Baby Daddy

K-bao has declared that she has a "Baby #1 Daddy." As we explored this rather momentous development, the following salient points were made:

• He lives "very far"....as we probed, he turns out to be in Shanghai
• He is working "all the time" but she picks him up from work every day (how? by "airplane," of course)
• He has "pink hair," "blue eyes" and "orange sunglasses," and is tall - and by the way is "handsome"
• When he comes home from work he likes to go to the bathroom
• Worst of all, his name is "little Victor"

And that was about all K-Pop could stomach.

Espanol el K-bao

At the library the other day, K-bao brought over a book in Spanish and asked K-Pop to read it. Despite a heated exchange about the utility of trying to read a book in a language neither of us understands, K-bao would not take no for an answer so K-Pop ultimately gamely gave it a try. You can hear the results below (Spanish speakers among you cover your ears). K-bao then proceeded to give her own rendition.

Happy

"Dad, look at what I made to make you happy!"

A wonderful statement by little K-bao today. 

Of course, after she got full credit and lots of love from K-Pop - and after K-Pop left the room - she immediately made the same proclamation to K-Mum. Only afterwards did the K-Folks realize that there had been a little creative recycling of work; in academic circles, some might even say self-plagiarism.

Sugar

In a moment of weakness, the K-folks gave K-bao a little sugar boost at a frozen yogurt store we walked by over the weekend. "Pink one, I want a pink one!" demanded the little one. Before and After shots here show the treat hitting the sweet spot. 

Hot Stocks

Over the last 6 months, K-bao has developed an inexplicable daily habit of reading Fortune while sitting on the potty. Indeed, it is always the same issue: "Hot Companies! Hot Stocks!"

The conversation generally goes as follows:

"Daddy, I need to go poo-poo."
"I need my stool."
"I need Hot Stocks."
"I need some privacy."
"Close the door please, all the way. All the way!"

So actually not a conversation, more a stream of orders which K-Pop obeys in silence. The hope of course is that she absorbs enough material that she'll be picking us some Hot Stocks in a few years time and will allow the K-folks to retire early. Yes, our retirement plan rests on our 3-year-old's potty reading.

Kwan Jr.

K-bao had her first adventure on the ice a week ago at friends Aidan and Zoe's birthday party.

She appeared to have plenty of fun, kicking around on the ice with her diminutive skates, largely because there was no fear of falling - all 30lbs were being held up by K-Pop's creaky back.

When K-bao wins the 2028 Olympic figure skating gold in Taipei let the record show that her first foray into the rink was thanks to the Kwoks.

Four Generations

Four generations of great women.

"And His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation." Praise the Lord!

Talent

K-bao practices in her room here for a future audition to America's Got Talent. Plenty of passion (and confidence), is about all K-Pop can say about it at the moment.

Drawing

In her first instance (of what will undoubtedly be many more instances) of inflicting damage to the condo we just moved into, K-bao practiced her letters on the wall with a big blue marker. With a 3-year-old's sixth sense that this was not going to be an approved activity, she at least made her marks in her closet and not on the walls of her room.

Being it was her first infraction of this sort, and we hadn't specifically said that she is not to write on the walls, she got away with a stern talking-to.

However, clearly it wasn't quite stern enough because as we were trying futilely to wipe the marker away, she ran around piping "Don't forget the other one! There's more behind you!"

Here's one side of the wall:

Here's the other side - after 10 minutes of scrubbing (and yes, she's recently learned her A's, V's and W's):

Audit

K-bao came running over excitedly yesterday, demanding to know why her CD case showed a song list that only went up to #16.

"Because your CD only has 16 songs," explained K-Pop.

"No, it has 32! See, I show you!" K-bao rushed over and began pressing the Forward button on her CD-player, flipping through the tracks.

Lo! The CD indeed had 32 tracks. It turned out that the CD repeated all the tracks, with a slight variation to the songs in tracks #17-32. But K-Pop was very proud of his detective daughter, who had to pull together several knowledge bases into her 3-year-old-head to figure that one out. "You could be an auditor one day!" (Not that we want you to.)

Grandpops

Here is K-bao sharing a sweet moment with K-Grandpops. K-Grandpop only sees K-bao once a year but that is plenty to appreciate the full extent of K-bao's mischievousness.

Anticipation

"K-bao, would you like a treat?"

Conversations with K-bao

Conversation #1
Knock, knock.
K-bao: "Why you take so long, Daddy?"
K-Pop: "I'm going to the bathroom."
K-bao: "Why you have so much in there?"
K-Pop: !.......
K-bao: "Why you have so much in there, you go every day!"
K-Pop: !......
Not kidding. This happened yesterday.

