FAMILY MATTERS
Shaping of son's flat nose something best left to time

By Ka'ohua Lucas

I will never forget the day my youngest son was born.

The nursing staff wrapped him in a blue baby blanket and placed him in my arms. As I admired my precious 9 pound, 10 ounce gift, the first thing I noticed was his nose.

It wasn't your typical nose.

Certainly not the kind of nose you see on babies in diaper ads. It was large, wide and cavernous.

My first thought was, how is this poor child ever going to grow into this nose?

As my husband strutted over to my side, his first words were, "Wow! Your baby has a real 'upepe nose, just like dah maddah!"

I was incensed.

As a lioness would for any one of her cubs, I lashed out:

"Eh, no act!"

Reflecting on the moment makes me think about how, in early Hawai'i, kino pakolea, or body molding, was common.

"If the nose was 'upepe or flat, they pressed it gently to make a sharper ridge. ... Nursing mothers were careful to support the breast so it would not press against the baby's nose. Nobody wanted it to be ihu 'upepe," wrote Mary Kawena Pukui, the late Hawaiian author and scholar.

"Ears that stuck out were pressed back against the head, and when the baby was laid down, care was taken that the ears did not fold forward. Sometimes the outer corners of the eyes were pressed inward toward the nose to make the eyes grow larger."

In those first few weeks of my son's life, I had grave reservations of his nose ever having any kind of character. But as the weeks turned into months and he began to grow, his 'upepe nose began to take shape.

A ridge formed. The nostrils contracted. The nose didn't seem as large as when he was born. My baby was beginning to grow into his nose!

I never practiced kino pakolea on my children.

However, I do recall absentmindedly massaging their legs, fingertips and parts of their face.

My youngest is now 8 years old. All signs of being born with an 'upepe nose are gone.

Sometimes we kid around.

"Do you smell that, mommy?" my youngest asks. "Hauna (smelly), yeah?"

"No, I don't smell anything," I admit.

"That's surprising," the 11-year-old quips. "Especially with your 'upepe nose!"

But as with anything, it is all relative.

To this day my husband insists that the 'upepe nose was handed down from my side of the family. And he also claims that it still sits prominently on his wife and children's faces.

But, after all, what does that Irishman know?

Ka'ohua Lucas has an 18-year-old daughter and two sons, 11 and 8. She hold a master's degree in education curriculum and instruction, and works as an educational consultant on Hawaiian curriculum. Write to her at: Family Matters, 'Ohana Section, The Hono-lulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; e-mail ohana@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 535-8170.