If you ask Jenny Slate what it's like being a mom, be prepared to simultaneously laugh, tear up and make your "OMG, awww" face in a matter of seconds.
The mother of 16-month-old daughter Ida Lupine with husband Ben Shattuck told E! News, "I'm just really into making daily rituals. It's just really nice to see this version of myself because I think I'm one that will skimp on my own daily stuff if I feel like there's just not enough time for it."
But with her child, "I do bath time and stories and bottle and singing every night. I put my daughter to sleep every night and I just love it. I love that she expects that, and she knows that I'll be there."
Don't worry, that strange feeling is just your heart fluttering.
Being on Ida time has been "a very different schedule for me" as opposed to being on a set all day, the I Want You Back star acknowledged, "and I'm sure it will change, obviously, when I go back and make the next movie. But that tenderness in that routine, I just love it so much. I also am a silly mom. I guess that's to be expected, but there's a lot of dancing going on."
Better yet, the 40-year-old said, "I like that she'll come to think that it's normal that, like, moms are wacky and loud and make funny noises. I think that's really important."
We can only imagine the embarrassment of riches Ida has been enjoying in the Mom's Funny Noises department, the author and actress being equally known for her voiceover work on the likes of Bob's Burgers, Muppet Babies and the cult-classic Marcel the Shell With Shoes On shorts.
"I think in the very first Marcel video he messes up saying his own name because it is hard to say 'Marcel the Shell,'" Slate quipped, "but here it is, I did it!"
A long-anticipated feature mockumentary of the same name premiered at Telluride last September and is opening in theaters June 24.
While she's partial to her seashell alter ego's "Life's a party, rock your body" line, she told E! (in Marcel's voice, of course) her favorite may be, "Guess why I smile a lot. Because it's worth it."
Also totally worth it? Doing voiceovers, which Slate admits is as fun of a gig as it looks.
Being able to work from home in her linen closet throughout the pandemic was definitely a perk but, the convenience aside, "I like how you channel all of your emotion and all of your expression into only one portion of your performance," she described. Moreover, "the majority of my voice work is for children or families and I really, really like that."
Slate was also able to make a family affair out of her gig touting Tillamook's Partnership for Creamier Ice Cream campaign, which highlights the brand's quality ingredients and, needless to say, its ultra-creaminess quotient.
Already a fan of the brand's cheese, Ida has "tried the ice cream," Slate said. "I mean, I try to give my baby a balanced diet, she's not just eating ice cream all day long."
But, watching her daughter sample the goods was "very, very adorable."
As a matter of preference, Slate shared that she likes her scoops in a cone, but "when I was young I dropped an ice cream cone and was not allowed to get another one," so she has "a little bit of nervousness. I get one now, but I feel like it's a risk."
Yet when she settles for a cup, "I sort of feel like I'm selling myself short in not getting the cone," she added. The solution? Make it a sundae.
"You get the Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla, whipped cream, many Maraschino cherries—I don't like it when there's just one," Slate declared. "Like why just one? We all want more than one."
Now that is a safe bet.