Beautiful Baby

(At left, Makayla at one week old).

Baby Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt's photos were published recently by People magazine. Despite the threat of legal action, the photos remain online at this website. From the moment that child was conceived, the media speculated at how she would look and when she finally arrived, she was described as "beautiful" by supposed third parties who had seen her after her birth.

Unlike my husband, I believe every baby is cute. I laugh at the "Seinfeld" episode where Jerry and Elaine were appalled at the sight of one of their friends' baby, one described by the child's
pediatrician as "breathetaking." (He also used the word to describe Elaine, who felt insulted being framed in the same light as the baby). And like the mother in that episode, I believe my own baby is beautiful. What mother doesn't behold her child as the most beautiful child on earth? Indeed, it is scientifically proven that the process of childbirth releases chemicals into the mother's brain that produces feelings similar to the feelings of "falling in love." And when you're in love, you mistake each pimple for a dimple. Besides, who can help but fall in love with a newborn baby? The small fingers and toes, softest skin, the eyes empty of guile, and the promise of a brand new life?

I think baby Shiloh is cute but so are the vast majority of babies. I think her "cuteness quotient" is raised in proportion to her parents' comeliness. Did anyone doubt that those two would produce a child who was less than "beautiful"? Unlikely.