When three-year-old Kaylieann Steinbach was told that it was going to be picture day at Rocklin, California school, she was excited. However, when she got up the next morning to see the outfit her daddy had picked out for her to wear, her enthusiasm just wasn’t there, to say the least. She had plans to step it up a notch. Her dad, Austin Steinbach, told People that he had a normal school day outfit picked out for Kaylieann, but she had other plans. She said, “No! Supergirl!” Like most daddies, Austin couldn’t resist his little girl, so he quickly decided that he’d be the one to take the heat if Kaylieanne’s mom wasn’t happy with what her little darling chose to wear for picture day at school.
As it turns out, when the little girl’s mom, Jami, saw Kaylieann’s photo, she couldn’t hide her smile. See, Jami and her husband have encouraged their daughter to be a strong superhero. Jami thought the photo was completely adorable, especially the pose that was done prom-style with Kaylieann’s Superman doll. In fact, the parents shared that Kaylieann rarely leaves the house without her pint-sized Superman. Austin said that the little girl takes her little buddy everywhere with her. She sleeps with it, takes baths with it, and even carries it to school every single day. When Austin shared the photo of Kaylieann on Reddit, it went viral quickly. He was surprised by the reaction from folks.
“It’s surreal,” he said. But he added that what most surprised him was the reaction from the deaf community. Looking closely at the photos of Kaylieanne, you can see that she wears hearing aids with her velvet cape and dress. The sweet little girl is 75% deaf in both ears. She wasn’t born deaf, however. Austin says that his daughter was 2 and a half years old when the doctors told them that she was deaf, and interestingly, doctors can’t explain what caused it. Kaylieann works with a speech therapist and an audiologist and the family is learning sign language. However, she attends a regular school, which Austin calls an “auditory school.”
As for her superhero costumes, picture day wasn’t the first time Kaylieanne dressed up as a superhero and went to school. She wears these costumes often and her love of superheroes comes from her parents. As a family, the love to attend Comic-Con and do other comic-related things. Austin says that he’s a “huge nerd” and started dressing her up even when she was an infant. In addition to Superman and Supergirl, Kaylieann also loves Spiderman, Wonder Woman, and The Hulk. She’s starting to love playing with dolls and Barbies, but her go-to toys are still superhero toys. Her parents couldn’t be happier.
