Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Training His Eyes To See Black


My sister has a whole pile of baby clothes in pastel greens, yellows, and blues. Her house is decked out in similar colours, with a splash of red and dark wood here and there.

This means that aside from the night itself, my nephew has very little exposure to the colour black. He's only six weeks old and this is a crucial stage in his visual development. His eyes need to learn to differentiate all the colours of the visible light spectrum, including the one colour that isn't part of it.

Black.

Just a small part of my uncular duties. I'll wait a few more years before exposing the little tike to all the wonderful trappings of the world of crime.

7 comments:

Christa M. Miller said...

It is a known fact that babies are drawn more to patterns in black and white than they are to any colors at this age. Our baby, for instance, is much more fascinated by his brother's stuffed Dalmatian than he is by the pastel blue bear his great-aunt got him for a lovey. :P

So when will you start reading zombie stories to him?

angie said...

Good thing I'm not diabetic, or I think that pic would have sent me into a sugar coma! Cute, cute, oh the cutesness of it all. And by all means, hurry up and start reading some quality noir to the little tyke...while wearing black, of course.

Sean Lindsay said...

Uncular? Is that a word?

It sounds like a Turkish mountain range, or that tube in the back of your nose where influenza-ridden mucus slides down into your throat. (Either way, I would't want to get shot there.)

Stephen Blackmoore said...

Makes you want to have a dozen of them, doesn't it? Nephews, I mean. Not children. Dear god, what a nightmare that would be.

Kids, like puppies, are chick magnets. So when are you taking him to the local strip bar? Tyke like that, they'll be giving you lapdances for free.

Daniel Hatadi said...

Christa, the first zombie story I read to him will be by Stephen Blackmoore. Once it's ready.

Angie, I'm really happy to have offended you. That's what this writing thing is all about: evoking an emotional response. :)

Sean: 'uncular' is right here in my dictionary, just underneath 'umm'.

Patti, either your nephew is wearing the wrong size clothes, or I guess it's just damned cold over there.

Stephen, one nephew will do me. I'll allow a niece as well, but no more than that. My nephew at a strip bar, though? Not until I teach him how to smoke first.

anne frasier said...

that photo is the cutest thing i've seen in a long time.

i'm also waiting for stephen's zombie book.

about the colors...

i swore i wouldn't put my babies in pastels when they were born. i intentionally went on a quest for clothes that weren't pastel. but once the baby arrived dark colors seemed SO WRONG. i still don't understand that. i hate pastels and don't own anything pastel, but suddenly my babies had to be surrounded by light colors.

Daniel Hatadi said...

Yeah, I really had to write up another post. That picture of me was starting to freak out with its cuteness. I just needed a couple of days to get the next post right.

I also got the little fella a 00 jumpsuit that's got black and white stripes and the letters ABCD on the front, but written more like AC/DC.