K-Bao & Co.

Surprise

2012-01-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-31T22:11:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays from K-bao to you!

Bear Necessities

2011-12-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-11T15:07:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-04T16:57:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-03T21:38:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-25T10:00:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-24T09:12:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T20:56:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-11T18:09:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-05T22:21:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

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

The Boss

2011-10-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-03T22:10:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-02T00:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-14T19:46:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-06T16:21:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Uncle

2011-07-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-09T21:31:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-02T01:17:00.001-07:00

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?

2011-06-27T19:34:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-17T21:19:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-11T12:29:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

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

Veggies

2011-05-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-18T21:47:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

Dear Mum

2011-05-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Little Donkey

2011-04-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

K-bao's love for song and dance has only increased over the last few months. Multiple times a day she will shout "Some music!," slide over her little white chair to her toy kitchen in order to reach her mini-CD player, and put on a few of her favorite tunes without consulting whether anyone else is in the mood for cacophonous children's tunes.

Here she is galloping about to the tune of "My Little Donkey," an old classic about a young donkey rider who ends up with a face full of mud, a story line that seems to resonate with our little one.

Because I'm Worth It

2011-04-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

K-bao has floored us with a few of her recent pronouncements. Here are a few tidbits from just tonight:

1. At dinner, when given a bowl of rice and meat that excluded the striped bass on the table: "How do I eat this without fish?!"

2. After demanding a cookie ("Share with K-bao! Share with ME!"), when asked for her rationale, she declared: "Because K-bao is so cute."

(This was so stunning that we asked her a few more times on film just to be sure - see below)

3. During her after-dinner music session, after listening to half of the Chinese jingle "My Little Donkey," she ran over to pause the CD. "Rest for a bit," she said. Why, K-bao? "Little Donkey is tired." It's true, the song had a bit of a galloping rhythm.

Spider

2011-04-07T22:38:00.001-07:00

K-bao's latest song. See if you can make out the K-bao-lese.

Vanity

2011-04-07T22:23:00.001-07:00

As we know, K-bao likes to watch K-bao. Since she discovered her own blog and Dad's collection of videos, she has become very specific about her viewing requests. Her top two asks are for the clip of her throwing K-Pop's sandals into the ocean on the beaches of Waikiki, and the one of her breaking her promise to K-Mum about eating her grapes one at a time (which she labels the "Don't Worry" video, since in it she gives plenty of glib assurances before she promptly "forgets" her promise). She will watch these videos of her naughtiness with a sly smirk on her face, basking in the glory of her own rebelliousness. And then she will shout, "New one!"

Bananas

2011-04-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

One thing the K-folks have to give K-bao - she's pretty quick. She mastered the potty-training in less than two days. The only slight issue is that she insists on calling her #2 "bananas." She will literally sit on the potty and count, "one banana, two banana, three bananas..." all of which makes K-Pop's banana and oatmeal breakfast a whole lot less appetizing. Indeed, K-Pop may be forced to cut the fruit out of his diet altogether.

Potty

2011-03-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

K-bao has been spending some time on the potty recently and here she is passing along her accrued wisdom to Baby.

By the way, you can tell that she's clearly a believer in the power of positive affirmation.

Boots

2011-03-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

Here's K-bao marching around the hallways wearing K-Mum's boots (with U2's "Sexy Boots...Get On Your Boots" playing in her head).

Snuggle

2011-03-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here is K-bao taking in her latest addiction, the aforementioned Three Little Pigs. Notice the concentration, the intensity. Often times K-Pop will have to wave his hands around to get her to blink, or actively move the cracker into her mouth so she remembers to take a bite. Of course, Pig Time is also Snuggle Time too for K-Pop; he knows these days are numbered so he'll take them while he can.

Arginine

2011-03-13T01:05:00.000-08:00

K-bao was at our friends S&A's home today and saw her old Exersaucer, and for old times sake she asked for a couple of spins in it. When she sat down, her knees scraped the bottom. Check out the before and after - the passing of perhaps a year and a half, if that? Our little girl is on a little rocketship.

