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Today I took Cosette to the Pear Blossom Baby Contest (Jessi was working). As I walked the full length of the Rogue Valley Mall to withdraw ten dollars from the ATM, so that I could pay the registration fee, I was conflicted about what I was doing. Why did I want to use up my Saturday morning, and pay ten dollars just to be told my baby’s not as cute as I think she is? I certainly hadn’t come there for Cosette’s enjoyment – though if she won it might give her a sense of pride when she gets older. But, that’s the other problem. Why was I so eager to have my baby judged to be cuter than other parents’ babies?
I entered her in the quickest smile contest – so at least it wasn’t just about being cute. She won. She blew the competition away; she was smiling already as I walked up to the judges. There was no need for a second round. As I walked off the stage I noticed that my whole body was shot through with adrenaline – I don’t think I have ever felt as nervous as I did at that moment. Next up there was the Baby Blossom contest. Now that is pretty much the cutest baby contest. The baby who wins that gets a tiara.
We had some time to kill, and I needed to get her away from all the commotion so I could feed her, so we went down to Starbucks. When we came back I went up to one of the contest helpers and asked what was going on. I was told they were doing the Baby Bud contest (that’s the boys). I ask if the girls had gone yet and was told that they hadn’t. So, I went with Cosette into a nearby store. Well, the Baby Blossom contest was going on as well. We missed it.
I was a bit irritated, quite a bit. At least I didn’t flip out and make a scene. The girl who won was cute. But, in my surely unbiased opinion I think Cosette could have given her a pretty good fight. On top of that the girl’s mom was pretty, skinny, had fancy hair, and was wearing boutique clothing – she looked like she was certainly on the wealthy side. That made me jealous and made me even more irritated that Cosette hadn’t had the chance to prove that she was cuter.
I could pretend that I didn’t have Cosette compete in the Baby Blossom contest because I’m just such a magnanimous guy and wanted to let another baby have a chance since Cosette had already won an award.
Of course I realize that my feelings of jealousy and anger are stupid. It’s a bit stupid that I care so much about my daughter winning some baby contest. And, it’s stupid that I’m not completely satisfied with what she did win. (She got a fifty-dollar bond for winning, so I could pretend I didn’t just do all this for my own pride.) No more pageants for me. At least the money raised through the registration fees goes towards helping mothers and children in our community.