thanks haha!

to be fair rise made insanely adorable turtle tots

but here's a breakdown of my drawing process when it comes to the tots (and just drawing babies v adults in general):

(buckle up for a lot of images and rambling XD)

cute-ness essentially boils down to proportions and shape language--ie the smaller and rounder you are, the cuter you tend to be

when you're a baby, you're smaller and squishier--so mikey's head is a 1/3 of his body as a toddler, but 1/6 as a teenager

also limbs tend to be stubby and short when you're younger, I tend to emphasize that by not drawing mikey with visible toes as a tot because it makes him feel like he hasn't grown as much yet

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when it comes to the face proportions are super important to emphasize the cute

babies tend to be cuter because their facial features are closer together and they have big eyes, which makes them much easier to connect with

as you grow, your face stretches out, your eyes appear smaller, and your mouth and nose will drop further and further away from your eyes

also you lose baby fat as you grow up, making your face sharper (best seen with raph 'cause mikey's shape language is all circles)

here's an example from moana, watch as the older she gets, the longer her face gets and the less round her cheeks are:

and of course in real life, same as moana, the older someone gets, the less round they become and facial features fill out the head more, rather than being bunched together:

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to end, i learned a lot about this by drawing from life and observing kids and adults--this is essential to learning how to draw and from looking at other artists and what they suggested when it comes to drawing cute, Griz and Norm are a great resource for this and in other general drawing tips :)

when it comes down to it, when aiming for cute, the chunkier and smaller and rounder the better

anyway, that was long, hope that was what you meant to ask lol XD