Pigs

2011-03-11T23:30:00.001-08:00

K-bao is a major fan of Disney's The Three Little Pigs. While she's terrified of the Big Bad Wolf, she loves the pigs' song and dance routine - especially the two foolish pigs who sing "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" right before they scamper for their lives into their flimsy homes.

Under multiple assurances from K-Pop that he won't allow the Big Bad Wolf into "K-bao's home," she now asks for the 8 minute clip pretty much every day. Here she is demonstrating her excitement ahead of her nightly viewing. Again, the Feraba African tap dance.

Tortoise

2011-03-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

K-bao has been listening to Chinese CDs sent to her by K-Grandpop and Grandmum, with the old tale The Tortoise and the Hare being a favorite.

Here as the story begins you can see her chanting "Story of the Tortoise and the Hare!" gleefully, and then, at 0:25, she happily anticipates her favorite line of the story, which is when the Tortoise indignantly says to the Hare: "What are you so proud of?!"

Generally she is so tickled by this line that she will run around the house shouting at everyone in sight: "What are you so proud of?" which is a question that leaves the K-folks speechless.

Brushing

2011-03-01T15:32:00.000-08:00

"Let's get those sugarbugs out"

Here is K-bao extending her good oral hygiene habits to Baby. We've noticed that as a caretaker K-bao is the epitome of inconsistency. She can be warm and doting - hugging and kissing Baby regularly - and quite responsible with Baby's food and hygiene needs. On the other hand, she likes to stand on Baby's head until it is flat as pancake, throw Baby headfirst out of the crib (chanting "1, 2, 3, Throw!" as she does it), and send Baby ahead to scout danger. Would likely receive poor feedback on Yelp as a sitter.

Forgot

2011-02-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

One of K-Pop's chief pleasures is watching the expression on K-bao's face right before she does something deliberately naughty, when she is reveling in the delicious knowledge that she is about to break the rules.

O the joy! The juicy anticipation!

You can see it here at 0:13 right after she ensures K-Mum that she has not forgotten her promise to take only one grape at a time.

Of course, one of K-Pop's chief sorrows is dealing with all of the naughty things K-bao actually does, including the flaunting (observe the triumphant declaration "Two grapes!" afterwards).

But that impish expression almost makes it worthwhile.

Biblephile

2011-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

K-bao shows off her piety (ironic, we know) by finding her favorite psalm in about 5 seconds.

Of course, it helps that the binding has been weakened there by her frequent meditations on the writings of David.

Manners

2011-02-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Here's K-Pop trying to teach K-bao a little manners. Admittedly, the exercise veered a little into bribery.

For the non-Mandarin speakers:

KP: "Let me ask you a question. What do you want to play?"

KB: "Opposites" (a Fisher-Price online computer game)

KP: "I see. You'd like to play Opposites on the computer. Well, how do you need to ask Daddy?"

KB: "Please!" (Bows). "Please play Opposites!"

KP: "A bow. Right. Daddy also wants you to dance."

(KB does a Feraba African tap dance).

KP: "Now sing a song."

(KB sings the Taiwanese folk song GeGeBaBa)

KP: "Daddy also wants you to ask in English."

KB: "May I? Opposites. Right now. Please."

KP: "Good job."

Kitchen

2011-02-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

K-Pop pulled a near all-nighter yesterday assembling K-bao's new KidKraft Large Play Kitchen, shown above. Admittedly, a part of it had to do with K-Pop's circles of competence, which pointedly do not include arts, crafts, engineering, woodwork, furniture or any related subjects. Perhaps other contributors to the plodding pace were the multiple episodes of the latest season of 24 playing in the background and the couple glasses of red wine.

