Bocce!

On a recent weekend trip to Uncle Calvin's for barbeque and cake, K-bao had her first exposure to Bocce Ball. It turns out Xiao Jiu's building complex has an outdoor bocce court with an artificial, mini-golf-like surface.

After dessert, of which K-bao had more than her fair share, we ventured out to the court and split into teams. K-bao got the rules quickly, and surprised everyone with her skills. In fact, despite a rather unorthodox bowling style, in 2 of the 3 games we played, K-bao delivered the closest ball to the jack of any contestant. All while playing in a flowy white dress.

Naturally, after hitting that kind of winning streak, it was hard to drag the little one off the court. ("Just one more game? Please? Anyone?")

Here is the beaming bocce ball winner.

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.

Fancy Nancy

K-Pop was strong-armed into playing the dreaded "Fancy Nancy" board game with K-bao.

As the game began, K-bao declared, "Whoever is the smallest gets to go first." This was said with such authority that K-Pop was initially stunned into silent submission.

After gathering his wits, K-Pop challenged this decree. K-bao promptly appealed to a higher authority. "That's what Mommy said. Go ask Mommy."

And that was only the beginning. As the game progressed, K-bao marched out a stunning array of rules, most of which just happened to benefit her position.

"It's [the spinner] stuck in the middle. Skip a turn!" "Give me that. You don't need it." "That's supposed to stay in the box."

Finally, K-Pop decided it was time to course-correct, and launched into a short lecture on the importance of love, respect and consideration, even in game-play.

At which point K-bao finally revealed her true colors. "Daddy, can you please just stop talking. I want to win!"


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