Conversation #2
K-Pop: "What is twelve in Chinese?"
...Pause...
K-bao: "Um...I need to check the computer."
K-Pop: "Wait, you already know about Google translator??"

Conversation #3
K-bao: (humming loudly while sitting on the potty): "I am singing and peeing at the same time!"
K-Pop: ......

Alarming

Mom: "Sweetheart, no we are not going to do that."
3 year old Kayla: "Sweetheart, yes we are going to do that."

Favoritism

In an effort to prepare K-bao for her impending big-sisterhood and to introduce her to a world where there is more than one center of attention, Little Aunt Christina (Xiao Ah-Yi) recently gave K-bao a second baby doll, identical in all ways to her first one except for her newer clothes and bright blue eyes.

K-bao promptly named the second doll Baby #2, and renamed her first baby Baby #1. Furthermore, while she welcomed Baby #2 into her crib, she pointedly favored Baby #1, including only giving a blanket to Baby #1 (while letting Baby #2 shiver), only taking Baby #1 on road trips, and only showering Baby #1 with kisses and hugs.

As if we weren't getting the message loudly and clearly that the firstborn deserves special, favored treatment, she recently loudly declared: "I love Baby #1. I do not love Baby #2." Rendering the K-folks speechless - and much afraid of all that will come in a few months time.

Streams of Praise

K-bao's personality veers towards the compulsive. We introduced the Streams of Praise album Covenant Under the Rainbow to her a few weeks ago. She quickly established that her favorite tracks were #1 and #2 - largely because we never got past those two before she asked to go back and listen to them again - and since then has essentially had her finger on the repeat button. In fact, she trucked her CD back and forth between home and the car so many times we were forced to burn the CD and create a playlist just on this album.

A very similar pattern to how she approached Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's Time to Say Goodbye and more recently Beauty and the Beast's Belle. 

Below you can hear her following along to Track #2, Searching.

Slide

Slipping and sliding down the slides at Coyote Point - from one vantage point and then another. K-bao has loved doing this by herself from when she was barely able to walk.

Uncle Buzz

K-bao and I were talking about Shu-Shu's new buzz cut, which caused her to ask to view old videos of her uncle. Listening to Uncle James' rendition of Happy Birthday (in both Chinese and English) for Grandma, she couldn't help but join in.

Surprise

Kayla: I have a surprise for you, Mommy
Mommy: What is it, Kayla?
Kayla: I can't tell you right now
Mommy: Please? Can I have a clue?
Kayla: No, you need to be patient
Mommy: I can't be patient, I need to know right now!
Kayla: That's too bad, Mommy
Mommy: ....*stunned*...

Birthday

K-bao's first time blowing out the candles by herself. A very humble little celebration with the K-folks and a slice of pie - on her 3rd birthday.

Wombats

Here is K-bao "reading" one of her favorite stories, Wombat Walkabout, a story from Down Under about six little wombats and their adventures battling a crafty dingo. After a shy start, she gets to her favorite part with enthusiasm at 0:57:

"Two little wombats, Jen and Jack,
Thought it awfully quiet, so they looked back.
'No little wombats? That's not good!'
So they jumped off the track and into the wood" (demonstrated by jumping off the bed)

(...the two wombats scheme to save their friends....then at 1:36 she gets to another delicious part where little Jen successfully deceives the dingo:)

"'I'm a poor little wombat, all alone,
Lost in the wood, so far from home!'"

Uncle Birthday

Uncle Calvin was here for his 25th birthday a few nights ago.  K-bao was delighted to help celebrate it with him, not only because he's one of her faves, but also because it meant both staying up past her bedtime and lots of cake. Here she is enthusiastically joining in on both the Chinese and English versions of Happy Birthday.

New Year's Resolution

Here is K-bao getting a head start on her fitness regime for the new year. Her form's a bit unorthodox but the heart is all there. After that first set though she was all done - you can see her shaking her head vigorously at even the thought of sit-ups.

Jingle

Happy holidays from K-bao to you!

Bear Necessities

K-bao has moved on from Andrea Bocelli and the Lion King, and has recently been on a Jungle Book kick. Here she belts out her favorite jazz tune with enthusiasm.

She particularly gets a kick out of this exchange:
"Have I given you a clue?"
"Golly thanks, Baloo!"