But in K-Pop's defense, the KidKraft instructions clearly countenance the high possibility of irritation, vexation and ill-humor on the part of the customer while assembling this product. In fact, the instructions start off by saying, "Before getting frustrated and returning the product...PLEASE LET US HELP!" (emphasis in original). Indeed, the "please let us help" part is then repeated 3 times in bold and large font. Never a good sign when the manufacturer assumes that its products will lead to exasperation and abandonment.

K-Pop found himself asking throughout the evening how many years K-bao would need to play with the product to make this initial grunt labor worthwhile. The number bumped up as the night went on. By the time the last screw went in, K-Pop was planning play dates for the little one and her kitchen through the end of 6th grade.

This morning K-bao woke up to her brand new kitchen and played with it for 3 straight hours. Good start. 9 years to go.

Waikiki

2011-02-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

K-bao had a good time in Hawaii, and spent most of the vacation playing on the sandy beaches of Waikiki (where she amused herself by repeatedly throwing K-Pop's sandals into the ocean, all the while giggling uncontrollably).

Here you can see her flattening sand castles created by K-Mum, making a variety of faces at the camera, sharing her juicebox with Baby in a moment of generosity, posing reluctantly with the K-folks outside the hotel, and being entertained by K-Mum and Clifford the Big Red Dog on the flight back.

Incidentally, K-Mum's idea to bring along the car seat, which K-Pop had vigorously protested at first and then begrudingly assented to, ended up being pure genius. Somehow, once buckled in, the subconsciously acknowledged principle of not being able to move around in a car seat transferred beautifully and little K-bao miraculously did not squirm, wriggle or squawk to come down even once.

On the other hand, with the extra boost that enabled her little feet to touch the seat in front of her, did she give the passenger ahead a 6-hour gratuitous kick-massage through the airplane seat back? O yes.

Rest of album is here.

Humor

2011-02-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

Little K-bao is developing a sense of irony. The small comedies of life will make her laugh: her little penguin falling off the crib; trying on K-Mum's sweater and shoes. The other day she ran out to tattle on K-Pop to K-Mum: "Baba little bit silly goose!" Apparently Dad was being too jovial.

Other exhibits of the humble beginnings of a comedic wit:

K-Pop says sternly: "That's not funny, K-bao." Response: "Yes funny. Hahahaha!"
K-Pop: "Give me a kiss, K-bao." Respose: runs to K-Mum and gives her a kiss. (Luckily this goes both ways - the one sure way K-Pop gets a kiss is if K-Mum asks for one.)
K-Pop: "Sit in the high-chair, K-bao." Response: "Ba-ba sit in high-chair. K-bao sit here." "But Ba-ba is too big for the high chair sweetie, I won't fit." "Try! Try!"
"What is your name?" "Emily Elizabeth" (from Clifford, the Big Red Dog)
K-bao asks to play with iPhone; K-Pop tries to distract her instead by starting to read from the famous "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" book, and asks, "K-bao, K-bao, what do you see?" Response: "I see an iPhone looking at me! Gimme iPhone!"
"K-bao, it's time to be quiet." Big smile. Then in her loudest voice: "Aaaaagghh!!!"

As another exhibit of her contrarian nature, K-Pop in the below video says Yes and OK (in Chinese). K-bao's response, of course: "No and Not OK. Hahaha."

Shaka

2011-02-10T00:37:00.000-08:00

Here is K-bao flashing the Hawaiian hang-loose "shaka" sign and saying Aloha. Peace-lover she is.

Hawaii

2011-02-05T23:11:00.001-08:00

K-bao is having a little fun in the sun on the beautiful island of Oahu. Here are a few pics from the first couple of days.

Getting comfortable and checking her voicemail upon arriving at the hotel (major props to Rita who comped us a sweet suite upgrade):

Posing with the flamingoes on the grounds of the Hilton Hawaiian Village:

Getting ready to go for a dip with K-Pop:

Giving K-Mum an Eskimo kiss and sharing a pineapple soft serve with K-Pop at the Dole Plantation:

Practicing the Zoolander Blue Steel look before heading off to bed:

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San Luis Obispo

2011-01-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

Here is K-bao at a park in San Luis Obispo, shoving Baby down the slide (if you turn up the volume you can hear her saying "1-2-3, Go!"). It's unclear whether she is (i) trying to show Baby a good time, or (ii) sending Baby ahead as an advance scout /sacrificial lamb in case of possible danger.

