Dear Jasmina

Grandma wanted to see Marie-Hélène’s smile. And Marie-Hélène does smile… When I brought her to Christian’s school, the secretaries nearly melted just watching her smile repeatedly. She’s quite generous… She’ll even tilt her head and look like she’s all coy about it too. So I tried to capture it. I figured for Halloween, Marie-Hélène would make the cutest kitty (she likes milk! I’d be a cow…). All I needed were some kitty ears, and some face paint. But then, kitty ears just disappear on Halloween. But face paint? They sell the cutest little face paint kits… They have the prettiest face paint ideas on the sweetest little kids – a scarecrow, a puppy, a bunny and a kitty – of course. And I was sold, like the child with “sugarplums dancing in her head”. But FYI – face painting an infant is not easy, in fact, it might be nearly impossible unless they’re asleep. What works? Eyeliner! But Marie-Hélène wasn’t all that crazy about the whole idea… This picture is her being as patient as she can.