Cutest Kid

So I was at the Y yesterday when I happened to catch the last 10 minutes of the Live! with Kelly show.  Kelly announced that tomorrow at noon eastern time was the deadline for submitting a photo for the 2012 Cutest Kid contest (sorry folks, that was at least 4 hours ago).  Obviously, I hadn't tuned in for a over a month, since the window for submissions started June 6th.  After her announcement, they flashed snapshots of other people's Cute Kids on the screen.  

Like tens of thousands of other parents across the country, I thought to myself, "Maisy is soooo cute," and I began thinking of all of the adorable photos I have of her on my phone, camera, and computer.  That's it!  I would submit Maisy's picture for the Cutest Kid contest!


Yesterday afternoon, during Maisy's naptime, I remembered the contest.  I checked out the details on the Live! website and learned that the prize for each of two categories was a 7-day cruise for a family of 4!  Not only that, but the #1 Cutest Kid would get a Dodge Journey.  Well, what did I have to lose?  Again, I thought to myself, Maisy is sooooo cute.  Sure the odds were stacked against us, but we must have a chance?!  Tens of thousands of other parents across the country thought the same thing.


Well, the site required that the photo was taken in the last month, and suggested no hats, no sunglasses, looking straight at the camera, etc., etc.  That did narrow things down a bit.  This picture was clearly ruled out:

But I didn't give up!  I found several contenders and sent them to my mom's email address for her vote:

When we both agreed to narrow it down to #1, I sent it off to Rick for approval (I suppose the other parent gets a say before a child's photo gets submitted to a national competition that she has a CLEAR chance of winning...).  Not only did Rick think it was a cute picture, but apparently he agreed with me that our Maisy had a better than average chance at becoming Live!'s Cutest Kid, because he wanted to wait and look through the rest of the photos we have at home. 

Alas, that was the beginning of the end for our realistic hopes of Maisy as Kelly's Cutest Kid.  We forgot last night.  By the time I remembered this morning and attempted to submit it, the website was so bogged down that it was impossible.  And so, this year's Cutest Kid chances were swallowed up by technological failure and the procrastination of the tens of thousands of parents who had a better than average chance of winning.

No cruise for us!  No Dodge Journey for us!  

BUT... we know something the judges wouldn't have known anyway.  Something that couldn't possibly be captured by one sweet little snapshot at the beach.  

There are things a picture can catch:  Those sparkly eyes!  Those crazy untameable curls!  That wide smile!  Those sweet dimples!  Those chubby little legs that keep stretching, but haven't quite lost their baby-ness yet!  We love these tangible qualities of our self-proclaimed Big Girl.

Then there are the things a camera can't capture:  The way she says "I love you" so many times a day, and you can tell by the tilt of her head and the squint of her eyes that she really means it.  The way she prays with us before supper, and is thankful for "Daddy, Mommy, Maisy, Dini, and Baby... and ketchup, and burgers, and napkins, and carrots, and forks, and watermelon, and milk, and spoons, and cups... in Jesus' name we pray, Amen."  The way she can sense the feelings and moods in people around her - especially her Mama! - and will melt when something is sad, cling when something is scary, and laugh even when the joke is way over her head.  The way she says "I love our Baby" sight unseen - and we know she will.

That's our Maisy!  And I guess we didn't need any contest to tell us that she's our very own Cutest Kid.  

(Though that cruise sure sounded nice!)