--- title: Congressional Babies Shine on First Day of 116th Congress description: As the 116th Congress convened, representatives' adorable children and grandchildren couldn't help but distract from the proceedings. canonical: https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-03T22:25:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:41.527Z og:title: Congressional Babies Steal the Show at Important Meeting og:description: Cute kids were a major talking point og:url: https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c0db2390aed459a/698942a2e76ad2860f633e7e/congress-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: congress-babies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressional Babies Steal the Show at Important Meeting twitter:description: Cute kids were a major talking point twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c0db2390aed459a/698942a2e76ad2860f633e7e/congress-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressional Babies Almost Stole the Show on the First Day of the 116th Congress > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7252d6c3-e9c3-42c6-b116-4a3a5c560407&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2019 10:25 PM UTC  Surrounded by grandchildren and children of members of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wields her gavel following her election as the next Speaker of the House during the first session of the 116th Congress at the U.S. Capitol January 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. Surrounded by grandchildren and children of members of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wields her gavel following her election as the next Speaker of the House during the first session of the 116th Congress at the U.S. Capitol January 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 3, 2019 10:25 PM UTC As the [116th Congress](http://time.com/5493221/new-congress-starts/) convened on Thursday, representatives’ adorable children and grandchildren couldn’t help but distract from the proceedings. The occasion appeared to be a celebratory one for the family members in attendance for the swearing-in, with some of the kids demonstrating their excitement by dancing and cheering at various times throughout the ceremony. The granddaughter of [newly-elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi](http://time.com/5493191/pelosi-house-speaker-speech-transcript/) was particularly enthusiastic about the day’s events, especially the moment that Pelosi voted for herself as Speaker. > [](https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1080895947192713216) The Internet, of course, was quick to express their admiration for the cute youngsters, with some tweeting their support for more congressional baby content going forward. “Motion to make cute Congress babies the new Instagram dogs,” wrote one Twitter user. > [](https://twitter.com/priaribi/status/1080894238110273536) See some more reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/Anita%5FSarah/status/1080914636340248576) > [](https://twitter.com/sadiefb/status/1080939127208636421) > [](https://twitter.com/zoeyjsalsbury/status/1080907899403087873) > [](https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1080874993247047681) > [](https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1080927737840308224) > [](https://twitter.com/ischafer/status/1080916771740082176) > [](https://twitter.com/ShelbyHintze/status/1080928370349596672) > [](https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1080897529330454528) > [](https://twitter.com/KT%5Fthomps/status/1080906479295578112) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/"},"headline":"Congressional Babies Almost Stole the Show on the First Day of the 116th Congress","datePublished":"2019-01-03T22:25:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:41.527Z","description":"Cute kids were a major talking point","url":"https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Congress","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c0db2390aed459a/698942a2e76ad2860f633e7e/congress-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c0db2390aed459a/698942a2e76ad2860f633e7e/congress-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"congress-babies","caption":"Surrounded by grandchildren and children of members of the House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wields her gavel following her election as the next Speaker of the House during the first session of the 116th Congress at the U","creditText":"Win McNamee/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5493494/116th-congress-babies/","name":"Congressional Babies Almost Stole the Show on the First Day of the 116th Congress"}}]}] ```