Exposure

According to the book "The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dad-to-Be", there is some research that suggests that at around 14 weeks some fetuses can react to outside sounds. Armed with that knowledge, I have been exposing Ninja Baby-to-Be to some different types of media, and then tracking the response. Here are my findings so far.

Movie: Iron Man

Number One Dad's Reaction: One of the best comic book-to-movie adaptions, ever! I was enraptured by a two-hour orgy of superhero coolness. The cast was pitch perfect, the action was great and the special effects were a wonder to behold. And great cameo by Samuel L. Jackson (hint to other fanboys: waiting through the end credits is a good idea). Two thumbs up!

Ninja Baby's Reaction: None observed.

Book: The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes.

Number One Dad's Reaction: I chose to read poems to Ninja-Baby in the hopes that the rhyming structure would helps to stimulate the baby into recognizing word sounds and speech patterns. What I didn't count on was how angry Langston Hughes's poems are. Being a key figure in the civil rights movement his poems were all about lynched black men and poor, abused black women. Number One Mom did not think it was such good subject matter to present to a fetus.

Ninja Baby's Reaction: None observed.

TV Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7

Number One Dad's Reaction: Again, maybe not such good subject matter for a fetus, but hey, I was bored and Number One Mom was asleep.

Ninja Baby's Reaction: None observed.

Conclusions: It's been pretty impossible to gauge Ninja Baby's response, so far. It's quite possible that Ninja Baby already thinks I'm a big nerd. It's equally possible that I've successfully turned an unformed fetus into a racially militant, comic book loving, demon hunter. Whatever the results, at least raising Ninja Baby won't be boring.