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.