GeGe Baba

2011-01-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

There is a currently obscure, previously famous, Taiwanese folk song entitled "GeGe BaBa," the first line of which is "Brother and Father are great men." You can actually find it on Amazon here (yes, the long tail of the Internet. You can even see some white kids dancing to it here). As this is obviously sound doctrine which should be internalized early - nevermind the fact that K-bao doesn't have a brother - we made it our business to ensure that it was one of her first songs learned. You can see her recital below. Musicality needs a little work.

Sea World

2011-01-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

On K-bao's last day in San Diego, she had a tour of the outrageously overpriced Sea World. Here she is taking in a dolphin show and saying hello to Mr. Penguin. She was also able to check out the Shamu show, ride on Elmo's Flying Fish (below), and feed a few stinky fish to the barking sea lions, though in the latter activity K-Pop and K-Mum had to jump around like wild kangaroos to ward off the evil seagulls who were perched around the feeding area ready to swoop in and steal the fish. However, her favorite part of the day? Running through the sprinklers at The Sesame Street Bay of Play. Turns out we could have just turned on the faucets at home.

Zoo

2011-01-27T00:20:00.001-08:00

K-bao spent the day today at the famed San Diego Zoo checking out whether it lives up to the hype.

First, a power breakfast of oatmeal and fruit at The Broken Yolk:

Making faces by the Zoo entrance:

Talking to the elephants, and then offering them a blueberry:

Waving to every Tom, Dick and Harry passing us on the Skyfari aerial tram:

Deciding where to go for dinner:

Finishing up the day with the Word:

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San Diego

2011-01-25T20:57:00.001-08:00

K-bao's spending a few days in San Diego, her first visit to the sunny city of Saint Didacus. She spent the afternoon checking out Old San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarters, sampling savory crepes at the Cremerie Chocolat and breathing in the salty sea air. She ended up at the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, where she polished off a plate of pasta with grated mizithra cheese and browned butter ("More!"), topped off with apple sauce and a few bites of K-Pop's ice cream. Good times.

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LA

2011-01-22T20:29:00.001-08:00

K-bao has been overstaying her welcome this past week in LA with Da A-Yi and Da Yi-Zhan (Aunt Carol and Uncle Will) and Cousin Justin. Here she is below trying to ingratiate herself with Aunt Carol in order to win a few extra days. One of her key objectives of course is more rides with Baby on Cousin Justin's elephant.

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Bball

2011-01-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

K-Pop has been slowly introducing basketball to K-bao. This time, however, he was waylaid by Cousin Justin, who succeeded in both personalizing and emasculating the sport at the same time.

Happy Hollow

2011-01-15T22:36:00.001-08:00

The K-fam stopped by Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose with the hopes of helping K-bao work off some of her remarkable energy ahead of a long day's drive. K-bao had a good time, to the point where the K-folks have a feeling that they will be padding the wallets of Disney and Six Flags shareholders for many years to come.

At the carousel, K-bao insisted on taking turns on both the elephant and the alligator (and with the help of a speedy K-Mum, managed to beat out other kids who were eyeing the same animals). Coming off the Pacific Fruit Express Roller Coaster - where K-Mum took a concededly aggressive interpretation of the minimum height requirement - K-bao was already shouting for more even as K-Mum emerged from the ride looking rather green in the face. And on the Redwood Point play structure, K-bao insisted on going down the long slide chute alone but then would mischievously stop in the middle until K-Pop went in after her.

We were well rewarded for our hard work though; K-bao napped for two hours in the car.

