All about Karis.

My daughter really likes herself. She thinks she's a one-of-a-kind child and won't mind telling you! (it may have something to do with the nice things we as her parents like to say to our only child...who happens to be one-of-a-kind).

Yesterday morning I put a new outfit on her since we were heading to a large city about an hour away for some bulk-buying (it was the town's b-day which also mean HOLIDAY...so we made it our once-a-month outing. What we spent on gas we made up for in buying t.p./diapers in bulk!). After I pulled the pants up around her waist she asked "Am I too cute?!"

Yeah, I guess the phrase "You're too cute" has flown out of my mouth a time or two. However, later on she made a comment in the truck that I don't believe I've ever said...she must have come up with that one on her own. She noticed an airplane flying by (she has been fixated on airplanes since she was just under a year) and brought it to our attention. Jonathan said "oh wow, you have good eyes!" to which she replied "I know. I have beautiful eyes!" That wasn't what he was getting at, however we probably would both agree with her (we're allowed to be biased, aren't we!?).

I must admit that when I was pregnant I wondered if I would know if my child wasn't very cute. I had a sibling who was rather un-cute during the first few years of his/her life and I recognized this as his/her sister (I won't tell which one, no matter how much you beg although if you are well-acquainted with my family you already know which one. It was that obvious, poor thing.) But it's different as a mom...it's your child. I don't know if this is something normal to wonder before your first baby is born but I did think about it every once in a while.

After Karis was born I became aware of two facts...

1. Yes, I'll know if my child is cute or not because I clearly see that my baby is not cute.

2. It makes NO difference whether my child is cute or not. She's mine! She's all mine!

Before you think I'm a terrible mother I better explain a little bit more. After about two months Karis did change quite a bit and became from that point on the world's most adorable munchkin (in my opinion, anyway). It was just at birth and during those first few months that she resembled a swollen, chubby monkey from Asia*

You don't believe me? Continue on!


See what I mean? I tried finding some of the not-so-attractive pictures of Karis when she was a newborn but I think I might have erased them (can't find 'em!). But really, it was more the time of day, lighting, etc that made a big difference. In this picture below she was less than a month old and already looking so much better...

So Karis' comments yesterday made me remember the day when I really thought I was something incredible myself (a LONG time ago). Weren't those days so uncomplicated? Just enjoying the day-to-day bliss thinking that the world revolved around me and that my parents were so blessed to have me as a child.

I was tempted to try to explain to her 2-year old mind that yes, her eyes were beautiful because God made them but that true beauty comes from within. Then I realized that it would be completely pointless to try and get her to understand that concept at this point and that if she's anything like the rest of us she'll realize on her own that she isn't perfect, and that that is ok. For the time being I'll just agree with her self-absorbed comments since I'm her mother and I can do that.

Since this post is completely about Karis and since I just remembered the cutest thing she used to do when she cried I'm going to include a short clip of her crying when she was little (how naive she was to think that crying would make me feel sorry for her. It was so darn cute!). Here's one of her adorable fits...



Thanks for letting today's post be all about my one-of-a-kind daughter. If she ever gets a sibling she is going to experience the rude awakening that life isn't about her very quickly:-)





*I need to clarify that I find those of the Asian descent to be BEAUTIFUL people. I only mentioned it because Karis did not resemble her Polish, Czechoslovakian, Italian and German descendants.