eating babies

i meant to tackle this subject weeks ago ... so, why do so many people generally comment on wanting to eat babies?

"Oh, she's so cute, I could just eat her up!"
"I could nibble on those cheeks for days!"
"She's so yummy!"
"Oh, I want to bite those chubby legs!"

These are just a few of the many comments we've heard (and said) about our own daughter. My theory is simple.
Here's an excerpt from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Nicole Kidman from early 2003:

And while much has been made of her on-screen kiss with
[Miranda] Richardson (which carries with it enough rage, desperation, and
passion to rival brothers Michael and Fredo's in The Godfather
Part II), Kidman says it was key to understanding her character.
"[During rehearsals] I'd hold Miranda's hand and lie on her and
stroke her skin, but you need that to create the sisters, because
there was such a union," Kidman says. "I'm always baffled when
people say, 'Explain the kiss.' Isn't that obvious? The kiss is
her trying to suck the life out of Vanessa; she's so desperate
for her to stay."

It seems to me that we often keenly sense the unbridled life in a baby. The pure joy, the pure anger, the peace. And we want to own that purity. I don't think we want this perversely or even desperately but we are (almost all of us) full of feelings of impurity, inhibition and incompleteness. So, when confronted with such a powerful display of the opposite, a newborn baby, our instinct is to absorb it, to consume it.

Yes, I think this happens almost always subconciously and No, I don't think this makes us all potential witches. The same could be said for most kisses (as described above). They are physical actions, manifestations, of a very real and a very decent desire for a powerful and joyous energy. It is only natural for us to want this. It could even be said that it is only natural for babies to share this joy with all of us. Perhaps that's the whole point.

And when you get right down to it, it's about love. And who doesn't love a cute baby with chubby cheeks and an adorable grin? It sort of gets you, right in the gut.