More Than Just A Pretty Face

Transferred from my other blog: The Adventures of Sisterhood. 
First published: 6-18-12 at 10:36 PM EDT

I don't love my little sister because her chubby cheeks are cute, because her tiny nose is adorable, because the little ponytail she wears on the top of her head is absolutely endearing. I suppose I love her first and foremost because she's kin, but besides that, it's every new thing she learns how to do or say, every moment of self-satisfaction when she chooses to be carried by me, every time her childish soprano shrieks with happiness. Of course, my psychological deductions are neither accurate nor qualified. Turning to the never-ending fountain of scientific and behavioral knowledge, ScienceDaily, I perused through the psychology archives.

What I happened upon didn't surprise me once I finished reading it. It's all in the structure of a baby's face.There's a region of parental instinct in our minds, which Robin from How I Met Your Mother is clearly missing. Renowned zoologist Konrad Lorenz says that the big-cheeked, wide foreheaded, bulgy eyed baby facial structure is the reason our brain immediately registers it as innocent, helpless, and in need of protection.

While I'm not sure how much the zoology theory applies to adolescents and other children, I can say that I don't think I loved little kids until my baby sister was born. Yesterday, I spent most of my afternoon volunteering at our local park's dock. My duties consisted of fitting customers with life vests and helping them in and out of boats. The girl working with me remarked that I seemed to handle kids and dogs the best, with all my "sweetie" and "kiddo" and "munchkin"-ing. In my mind, every kid I saw I compared with Kylie's timeline. The ones younger, I thought of her just a few months earlier, and the ones older I observed with anticipation and excitement for when my sister would be like that. It wasn't so much their unblemished faces and innocent grins as their funny remarks and all the little actions you start to notice when you've been watching people go by for hours.

I'm not sure that I really have a point today. Everything I've written is fractal and discombobulated. Basically, I love Kylie. My mom loves Kylie, my dad and my grandma love Kylie. Why do we love Kylie? Because she'll take one look at a laptop and demand "Elmo." Because when you ask her a question of responsibility or possession, any "Who" question, her response is always herself. Because she's happy and smart. I guess, well, because she's ours.

-Chichi