Baby, you’re the best

Lindsay Sandham

Although most parents think their baby is the cutest, not everyone

has a trophy to prove it.

After Sunday’s baby contest at the 58th annual Costa Mesa-Newport

Harbor Lions Club Fish Fry, 12 sets of parents now have trophies

declaring their baby contest-worthy cute.

All of the 27 entries were adorable 6- to 24-month-olds who were

judged based on beauty, personality and appearance. The winner of the

6- to 12-month-old baby division was 7-month-old Alexander Kunze.

“All the kids were cute,” said Alexander’s mom, Ioana Kunze of

Costa Mesa. Alexander’s father, Manfred, gave a likely reason for

the victory: “He was having a good day; he was smiling.”

The four judges were all volunteers not affiliated with the Lions

Club or any of the babies. They observed all the babies in a circle,

noting their mood as well as their overall appearance, and ranked

them on a scale of one to 10. Thirteen-month-old Thu Nguyen was the

queen of cute in the 13- to 24-month-old competition. Her father Thuc

Nguyen of Costa Mesa denied any precognition as to the outcome of the

event.

“I did not know she was going to win because there are a lot of

cute babies,” he said, though he admitted “I take her everywhere and

everyone wants to take her picture.”

All of the contestants were awarded ribbons, whether or not they

had a good day of smiles. Jordan de Lajara of Costa Mesa earned an

honorable mention.

The 14-month-old was dressed as a golfer and carried around a

plastic putter. “He has to get something,” said his mom, Heather de

Lajara, “because he’s just so cute.”