Why are kittens so cute?

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We have an outdoor female cat that just gave birth to a litter of kittens about four or five weeks ago. And, they are simply precious. One is gray and white with markings, and the other one is orange and white. And, they live behind the bush in our front yard. That's where their mom stashes them whenever she goes off hunting. Today I opened the door to give her a little bit of food so that she didn't have to leave her babies and there they were on the lawn, running and playing. And, I was so tempted to pick them up. I am not sure if they are weaned yet, so I did not want to interfere and then have the mom abandon them. The bad thing about it is, that I've had two kittens that grew up to full size adult cats and they stop being adorable after a certain age. For instance my big cat, Big man is his name, used to play bite my big toe when he was a baby. Well, that got real painful when he developed fangs! And, my baby cat, EB, (who is seven years old now, but she's still my baby) used to lounge on my tummy all day long when she was a kitten. Now when she does that, it feels like a ten ton weight is sitting on me. Not so cute! But I still love both of my cats. So, does anyone know why kittens are so cute? Do you think that cat moms notice how adorable their own babies are and experience some type of motherly pride? Do you remember when your own kittens stopped being cute and just started being annoying?