Mary

During this season of Advent, K-bao is learning the Christmas story for the first time. Here she is at Sunday School playing the Virgin Mary, holding on to Baby Jesus with appropriate seriousness and reverence.

Groceries

The below is typical K-bao behavior on a grocery run to Ranch 99, the Chinese grocery store - or frankly any grocery store (K-bao frequents Trader Joe's, Safeway, Whole Foods and others on a regular basis). As you can see, K-bao is not only in everyone's business, but she also insists on:

(1) making regular grocery suggestions to K-Mum by running individual samples over ("What about this cucumber?" "Do we need any carrots?");
(2) touching every exotic-looking fruit and vegetable, such as the forbidden pineapple (K-Pop's reference to the "prickly pair" is an allusion to the Bear Necessities song in the Jungle Book, one of K-bao's favorites);
(3) procuring copious numbers of plastic bags while bossing K-Pop around in the process ("Pull, Daddy, Pull")

Gap Girl

An active K-bao races down the street only to be distracted by a Gap kids poster (which she shrewdly observed was the same one that she saw on the other side of the store a minute earlier), the sun, the temperature, and just about everything else her busy mind notices.

Pears

K-bao picked a pair of pears at Grandpa's and Grandma's home today. Obedient as ever, she stopped at two, per K-Mum's instructions.

Beads

K-bao has gotten into bead jewelry recently. Here she models a few trinklets that she made with the help of Xiao A-Yi (Aunty Christina).



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Location:Rowland Heights, CA

Maturity

Yesterday K-Mum showed K-bao a band-aid covering an "owee" on her arm. As K-Mum winced and peeled off the band-aid, little K-bao burst into tears, apparently feeling the pain of her mother's wound.

Tonight while taking a bath, K-bao deliberately ignored specific instructions by taking a sip of bathwater (giving K-Pop a Genesis 3 shiver). Instead of angrily declaring a post-bath time-out as K-Pop normally would have done, K-Pop simply looked into K-bao's eyes sternly and said, "I'm really disappointed in you, K-bao. You deliberately disobeyed me. This bathwater could make you sick." The bath resumed in silence. The little one was quiet for a few minutes. Then she grabbed hold of K-Pop's hands, looked up earnestly and said, "Daddy, I'm really sorry. I won't do it again." And she held his gaze until K-Pop relented and gave her a peck.

Compassion and contrition in our 2-year-old. New breakthroughs in little K-bao's character. 

Ladybug Song

Here is K-bao at her first school musical. You can hear the Ladybug's voice bursting out at the end of the first refrain, demanding to be heard.

Tug-of-war

Here is K-bao rather nonchalantly participating in her first tug-of-war, at an outdoor school event. Somehow the competitive juices didn't kick in for this one. Not sure if she helped or hurt the cause, to be honest.








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Backwards

K-bao recently has gotten into word puzzles. Here she is assembling a few cards. Last week she asked mischievously, "What if we read the word from right to left?" The resulting backward sounding words gave her a real tickle ("kcos!" "kcos!") and now she insists about inquiring about the right-to-left reading for just about every card.

Facewash

K-bao demonstrates her understanding of the dangers of the facewash with tea tree oil in it (it's "spicy").

The Boss

K-bao: "Dad, why did you say 'frick' just now?"
K-Pop: "Oops, did I say frick?"
K-bao: "Yes you did. 'Frick' is a bad word."
K-Pop: ".....You're right, it is a bad word."
K-bao: "Don't say that next time. I don't like it"

K-bao: "Dad, move over please."
K-Pop: "Why? I'm comfortable here."
K-bao, waving her stuffed penguin: "There's no space for Penguin." Eyeing the other stuffies lined up over the bed, "Penguin has a big body."
K-Pop: "But I'm bigger than Penguin."
K-bao: "Penguin really needs to lie down."
K-Pop: ".....um, ok."

Crazy Eights

K-bao was recently introduced to a little Uno-like card game called Crazy Eights. It has quickly become her second-favorite pasttime (after watching videos of Andrea Bocelli). As you can see above, she typically teams up with Baby, leaving K-Pop or K-Mum to partner with Tolo the diminutive plastic pig. Unfortunately, the game has also unleashed (or at least uncovered) a fierce little 2-year-old competitive spirit, the extent of which K-Pop would have been very quite alarmed by had he not been able to trace its roots directly to the cutthroat board game behavior of one K-Mum. Note the unrestrained merrymaking (including victory gallop) at 0:27 and 0:15 below.

