Baby

by Desmond Morris

Have you see the new book, Baby: A Portrait of the Amazing First Two Years of Life, by world-famous zoologist Desmond Morris? It's been described as a book where "popular science meets parenting," and it's filled with facts about the growth, genes, anatomy, physiology, and learning capacity of babies. It's also filled with beautiful photography and artwork.

The book is filled with all kinds of things that make me cry (in a good way).

For example, Morris says, "People say a baby can't see very well, that's not true; a baby's vision is very carefully designed so that what it sees best is something at arm's distance—its mother's face is the most important thing to see, so it may not be able to see things in the distance very well, but that doesn't matter because it's the mother's face that means everything to it."

And I love this fact: "When a newborn baby is placed on his mother's stomach so that she can embrace him, it is no accident that the umbilical cord is the right length to make this possible while the baby is still attached to the placenta.

I fell in love with the book as soon as I saw it and bought a copy for myself, but it would also make a great gift for a new mom or a pregnant friend. Just be sure you give them a box of tissues to go along with it!

Do you have a book about babies that you recommend?