Babbling Babies

This YouTube clip with the babbling babies is all over the Internet lately but when I first watched it all I could think of was what I read about the “quiet” baby in the dozens of infant development books I used to devour.I remember especially what I learned from that huge international best-seller Baby & Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock: He used to say that if your baby boy, say, looks away a lot he might be shy and quiet by nature. Don't bear down and drill into him like Joan Rivers does with her red carpet celebrities, I learned. Match your tone to his and give him room to engage with the world his own way.Take this clip: one of these two little gents is much quieter than the other. Most of the time. the one on the right merely chuckles at the other one’s remarks instead of babbling back, and who hasn’t done THAT in social situations when the apt response doesn’t come readily to mind? It’s true that he returns some babbling for babbling but just as often he waves his hand at his brother as if to say “Enough already!”Also, unlike his twin who stands unsupported, he consistently holds onto the handle of the freezer-drawer. Near the video’s finish, he seem seems to be trying to climb on INTO the freezer itself.It’s a cute clip for sure. You gotta love the way the talkative baby’s voice rises at the end of certain sentences as if to pose a question. But it also makes you shake your head and HOPE that when he’ gets older and is out at the clubs or in other social situations he’ll do at least a little better at reading the body language of the people he’s trying to engage with.at reading the body language of the people he’s trying to engage with.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY&feature=related]