will mention again that this is a documentary and it is a little National Geographic-ish.  Nursing mamas in Namibia don't wear shirts, you know.  Or maybe you didn't know, but either way, they are shirtless. Since Ellie has watched me breastfeed her sister for more than a year, I've already answered every body part question possible so we didn't share any uncomfortable dialogue today.

Ponijao {my most favorite of all of the babies!}

Babies was a hit.  A big hit.  So big that we watched it four and a half times today.  I'm not sure if Ellie was just over emotional from being sick, but she cried at the end of the movie each time we watched it.  The director does a 'where are they now?' type thing at the end and each time Ellie looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks and said, "But I don't want them to grow up.  I just want them to stay babies."  I didn't have the heart to tell her that in real life the Babies are older than she is!

Where would you want to be born?  Where would you want to be a mom?