Vicissitudes

K-bao's days comprise of a series of mini booms and busts - shrieks of joy turning to tears of desperation and anguish in seconds, only to return to mischievous giggles a moment later. Such is the life of the emotionally (over)expressive 4-year old.

Today, her highs included (i) snuggling with her (sometimes reluctant) sister in the morning; (ii) taking a queen off of K-Pop in a morning game of chess (which led to shouts of acclamation and the triumphant play-by-play for K-Mum, immediately); and (iii) a thoroughly enjoyable birthday party this afternoon for one of her SLS friends, where she overindulged on cake, pizza and tattoos. K-bao is such an epicurean that at one point she was quite content to sit alone in a room savoring her last bites of cake while her friends dashed off to play - because, doggone it, she was not going to be rushed from her treats.

Her lows included (i) being deprived of additional sweets (i.e. being forced to hand over the madeleine she brought home from the party to K-Pop); (ii) getting a queen taken by K-Pop in an afternoon game of chess (where K-Pop's refusal to allow her to take back her move elicited a complete meltdown); and (iii) K-Mum deciding to skip the bedtime story and threatening to withhold a good night hug given her delay in getting to bed on time.

So in short, snuggles, sweets and success (in chess) - these are the ebbs and flows of our little one, circa 2013. We'll see what the next few decades bring.

Milestones

K-bao is reaching new milestones every week now. Below is a quick run-down of some recent developments:

1. She can now sit up by herself for a few seconds at a time. The three things preventing her from doing more than a few seconds are: (i) a tendency to lunge for whatever is in view, whether it be a book, Mr. Caterpillar, her toes, etc. - the effort generally causes her to topple over; (ii) we've let her fall backwards a few times on the bed, and lo and behold she enjoyed the sensation, so if she isn't lunging forward she is gleefully falling backwards - a dangerous habit; (iii) her unusually large crop of hair, which we conjecture causes her to lose balance frequently.

2. She is now eating solids. K-Mum has introduced oatmeal, sweet potatoes, pears and avocados, all of which were big hits. Her favorite activity is now sitting in the high chair, savoring the sweet goodness that appears in her mouth, and banging on her little tray like a street drummer if we don't shovel the grub in fast enough.

3. She is now, for the most part, sleeping through most of the night. We've been through one round of "Gotcha" with her on this issue several months back, so we're not celebrating too early. And yet...Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! God is good!

4. She has entered the stranger anxiety phase, and that includes kids. A few weeks ago we visited our good friends in Oakland, who have a baby girl several months older. Granted, K-bao was outweighed 2-1 (her parents called their kid "the gentle giant"), but from the moment little K entered the house and saw who she was dealing with, she started looking for an escape hatch. I'm afraid we have a little 'Fraidy Cat on our hands.

5. She is now flipping over regularly, back to front, and occasionally front to back. When we check on her in the middle of her night we generally find her on the opposite end of the crib to where we placed her, face down, with her blankies swaddled about her neck or feet, one foot dangling in between the crib slats.

6. And finally, if this were possible, she has developed an even louder complaining voice. If she ain't happy, everyone darned well better know it. That means everyone in the library. Everyone in Safeway. Not quite everyone in Costco just yet, thank goodness.

Hungry

K-Mum and K-Pop strolled over to the Ferry Building for breakfast today at the farmer's market, where we ran into Stevie Wonder and Roy, who were on their morning constitutional. Here she is sporting her nice shades en route, and again taking in the various colors and smells among the many overpriced food, wine and coffee stores there. K-bao drooled and smacked her lips enviously while she watched us eat our fresh pastries.

Now, it may be that all babies are obsessed with food at this age - what else do they have to think about? - but we are getting the sense that little K is ready to take it to the next level. During the week, when K-Mum sets her down so she can have a bite to eat herself, K-bao invariably fixes her eyes on whatever Mommy's nibbling on and follows it from hand to mouth.


Often the look of envy turns shortly to righteous indignation - "where's mine?? where is the justice in this world??" - and enraged cries ensue. Or if we've delayed a bit in her feeding schedule, put anything near her cheek and she'll remind us of this feisty little fella. Or she'll cram in as many fingers as her little mouth will allow and stare at us defiantly. Now, while K-Pop certainly likes fat babies (and is a big fan of Phat Babies too), little K is almost one stone and has already caused K-Mum some painful wrist tendinitus. And of course, the more goes in, the more comes out (a subject we've had the occasion to dwell on many a time already). While hithertofore K-Pop's mantra has been "eat, baby, eat" - given her already well developed gastronimist tendencies, and her fast growing cheeks, let's just say K-Pop no longer feels so compelled to urge K-Mum to do the extra feeding session.