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Location:Pismo Beach,United States

Travel

2011-01-09T22:50:00.000-08:00

We took K-bao on a little trip over the holidays to southern California to see some family over a couple days, figuring it's be a nice practice run before putting her on a longer flight in February during a real vacation.

Suffice it to say, we're rethinking the vacation.

Little K-bao was a little terror on the flights, thrashing about like a fish out of water, and screaming bloody murder as if she was being attacked by highway robbers instead of being asked to sit still nicely. In the process K-Pop was somehow punched, kicked, slapped and almost deafened, and frankly was lucky not to have been bitten.

Strong Chinese woman. Runs in the family.

Ironically, before the flights at the airports in both SFO and LAX K-bao was nothing but a friendly little cherubin. Here she is below clowning about in LAX, intruding on strangers' conversations and then popping up suddenly in front of Daddy to say "hi" at the top of her lungs.

Fruit

2011-01-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

K-bao's favorite verse is Galatians 5:22. Here she is ushering in the new year with a recital of the fruit of the Spirit (in Chinese). Slight mix-up of love (ren ai) and patience (ren nai), but given that the concepts are pretty close the K-folks are letting that go.

By the way, we're not sure why she keeps giving us the "hang loose" sign. Maybe suggesting that the K-folks lighten up on the pre-2-year-old Scripture memorization bootcamp.

(The little "ten" at the end is an inside joke: she insists on asking for the tenth fruit despite knowing full well that there are only nine)

Gym Time

2010-12-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

This past fall, K-bao was a regular, twice-a-week visitor to a MyGym facility in the Dogpatch. K-Mum took her there to socialize, learn some structure and expend a few joules. Unfortunately during the sessions she mostly ignored her fellow toddlers, and the structure thing also didn't quite work out (instead of sitting quietly during circle time, K-bao would inevitably run wildly around the room like a little Tasmanian devil, with poor K-Mum chasing after).

K-Pop made the visit once and was pleased to find little K-bao getting a head start on her playground basketball skills. Here she is putting down a Dominique-esque two-handed jam. In the other two pics, K-Pop forced K-bao to "socialize" with some others on a tire swing, which K-bao quickly took over with her broncos-style swinging.

Habitot

2010-12-19T13:38:00.001-08:00

We recently took K-bao to Habitot Children's Museum in Berkeley. This was K-bao's third visit, and she ran around authoritatively like she owned the place. She didn't hesitate in muscling aside some older kids at the makeup application corner to check out the latest cosmetics, and at one point unceremoniously snatched away a rake from the hands of a startled one-year-old while visiting the leaf raking alley. Later when she began painting a wall (below), a curator had to run up to explain that this was actually Gingerbread House Decorating Day, not Paint the Wall Day. K-bao reluctantly put her brush down (but not before starting to write "Live a Little!" on the wall). At her last stop, the Water Works station, K-bao wasted no time in dumping a bucketful of water down her own shirt before sharing the puddles with everyone else within splashing vicinity. Luckily K-Mum came prepared with some extra bundles of clothing, else it would have been a cold and miserable trip home for the Hu family.

"Say Cheese"

2010-12-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

More Bubbles

2010-12-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

While K-bao's bubble-blowing technique leaves something to be desired, K-Pop is somewhat comforted by the problem solving skills - first the attempt to delegate the task a more competent bubble-blower, and then attempting to figure out the engineering issue.

Godzilla

2010-12-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

The below video neatly demonstrates the Second Law of Thermodynamics - order deteriorates to disorder, organization into randomness. And what accelerates this entropy? Agents of chaos, of course, such as Godzilla, the Incredible Hulk, or K-bao.

Still Can't Touch This

2010-11-20T21:23:00.001-08:00

It's been almost exactly one year, and the good ol' "Can't Touch This" routine still works like a charm.

Trick or Treat 2

2010-11-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

Following up on the earlier Halloween post, a few belated clips from our little outing at the end of October where she played Curious Georgia. Below she is practicing her Trick or Treat routine (Clip 1), forgetting her candy bag (Clip 2), and looking somewhat confused during an actual exchange with a neighbor but keeping enough wits to clamor for more candy (Clip 3).