Soccer

A little soccer practice with the little one down in the South bay. Unfortunately, at this rate, it may take a few years for K-bao to develop her inner Mia Hamm - especially when her coaches are (1) wearing flip-flops / sandals and generally unable to move faster than a brisk walk, (2) more focused on capturing video with their smartphone cameras than playing soccer, and most importantly (3) have trouble actually connecting with the ball themselves.

Football

While living in our small downtown apartment has been uber-convenient for K-Pop to get to work, it has necessitated a bit of creativity when little K-bao needs to burn off a few joules to get herself properly worn down for bedtime.

Here is K-Pop teaching K-bao the fundamentals of football - including the QB snap and the all-important post-touchdown celebration.

Tahoe

A few pics from a recent short trip to Tahoe, where K-bao swam, hiked, and sat on her throne (in our Home Away rented cabin).

This Time Next Year

K-Grandmum and Xiao Goo-Goo came for a visit from Taipei a few days ago. The last time K-bao had the pleasure of taking this shot with Xiao Goo-Goo by the Bay Bridge, it was February of 2010. In the interim year and a half, while Aunt Catherine looks pretty much identical, K-bao has almost outgrown her stroller, and has also developed - as you can see below - a bit of a pre-adolescent "too cool for school" schtick which K-Pop is not entirely pleased with.

Shoephile

Classic K-bao move. With a casual "See you next time!," the little one kicks off her Crocs, grabs an expensive retail item - a Burberry rainboot, what else? - and takes off. The girl has clearly inherited her mother's high end tastes along with her obsession with footwear. (Though what about the pilfering tendencies? Disavowed by both parents)

Naughty

2-year old K-bao had the following pronouncements today:

• (Lying down on the floor of the kitchen) "I want to sleep here today. It's comfortable here."
• K-Pop: "And if you're naughty, what do you get?" K-bao: "I get a hug from Daddy."
• (After listening to K-Mum tell K-Pop that she was a few minutes away in the car) "But Mom you didn't say you were coming on the Pine Street side of the building."
• K-bao: "I want to listen to [Andrea] Bocelli." K-Mum: "We can't do that, we're outside of the home right now." K-bao: "Yes we can, on the iPhone, I'll show you - listen to this" (opening up the Youtube app and turning on Bocelli)

Maternal

K-bao is discovering her maternal instincts, thanks to the cute Baby Sam. Here she is helping Sam, who hails from the Liu clan, take a few steps towards the flamingoes at the Brooklyn Zoo. You can see that K-bao looks quite a bit more pleased than Sam, who is either perplexed about this older woman taking an interest in him or worried about the state of the financial markets, or both.

B-ball

Here is K-bao wistfully watching Cousin Justin warming up for his LA league game and wishing she could don a uniform herself.



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Location:LA

Air Space

K-Pop hopes that K-bao lives life above the rim, and introduced her this morning to the art of the dunk. K-bao took to it like a fish to water, putting down tomahawk two-handed jams pretty much immediately and asking for more.

2 Years Later

Uncle

Shu-Shu is visiting for a few days and K-bao picked up where she left off when she last saw him in 2009 - including asking for a kiss before she went down for a nap. Here she is working her charm with Uncle James both by the Ferry Building and near a scenic spot by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Biking

K-bao went biking last weekend across the Golden Gate bridge and then down to Sausalito. The bridge was windy and crowded, and K-Pop and K-Mum were plenty stressed veering around the tourists (who were helpfully walking 3 across and stopping randomly to take pictures) and navigating both the wind and the oncoming traffic.

K-bao meanwhile appeared plenty relaxed, taking in the views, singing at the top of her lungs, and occasionally kicking K-Pop in the rear like a professional jockey to spur him on.

Not an adventure the K-folks are eager to repeat in the near future.

Discipline2

As noted before, K-bao has turned the corner - rather prematurely, in our eyes - from the disciplined to discipliner. Previously it was only her stuffies. But today she observed her caretaker Katie doing something she disapproved of, and immediately said: "Aunt Katie, you are naughty. Go to the room for a time out. Go think about it." Scary.



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Who's Hu?

K-Mum tries to confuse K-bao by mixing up her Chinese names.

To no avail. K-bao knows who's Hu and is quite emphatic about it.

Friends

K-bao got to hang out with her friends Dylan, Naomi and Baby Sam a little while back over Mother's Day weekend. Perhaps due to all the practice managing (and disciplining) her other "friends" - i.e. the stuffies who reside in her crib - she has become quite maternal, particularly with noticeably younger children. In other words, she has no problem bringing out the bossiness.