She's a Natural!

What is it that is simply and absolutely disarming and attractive about a man who is comfortable holding a baby? Not his child, just a baby, a friend's baby, maybe a niece or nephew. If the the baby is sleeping it's that much more adorable. I remember being a newlywed, six months or so into married life, and visiting my husband's family two states away. There was a baby present, a nephew who was born just a month before we got married. Daniel was such a cute baby, beautiful olive toned skin, big dark eyes, round cheeks and blessed with a sweet disposition. He was being passed around and cooed over and didn't fuss a bit. He cooed back and babbled and smiled. At one point, he was handed to me. I was steered across the yard and posed before my husband with him in my arms. My sisters-in-law, including Daniel's mother, then exclaimed, doesn't this look natural! This happened several times over the course of the afternoon. I get it, I thought, we're expected to reproduce. I know, I thought, I feel my biological clock ticking more keenly than anyone here. And I wonder now, looking back on that day, why the baby wasn't placed in the potential father's arms at least one of those times. It would have been telling for me to observe him, his comfort level, his level of expertice with a little one. I had known for some time that I wanted very much to be a mother. I had practice with kids from years of babysitting and looking after my younger brother and sister's needs. Toting an infant about was already second nature to me. I'm at a loss as to why I didn't hand our nephew off to my husband. Maybe I wasn't ready to know if he'd take it in stride, if he seemed like a natural. It might have been disarming and attractive to see how he handled it.