The power of cute...

During our recent trip to Vancouver, there was an evening where I got very, very frustrated with Jade. She kept spitting out her food or squirreling it away in her cheek. With any other kid, I wouldn't care, but Jade is on a strict diet that helps to control her seizures. After a day of fasting, she needed to eat something, and it needed to be in the right proportion.

I was fuming. I was so frustrated and so angry. A fire was burning inside me and I felt like I wanted to explode. I hated feeling that way, but I knew that if she didn't eat, her seizures would get worse. I was ready to hand her to someone else and say, "Keep her. Forever" I had to do something before I completely lost it.

Instead, I just gave up, fed her a big glob of coconut oil to make sure she'd get enough fat (which she spat out all over the floor), re-fed her the big glob of coconut oil, and then told her to take off her clothes so I could put her pajamas on.

Still steaming, I marched off to collect something from the kitchen. I was still steaming upon my return, but that all changed when I opened the door to the room and saw the predicament Jade had gotten herself into.

With her right arm still in the sleeve of her shirt, she had pulled her left arm out of the neck. Somehow, she had managed to stick her left leg down the left arm of the shirt. She was lying on the floor, still trying to take her shirt off, saying "Stuck. Stuck. Stuck."

I burst out laughing and all of the anger I felt before drained away in an instant.  I still haven't been able to figure out how she managed to get her leg down that sleeve and chuckle every time I think about it.

And that's why they make kids cute: it's a survival mechanism - for them and for us.