Doctor Hu

2010-11-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

K-bao received a medical kit a couple of months ago. Since then the injuries ("owee's") have come fast and furious, generally to the hand or foot, and treatment requires a combination of (i) an anal thermometer pressed against the diaper, (ii) a knee jerk reflex hammer banged against the injured area, (iii) a stethescope hearing, (iv) an emergency call using the play cell phone to the nurse on call, (v) a rubber bandaid (that constricts the blood flow more than anything else), and most importantly, (v) the donning of the professional bright blue glasses.

Class Clown

2010-11-08T00:14:00.001-08:00

K-bao managed to make it out to friend Juniper's 3rd birthday party this past weekend. Instead of wishing her friend a happy birthday, she spent most of the time rummaging around Juniper's room, checking out her books, playing with her toys (including dragging her wagon up and down the hall a dozen times), and generally causing a ruckus / drawing attention away from the birthday girl.

In fact, the one time she joined "circle time" with the "Bee Lady" was when the kids were together holding onto a piece of colorful canvas, flapping it up and down like it was an ocean wave - but only then to ascertain that the best and highest use of her time and resources would be not to join the activity within the rules of the game but to jump on top of the canvas and roll around as the center of attention until said Bee Lady got annoyed and kicked her off.

You can see some action shots below. The first frame, where she observed what everyone was supposed to be doing, lasted all of 3 or 4 seconds. Most of her time was spent in frames 2 and 3. We can see the Class Clown personality developing before our eyes, and we are powerless to stop it.

Grandma Visit

2010-11-08T00:03:00.001-08:00

Grandma is visiting for a few weeks, something K-bao couldn't be happier with. A woman of infinite patience and energy, Grandma manages to make everyone around her feel ten times better by virtue of her presence alone. And yes, she still spoils little K-bao the same way she did a year ago. Here they are chilling on the Embarcadero on a Saturday morning.

Trick or Treat

2010-11-01T00:02:00.001-07:00

K-bao participated in her first Halloween this year, attending both a party at K-Pop's office and a local Trick or Treat outing in our apartment complex. For the office shindig, we woke her up from a nap in order to attend and she seemed dazed and confused by the mayhem of the kids in various costumes. At first, she refused to leave K-Mum's arms. Once she realized however that a collection of candy was involved, she scrambled down quickly and by the end of the office tour was the most aggressive kid in the group, shouting "More!" and elbowing others out of the way. Indeed, after about 15 minutes K-bao's sizeable candy bag was so heavy she could barely lift it.

By the time our apartment outing rolled around this was all old hat. K-bao slipped into her monkey costume - she has had an affinity for monkeys ever since Uncle Chris' monkey demonstration - and walked around the floors again hollering "More" (or "Two" anytime a host had the audacity to only offer one). You can see a few action shots below and our collection of goodies at the end of the evening.

Exercise Assistant

2010-10-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

K-Pop's only exercise these days consists of a couple minutes of push-ups and sit-ups on the floor, the time for which can be further shortened with a little assistance from K-bao. The below clip from a few months ago demonstrates her helpfulness (though it also demonstrates her mischievousness).

Buh Boh

2010-10-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

As you can see below, K-bao's personality veers towards the obsessive. Whatever she likes, she asks for multiple times a day. Whenever she asks, she repeats her request 5, 6, or 7 times, or if not fulfilled in a timely manner, 11, 12 or 13 times. Recently she's been on a bubbles kick. This has consisted of her running to the TV (behind which we stored her bubble wand), pointing, and with a pained look, crying out "Buh! Boh! Buh! Boh!" In the video, K-Mum is trying to teach her a little manners, so in addition to putting her hands together in supplicating fashion, she does a little half-bow / curtsy. Tough to resist.

