LITTLE CHARMER TODDLER HAS COME A LONG WAY.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Just days after his third surgery in less than a year, little Michael Todor Smith is starting to smile again.

The 2-year-old's smile is his signature but it has been stifled since last week, when doctors closed his severe bilateral cleft lip - the area between his lower lip and nose still too sensitive to form his inviting grin.

For Madeleine Smith, who adopted her son from a Bulgarian orphanage in February, this is all part of the plan.

``He's been really good about it. This is his third surgery and of course it's uncomfortable for him,'' she said. ``But with this one, it seems like he knows that something's different.''

Different, indeed. For the first time in his 28 months, Michael's top lip is a continuous piece of flesh, rather than the gaping hole providing a view into his nasal cavity.

The facial deformity on the otherwise healthy baby was so severe, in fact, that his birth mother and father - already parents of six children - decided not to keep the newborn they named Todor. They left the hospital without him.

While that image is still painful for Smith, the mother of two grown children recognizes that one family's loss became her greatest gift.

The baby who opened his arms to Smith the first time he saw her in Bulgaria is now in preschool, winning the hearts of the little girls.

``The kids have kind of adopted him,'' said Smith, who lives in Valencia with Michael and her high-school-age son, Donovan. ``He has these little special friends. When I bring him to school they all say, 'Look, Michael's here.'''

Before Michael began attending his school, the teachers spoke to the young students and explained that while his face may look different, he's a regular boy who loves to laugh and play.

Smith, a publishing administrator for Ruthless Records in Los Angeles, said she recognized his endearing spirit when an adoption agency showed her a tape of Michael. Soon after, the 47-year-old single mother began the adoption process that would include trips to Bulgaria and cost about $20,000.

Until doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles, begin to repair the three-quarter-inch gap that divides the roof of his mouth, Michael will continue to get most of his nourishment through baby food and bottles.

Aside from his cleft lip and palate, however, the light-haired boy is as curious and active as any child his age.

Smith took him to Disneyland on his second birthday and, on his first Halloween in his Valencia home, Michael sent his mother into fits of laughter.

``I got little chocolate eyeballs to give out on Halloween,'' Smith said. ``We would open the door to trick-or-treaters and he would grab the eyeballs and just throw them at the kids. Not in the sack, just at the kids. He loves to throw his toys. I think the kids were scared.''

Smith said the doctors' expect her son to undergo several surgeries until he is 16.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Michael Todor Smith, 28 months, was born with a severe cleft palate and has undergone several surgeries to close it.

(2 -- color) Little Michael Todor Smith of Valencia is starting to smile again only days after the 2-year-old toddler's third surgery in less than a year, this one to close a severe bilateral cleft lip.

(3) Despite a severe cleft palate, Michael Todor Smith quickly charms all who meet him. His mother, Madeleine Smith of Valencia, adopted him from an orphanage in Bulgaria.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer