He could not nurse and required a special bottle for feedings. His sister, Ashlyn, 5, thought her brother had two noses. "Everyone wants their child to be perfect," confides Tami.

"I'll be honest with you," adds Jeff. "I about passed out."

But about a week after Jayton's birth, an unsolicited knock came on the Rowdens' front door.

It was a Shriner. And suddenly, the Rowdens had hope. Doctors in Lewiston had alerted the Shriners about Jayton's birth, and it wasn't long before the Rowdens were on their way to the Shriners Hospital in Portland.

"The amazing thing about the Shriners," said Jeff, "is that there's no charge."

Jayton has had two surgeries. The first was to repair a portion of his hard palate and his upper gum and to make the first revisions of his lip.

The second surgery was to restore his soft palate and close up his nasal passage. Another lip revision is scheduled, perhaps next summer. More surgery, including some that might fine-tune Jayton's ability to talk, will be in the future.

"You cry because you don't want your kid to go through the pain. You don't want him to be teased," said Tami.

But between the surgeries at the Shriners Hospital and their connection to Cleft Advocate, say the Rowdens, they have been able to embrace a new sense of hope for their son's future.

Jayton, meanwhile, plays like all toddlers. His teeth are coming in, although a couple may be missing.

He can say, "Mama" but has trouble with "Dada."

He loves to have his picture taken and is quick to point at the many photos of himself in the family album.

"We want him to know," Tami said of collecting photographs through Jayton's childhood, "so he has an understanding of what he's gone through."

Other children seem to accept Jayton and his appearance, say the Rowdens.

"The main thing is to educate the kids he comes in contact with," said Tami.

And while people still stare in the grocery stores and malls, awareness continues to improve, say the Rowdens.