Field of Dreams

2010-10-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

On the weekends, K-Pop likes to take K-bao to a nearby park in Potrero Hill to pao-pao and train for her future athletic career. Here she is rounding the bases with her hat over her eyes, running on her Jennie Finch instincts alone.

Fashionable

2010-10-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

K-bao with K-Mum's shades, one of her favorite accessories.

Now I Know

2010-10-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

One trait we like in our little K-bao is that she doesn't do half-way. She goes full bore. We noted already the vigor in her art - the dramatic use of color, the bold strokes. Below, you can see her bring some zeal into her vocal performances as well, and in the second video, spice it up further with her patented Whirlwind Dance (though that particular maneuver didn't end well this time).

p.s. the "Now now now now" at the end is the K-interpretation of the "Now I know my ABC's" refrain, though we recognize that it sounds like she is scolding a naughty child, especially when accompanied by the dramatic arm waving.

Apple Addiction

2010-10-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

With much fear and trembling, the K-folks have exposed K-bao to technology. This has consisted of letting her play some Fisher-Price games on the desktop, allowing her to monkey around with K-Pop's locked Blackberry, and yes, introducing her to some "educational apps" on the iPhone.

The result? Complete mayhem in the Hu family. A kid asking for - nay, demanding - her screen time 10 - 12 times a day. We are either shaping the next Marissa Mayer or creating a little technology brat emotionally dependent on Apple products.

The K-folks' only comfort is that this appears to be a commonplace problem. K-Pop came across the following GigaOm headline the other day: I Gave My 3 Year Old an iPhone: Have I Created a Monster?

And according to a Stanford University study, 25% of iPhone users reported the phone to be "dangerously alluring" and 41% said that losing their iPhone would be "a tragedy."

In the below video, shot with K-Pop's iPhone, little K-bao chants "iPhone" no less than 8 times before resorting to guilt-tripping her Dad with appeals to natural law and principles of selflessness.

Good to see you too

2010-09-28T20:51:00.001-07:00

K-Pop's favorite 10 seconds of the day.

Lands End

2010-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The K-family took a trip out to Lands End over the weekend with good friends Chris and Dave (who was visiting for the weekend from NY). Incidentally, K-bao has been a big fan of Chris ("Krih! Krih!") for some time, and also took quickly to Dave ("Day! Day!") as well. As the K-folks have noted with alarm, she tends to like the boys.

During the trip K-bao got to ride in her hiking backpack, otherwise known as her palanquin /royalty carrier (bequeathed to her by Phat Baby Photographer's family some months ago). From this vantage point she would alternatively tug on K-Pop's ears, sway from side to side while shouting "ABCDEFG" at the top of her lungs, pretend she was sitting in a swing and rock forward and backwards vigorously, or whisper in K-Pop's ear "pao-pao" (run! run!) as if she were Mr. Jakes urging Black Beauty to go faster.

K-Pop is paying for it in his sore calves now but the beautiful views, fresh air and good company were well worth it. At one point our little group even saw a family of dolphins swimming in the Bay.

The Grapes of Joy

2010-09-15T23:35:00.001-07:00

Grapes are the new cheese in K-bao's diet - the one snack or dessert that she will gobble up, in excessive quantities, without any prodding or coaxing.

You can see her loading up below, one piece after the other (after grunting out Pu-tao - grape in Chinese - at K-Pop's insistence). She loves all varieties; whenever K-Mum asks her whether she wants green or purple, she insists on both.

By the way, there was a time when sharing was a real dilemma in little K-bao's life. We chronicled her general approach to this subject (i.e. "I'm into sharing as long as it's you sharing with me") in her art episode last week. As you can see below however she has discovered her generous genes when it comes to her parents, and now will willingly give a token grape or two to the folks who provide her food, shelter and clothing.

Modern Art

2010-09-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Below is a clip of K-bao at the canvas. We call her style "Vigorous Impressionism." As you can see, she takes a rather forceful approach with her strokes. At least we know that lack of boldness in execution of artistic vision won't be one of the criticisms of her work.