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 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 Aunty Katie doing something she disapproved of, and immediately said: "Aunty 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.

Discipline

K-bao apparently witnesses some bad behavior on the part of Doggy because she removes him from the crib and implements a Time Out on the Discipline Chair, all the while saying "Be nicer next time."

Love

This is K-bao's dance interpretation of 1 Cor 13:4-8.

Love runs in circles, she says - while giving a biblical interpretation of her patented Whirlwind Dance.

Word

K-bao is listening intently to the Word while sharing a snuggle with K-Mum. Her favorite Psalms? 23 and 24, which she listens to every night.





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Mem Day

Over Memorial Day K-bao took a second visit to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, a delightful children's park in San Jose. Once again she insisted on the elephant at the carousel (for which K-Mum again summoned her competitive juices and made a wild but successful dash to secure), and also enjoyed herself driving and ringing the bell in the little red car and climbing on the various structures.

And yes - these are basically the exact same pictures, on the exact same rides and slides - shot 5 months later.

Jammin

K-bao spent some time by the Farmers' Market this morning, where there was a little horn ensemble playing a few tunes. K-bao joined a few young music lovers in swaying to the melodies.

Jungle

Here is K-bao observing some boorish behavior from her jungle friends (consisting of her established cadre of animal stuffies), who are lined up to try and enter "K-bao's House." As you can see, she takes some delight in their survival-of-the-fittest naughtiness - to the point that K-Pop had to do a separate session (not recorded) giving each friend a stern talking-to about the importance of taking turns.

Move It

Here's K-bao finding common ground with Moto Moto of Madagascar.

Veggies

Here is K-bao enjoying her broccoli - that is, enjoying pulling her broccoli into 500 pieces and then trying to persuade those around her to partake in her Fishes and Loaves miracle.

Incidentally, her mischievous and contrarian spirit is prominently featured in this episode.

K & L

Before our friends T&M departed for fish 'n chips across the ocean, K-bao got to spend a little time with her friend Lucas over some pizza and oysters. Though little L is about a year behind little K in months...he is already ahead in pounds! Solid frame, that little one.

Bossy

While K-Pop admittedly has little to no fashion sense, he is not pleased to report that instead of one woman bossing him around on his everyday dress, he now has two.

Today when K-Pop came home, K-bao insisted on several wardrobe changes. First, she grabbed the pink dress shirt in the closet. "Ba-ba, wear this one. Ba-ba, wear this one." Apparently K-Pop's blue shirt looked a little drab by comparison. It took several minutes of explanation to establish that K-Pop needed to change out of work clothes.

Next, K-Pop tried to get comfortable with some pajama pants. "Ba-ba, don't wear that. Take it off. Now is not the time to sleep." K-Pop was unable to argue with that reasoning, and reluctantly trudged back to the bedroom to switch into more formal wear.

Does not bode well for the next 16 years.

Big

At 2 years and 4 months, to both our pleasure and our horror, K-bao can now say just about anything she wants. While there are still some nonsensical phrases here and there, or difficult-to-make out pronunciations, she clearly understands cause and effect, before and after, simple logic...and is starting to delve into the more complicated areas of jealousy, competition, manipulation.

As it is, her negotiation skills already trump her parents (who need to resort to blatant authoritarianism to get anything done). She's direct and persuasive, and tenacious to boot. And when she wants something, there is no passive-aggressiveness to her approach; it's just plain aggressive.

Recent pronouncements from K-bao include:

1. K-bao farted. It really smells.

2. Auntie Katie can't reach because her arm is too short.

3. Dear God, thank you for K-bao.

4. Let me do it please. K-bao wants to do it all by myself.

5. First I will eat cheese. Then I will eat vegetables.

6. 1+1=2. 2+2=4. 3+3=6...all the way through 10+10=20. (Granted, these are memorized...but she will spout them off at all hours to pass the time)

7. What is that in English? What is that in Chinese? (often times stumping her parents)

8. K-bao is Daddy's precious one, little cutie and dearest.

Attention

Much has been said of the Millennium Generation's attention span, or lack thereof. Is it the TV? The gaming? Something in the water?

Clearly something that we will have to keep an eye out for with this little one. Here she is unable to hold her thought (to get some help removing her pajamas) long enough even to get a second leg out of her PJ's before she spots a shaker and runs off to the tune (self supplied) of My Little Donkey.

Baking

Here is K-bao about to bake some of K-Pop's favorite banana bread.

Dear Mum

It's only been a little over 2 years

(Technically, 848 days - I know, you got me started early on my sums)

But it feels like a lifetime

(Wait, it is a lifetime)

And you've loved me every single second of every single minute of every single day

And I don't even know how to begin to thank you...

But...Thank you

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Kayla

Go Big

K-Mum, in a fit of generosity today, promised K-bao a gift. The exchange went like this:

K-Mum: "K-bao, next weekend, we are going to go buy you a bicycle!"

K-bao, after a moment: "I don't want a bicycle."

K-Mum: "Why don't you want a bicycle? I thought you said you wanted one."

K-bao: "I want a motorcycle."

K-Mum: "A motorcycle! Those are for grown-ups. Kids can't ride motorcycles."

K-bao, repeating a phrase from one of her favorite songs: "If only I grew up!"

In other words, she's taken the normal 2-year-old demanding spirit and mixed in sass, irony, a touch of humor and a philosophy of "go big or go home" (ain't no sense in stopping at a bicycle if you can get a motorcycle!).

This spirit was also much in evidence yesterday when we took her to Target to buy a soccer ball. Instead of picking out a single soccer ball, she decided she wanted a sack of balls - and proceeded to drag the sack of balls around the store for the rest of the afternoon.