Frances Benioff’s first smile
After reading that babies show their first smile at six weeks old,Amanda Peet, 35, tells David Letterman on The Late Show that she waitedon pins and needles for her daughter, Frances Pen, now 4 months, withhusband, screenwriter David Benioff, to flash a grin. When six weekscame and went and there was still no smile, Amanda tried to encourageFrances by smiling herself, only to learn it was actually a deterrent.
I remember at six weeks they’re supposed to start smiling and I waswaiting and waiting for her to smile because I was so excited for thisand she didn’t smile and she wasn’t smiling at all so I started tobecome a little bit like a crazy person, a little bit like a stage mom.Every morning I’d go, (big, toothy smile) ‘Hi! Hi! Hi, goose!’
And thenI was talking to this friend of mine who’s a child developmentspecialist and she said, ‘Oh, no, no. Don’t smile like that. Never showyour teeth. It scares the baby. It’s too much.’ Especially my teeth.I’ve been told I have rather large teeth. So the next afternoon I comehome and I proceed to start communicating with her [like this] (nodswith a close-lipped smile). But she did start smiling.
The actress, who’s planning on spending the summer with Frances unlessshe lands her next gig, prefers to tote her daughter in a Baby Bjorn, but acknowledges the carrier is difficult tofigure out.
The Bjorn – she’s too little to be in one of those [strollers] rightnow. She can barely hold up her head, but the Bjorn is verycomplicated.
- Posted on Jun 26, 07 at 11:46PM
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June 27th, 2007 at 12:10 am
I just saw that interview! Amanda looked great, and the story about her smiling at Frances was very funny. They showed a photo of Frances smiling, and she is absolutely gorgeous. Hands-down, one of the most beautiful babies I’ve ever seen, with an adorable smile to match.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Good info about teeth scaring small babies. Now I know what not to do.
I used to joke with my boyfriend that when I had kids I’d wear a scary mask in front of them permanently for the first couple of years, and then, when they got used to me, I’d take the mask off to freak them out.
Ridiculous, I know, but for some reason, this struck me as very funny.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Anyone have a link to see the show by any chance? I would so love to see her!
Sarah’s note: We will put up a link if we find out. Unfortunately Raye missed the first part of the interview, so there’s more about when Amanda was in labor that we don’t have up.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I agree with Amanda on the Baby Bjorn thing. My husband and I bought one when I was a few months along and it’s still sitting, wrapped up with the instructions neatly placed on top, in our son’s nursery. So many straps and buckles! I’m sure that it’s one of those things that once you figure it out it’s easy as pie, but I don’t have the patience to figure it out right now. So I opted for a P Sling for the time being. Not to hard to figure that one out!
June 29th, 2007 at 12:42 am
frances is beautiful, looks like amanda.