Puzzle

K-bao has grown to increasingly like puzzles, especially ones that require her to put together pictures of her favorite princesses, or ninja turtles of the teenage and mutant variety.

This growing hobby has some serious perks for K-Pop and K-Mum. Nowadays when K-bao finds herself the first one up in the morning on a lazy Saturday morning, as is often the case, she can entertain herself in her room for a good hour-plus with Hello Kitty, Belle, Rafael and Leonardo while her overtired parents catch a few extra zz's (at least until the littlest one, C-bao, begins hollering).

J-Cuz

A few weeks back K-bao got to hang out with Cousin Justin, who she gets to see only once or twice a year. The two of them spent some time taking in the Bay Area fresh air at a local park.

Naturally the conversation devolved into the "Let me show you what I can do" and "I bet you can't do this" variety.

K-bao was on her home turf - the monkey bars at the playground she frequents weekly - and thus had a natural leg up, both metaphorically and literally (as she loves to hook her legs over the bars and hang upside down).

Nonetheless, with his competitive juices flowing, Cousin Justin gamely tried all the tricky moves her little cuz threw her way.

Of course, when it came time to head home, little K-bao wouldn't let her cousin go...something she has a history of doing.

Peacemaker

K-bao put on her peacemaker hat recently in a dispute between the eldest and the youngest in the family.

Here's how it went down. C-bao had just finished her nap, and K-Pop had gone in to pick her up and change her. Now C-bao has been moody and finicky of late, and decided in the moment that she wanted her mum, and indeed, that she wouldn't quit crying and hollering until mum was found.

After several minutes of failed negotiations by K-Pop, K-Mum finally appeared and took the spoiled little tot into the study.

Predictably, C-bao immediately flipped over to her angelic Dr. Jekyl personality. When an exasperated and somewhat miffed K-Pop appeared a few minutes later in the study, she tried to reconcile using her patented Hi Tactic (namely, raising a hand to wave at K-Pop while calling out in exuberant tones "Hi! Hi!" to signal she was interested in peace and willing to let bygones be bygones).

K-Pop, who has also been moody and finicky of late, decided to ignore the olive branch. The Hi's continued, followed even by a couple of "Sorry! Sorry!s," so K-Pop finally turned to give the little one a stern talking to about her moodiness. He then stalked off moodily, leaving C-bao with a hurt expression on her face and calling out "Ba ba! Ba ba!"

That's when K-bao, who had been a bystander throughout this sequence, sprung into action. First, she hugged little C-bao and patted her head with a "That's OK, C-bao. Do you want me to go get Daddy?" Next she tracked down K-Pop in the living room and made the following appeal.

"Daddy, C-bao wants you!"
"I know, K-bao, I hear her."

"But Dad, she's little! Forgive her!"
...(Stunned pause)..."I have forgiven her, K-bao."

A few seconds later:
"But she doesn't feel loved!"

That did it. Guilted into action by the psychological insights of his 5 year old, K-Pop went back into the study and made peace with his little one.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

Superstar

K-bao, who has apparently internalized her future superstardom, prances atop a Union Square star during the holiday season.

As soon as she saw the structure she clearly identified with it, as she ran to it with no hesitation, climbed aboard and begun striking a number of power poses.

After coming back to earth she shared a moment, below, with K-Grandmum and sister C-bao.

Thrills

For a 4-year old, K-bao is a bit of a thrill seeker.

She's never seen a hill which she doesn't want to run down. And as K-Mum can attest, even before age 2 she loved going down steep slides, such as the ones at Yerba Buena near our home back then.

Recently she's fallen in love with roller coasters, and is finally tall enough to qualify for the ones at both Happy Hollow and Oakland Zoo.

Below are some action videos of recent rides at each. In the first one, which was the first time she's been on a roller coaster of any kind for a while, there are 5 seconds of abject terror (between 0:09 and 0:14) which she gets over a few seconds later, enough to throw up her hands in delight by 0:20.

Winter Wonderland

Before the holidays K-bao's class at preschool put on a holiday music special for the parents.

K-bao has become an increasingly enthusiastic musician over the past year and practiced her songs with gusto in the days leading up to the show.

Below are a couple of clips from the 10-song program. The songs were short and sweet and filled with great choreography, which K-bao performed with zest. This first one, Winter Wonderland, is one of her faves.

Alpha Female

"Daddy, I'd like to get married when I'm 5 years old," said precocious little K-bao today.

"Now why is that, K-bao?"

"Because I'd like to tell my husband what to do."

Yes, this really happened.

Update: The most common response K-Pop has heard from friends to the above incident is, "Monkey see, monkey do." Not to point any fingers, of course, or mention any names, K-Mum.