Good point, Grinity. I do try to refrain from using the Sm... word too much with DS. For some reason, I don't hold back from calling him cute - I never really thought about it before. And I mean cute from a purely physical standpoint! But there's probably a gender issue at play - he doesn't really care that much about being cute/handsome/whatever. Physical appearance is more integrated with girls' self-worth due to cultural pressure so you have to fight against that...
But in your case, the little girl's appearance is all you had to go by -- I don't think it's wrong to complement someone's appearance (including kids) if it comes from the heart and it's not overkill. It would be different if the adults she knew in her life only praised her for inborn traits rather than encouraging her to strive for being kind, hard-working, etc.
