Accessorizing with Ears

My kid has an extra tragus. I didn't know until last weekend when we got her checked out by the free dermatology clinic set up on Santa Monica pier. We had just always thought the bump in front of her ear was caused by some awful meal I ate during a formative day of pregnancy. My husband was bugged by it for the first few days of her life, but soon the strange lump was quietly assimilated into our family. Last weekend the dermatologist at the pier assured us this was no random lump.

It has a name. Accessory Tragus. It's a big name for such a small bump. It's a more believable name for a death metal band than an afterthought of cartilage. The tragus is that hard lump in front of your ear. People pierce them and use them to block out noise. It's not the most exciting body part but we find ourselves giddy over the news that we have a spare.

The doctor said that the appearance of an "accessory tragus" isn't uncommon. The spare tragus can appear anywhere from in front of the ear all the way down the cheek to the mouth. Luckily, Pixie's sits demurely in front of her functional one. Suddenly we can't get enough of her "special ear." Pixie has been running around in circles since Saturday singing nonsense songs about traguses (actually, the official plural is tragi, she needs to brush up on her Latin) and posing to show off the lump.

It's nothing life-changing like an extra eye or a spare bum, but we are proud of Pixie's sweet deformity. Possibly just because it's called an "accessory." You'd think with a name like that you'd be able to buy them at Zale's. I can see it now... "here we have our hand-cut emeralds, and this case contains our platinum pieces, and in this case you'll find ear bits..." An extra tragus can be a beautiful thing.

I took this picture of Pixie's tragus for your viewing pleasure. Please do not feel tempted to look for more pictures of accessory tragi on the internet. Almost all that I found were much more severe than Pixie's. In fact, they were downright disgusting. Who am I kidding. I know you are going to go looking anyways. Here are a few pictures of freak nasty tragi. I love to say I told you so.

How much do you think I could get for this thing on eBay?