Monday, December 15, 2008

Nipple confusion

While I was discussing the topic of breastfeeding with Lisa, Mike overheard us use the phrase "nipple confusion" and immediately dissolved into a fit of laughter and tears. Mike is not one to laugh loudly very often and it always delights me when he does actually laugh out loud instead of giving a small chuckle. One of my proudest moments was getting Mike to laugh so hard at a restaurant that his drink came out of his nose. Victory!

Anyway, since it tickles me to make Mike laugh, I told Mike that I was going to paint a portrait of a nude woman with the nipples of a baby-bottle. We discussed how it would be a hotly debated piece about feminism, social classes, and women's issues. I would be called upon by Big Name journalists to give insight into the painting, but I would quietly and demurely turn down interviews by saying, "I believe the piece speaks for itself." No one would ever know that I only did the painting to amuse Mike.

While fantasizing about being a relevant and pretentious artist, I was curious to see if others had had a similar idea, so I went to flickr and typed the phrase "nipple confusion" into the search box. Not a single art-piece in the results, but very, very many photographs of babies sucking on their father's noses. How puzzling. See for yourself: Click here!

7 comments:

magnet's coil said...

hoartic.

njicki said...

Yes, I know exactly what you mean.

Anonymous said...

i don't know what that means.

njicki said...

Ashley is being exclusive about the meaning of that word. Maybe she will tell you at Christmas.

njicki said...

I did mean to type "exclusive", by the way, as an obscure reference to our sisterly fondness for Charles-Wallace from A Wrinkle In Time, but I just realized that most people would assume I meant to type "elusive", which probably makes better sense. Oh well.

Alisa Stoughton said...

Oddly enough, we have pics of both kids doing the same thing! Perhaps it's only confusing for adults?

njicki said...

I did not know that about babies. It's like they are part sucker-fish!