A child in Lenexa is in the quarterfinals for a national baby competition that could net the family $25,000.
In May, the parents of Cybill Salmon, a year-and-a-half-old child in Lenexa, entered her into a Baby of the Year competition with the hopes of making people smile. Now, she’s in the running to win.
“We saw an advertisement, and we just put in a cute baby picture, and then it just kept snowballing from there,” said Javier Salmon, Cybill’s father. “Everybody thought that our baby looked pretty cute, and she won her group, and now we’re in (the) quarterfinals, but it was nothing more than just seeing a post online.”
Dubbed “America’s Adorable Baby Search,” the Baby of the Year contest is national competition where parents can submit the cutest photos and a description of their baby’s personality. From there, people are allowed to vote every day on the cutest child.
The winner will appear in a Variety Magazine advertorial, and the family will receive a $25,000 cash prize. The contest also supports Baby2Baby, a national nonprofit that provides basic essentials to over 1 million children in need each year.
For the Salmons, they just love to see the community rallying around Cybill.
“It’s kind of fun to see how one spark just kind of spreads amongst everybody in it, and it’s for a good cause,” Javier Salmon said.
Cybill loves dancing and hugs
It’s fitting that so many people love Cybill because when she’s out in public, she loves everyone, Javier said.
“She’s never met a stranger. She’ll look at you for a couple minutes, seconds, and then say, ‘Hi. Hi.’ And she’ll come and give you a hug,” Javier Salmon said.
Monica Salmon, Cybill’s mother, added: “We really have to keep an eye on her.”
Even before she was born, Cybill was dancing to a beat, as Javier and Monica listened to a variety of music.
Recalling a time when they were waiting for a doctor’s appointment while she was pregnant with Cybill, Monica Salmon said the Stevie Wonder song “Isn’t She Lovely?” came on and the baby started kicking.
“We’re hanging out in the car … She was kicking around. I just thought, ‘This is the most activity. This child is seriously kicking all over the place.'”
It happened again when the couple went to a Kansas City Symphony concert shortly before Cybill was born.
“I could see her belly moving around,” Javier said.
Cybill is energetic and curious
Since being born, Cybill’s love and curiosity for music has not stopped. She loves watching marching band videos and, as her parents said, “banging away” on a piano that her aunt bought her.
“She really loves music. So that’s obviously something that we’ll explore with her, to just getting her into an instrument, probably before too long,” Monica said.
In addition to that, she has also taken to learning sign language.
Because a daughter of one of Monica Salmon’s friends is hard of hearing, she thought it would be beneficial if Cybill knew how to communicate with her.
When the friend’s daughter saw Cybill use sign language for the first time, it was a moving experience, Monica said.
“The first time that she saw (Cybill) sign with using actual sign language, she was so excited. She was just overjoyed that Cybill was learning her language,” Monica Salmon said.
Now, it’s become part of the way Cybill communicates with her parents.
“She’ll come up to you, and she’ll say ‘Book. Book.’ And she’ll say it and sign it, and then hand you a book,” Javier Salmon said.
The community is supporting Cybill
When Cybill’s family entered her into the Baby of the Year competition, they were unsure what the response was going to be. Watching her voting page get shared first by friends and then by people they didn’t know has been fun.
“We have a lot of community around us that has already (been) intertwined and involved, and they’ve been really helpful,” Javier Salmon said. “We’ve had our friends send it to other people, and you’ll see random names that you’ve never seen before vote for Cybill. It’s been really fun.”
If Cybill wins the $25,000 grand prize, then it will be used for a college fund to give her a future they couldn’t dream of when they were young, her parents said.
“For us, going to college was very difficult and cost prohibitive. But I think this will definitely help us teach her things that we didn’t learn about finances, and also give her the opportunity to just do whatever she would dream of,” Javier said.
If she doesn’t win, then they will be happy knowing that Cybill brightened someone’s day.
“I’d rather people see something very happy and uplifting than something (like) all the other headlines that are out there,” Javier Salmon said. “If that can translate into votes, that’d be great. But if Cybill can put a smile on their face like she does to us, I think that’s probably the most important.”
How to vote
You can visit Cybill’s Baby of the Year page at this link. People are allowed to vote every day. Voting ends on Friday.
