Adele Enersen in Helsinki says, "This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it."

Mila's Daydreams

(via Laughing Squid/Matt Haughey)

  • MrsBug

    OMG, those are adorable (a “not usually a baby” person speaking here) and very creative!

  • Anonymous

    cutest pictures ever..lighten up people!

  • tamar

    Agreed with Donald. Super cute, though, and I love the blog posts. My baby would wake up as soon as I touched him!

  • brassandlace

    Oh my ovaries! >.< The “UP!” one is too adorable…

  • Brainspore

    These are super cute, but given the subject’s age it’s much more likely that this baby is actually dreaming about Ms. Enersen’s boobs. Just sayin’.

  • BNtroopz

    “Planet Earth is blue/And there’s nothing I can do”

  • HowardsGrl

    Very sweet and creative!

  • Anonymous

    Fantastic, beautiful work. What a nice way to end the workweek.

  • cniebla

    Oh c’mon! dignity? this are beautiful pics made by her mom, not some crappy pics made in a mall sitting in a obscure desktop as a wallpaper ;)
    Kudos for this mom!

  • jwb

    Baby is the least dignified thing around. Why would you even try to give them an ounce of dignity? When they wake up they will be crapping their pants and licking dogs again.

  • Darren Garrison

    Unless she has photographed an out-of-focus boob, I doubt that she has come close to anything the baby might be dreaming about.

  • bklynchris

    OK, her daughter is the luckiest girl in the world to have a mom like Ms. Enerson!!!!!!!!!!!!! I doubt she will ever say, “I’m bored” if for no other reason that to rebel.

    I would buy that calender!

  • osmo

    Haha what wonderful pictures :)

    Also given maternity leave being the same here as in Finland – she should have a few months and then the father gets a few months… I wonder what HIS projekt will be :D

  • Anonymous

    I already know what the kid’s dreaming about: a lifetime of people either misspelling or mispronouncing her name.

    Don’t worry kid! Your folks gave you a great name that will always let you know when people are paying attention!

  • happyez

    Hi peterbruells

    In Australia, we have Auslan (each country has it’s own sign language), and you can get the signs off the web (there’s a service by the Auslan organisation (erp, forgot who) where they have little gifs of people doing different words. If you are in Oz, I can find the link. Otherwise, google it).

    Some people offer classes in teaching sign to babies. Worth tracking down. It’s called ‘Baby Signing’, so not too hard.

    If in doubt and broke, just find your local version of the language, and do the sign to whatever action. Usually they pick them up quickly. For instance, ‘bird’ is the thumb+first finger clapping together like a beak. We go “Look! A bird” and when we say that and point at the bird, we do the sign. After about 6 times, our son points and does the same thing. Ditto for anything else that is important in his/her life.

    Take it easy at first, coz they dont exactly do them the correct way, but you get the idea.

    Hope that helps.

  • Anonymous

    This is sort of creepy. And how do you know the baby isn’t dreaming of tearing the heads off of small animals?

  • happyez

    I suspect very few (or none) of you guys have kids.

    It is very easy to get a sense for what your kid is thinking about.

    From about 11 months (sometimes 9 , depending on its development), you can start teaching your kid sign language. You teach them the signs for things that matter most (milk, water, papa, mama, tractors, motorcycles) (ours is a boy – no idea what girls think of …yet), then go from there.

    Often ours signs in his sleep. And also when they JUST wake up (still halfways between sleep and awake). Often its papa, milk, ball, motorcycle and stars. Sometimes he points at places where he stores things in that state as well.

    And, to cap it off, signing during the day shows exactly what he wants. Sleep is no different.

    So the only thing I’d have with these photo attempts are that the mother probably doesn’t have a clue, but imagines what it would be like. Whereas you can teach your kid to tell you what he thinks.

    What’s great about signing is that you can mimic them, give them what they want instantly (before they can speak) and our baby is pretty basically a happy child. We understand him!

    How many parents do this?…10,000,000 – no, 100,000 – no, 1000….. yes that’s more like it.

    I also have readily accessible opinions on controlled crying, ‘Time Outs’, forward facing prams, machine-gunning dysfunction into them in the playground, high chairs+forced eating at the earliest age imaginable, helicopter parenting, authoritarian schooling and cots, all ranted out equally at any given point.

    • peterbruells

      How do you teach these signs?

  • Anonymous

    I love these images but agree that credit is obviously due to jan von holleben who did this years ago!
    -M.Kruter

  • thefinder

    Miss Enersen, I hope Mila inherits your great imagination and sense of humor. She’s lucky to have a mother with such playful wit. A long, happy, and creative life to you both!

  • niche assignment

    The soundtrack to Mila’s dreams–complete with extra dream material–has been thoughtfully provided by the incomparable Sally Timms, of the Mekons, et alia:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmIIH9BSM68

    “Only Darwin can explain!”

  • Anonymous

    The umbilicus is interesting. I suspect these images are unlocking Mom’s dreams more than anything else.

  • Anonymous

    “There’s no doubt in my mind that Mila’s Daydreams, a blog full of colorful backdrops all orchestrated while a baby sleeps, is one of the most creative sites out there. But I can’t help but sadly wonder, how long will it last?”

    Click here to see a cartoon some guy made about Mila!
    http://tumblr.com/xz813oob1r

  • Anonymous

    Hello, i come here to say hello and wish you a very nice Christmas, to you and to your litle angel…she is a blessing, i´m from Portugal and we see on TV your work, i was with my mother(i´m 41year´s old)and we became so happy for seeing the litle angel sleeping in many pictures with diferent´s scenarys.
    I wish everything good for you and you angel, peace and love.

    Gil,
    from Portugal.

  • adwkiwi

    Those pictures are adorable :)

  • Donald Petersen

    Stuff like that always used to bug me. Your kid isn’t your doll, nor is she a prop. Don’t put a sunflower around her head and plop her in a flowerpot. Give the li’l tyke an ounce of dignity.

    But damn if that ain’t the cutest picture I’ve seen all day…

  • Anonymous

    Sure it’s cute, and she may have arrived at the concept independently, but it looks a little too much like Jan von Holleben’s work to have the latter go uncredited for inspiration.

    http://www.janvonholleben.com/?page_id=4

    • cinemajay

      You’re absolutely right. No one should have the ability or freedom to take pictures in their living room in wacky/hilarious positions without crediting a professional artist.

    • jackdavinci

      Obvious idea is obvious and needs no acknowledgement of inspiration. But “if you like this you may like…” is useful, thanks!