Wibbly Wobbly

K-bao has started sashaying around on her own without having to hold on to anything. She's improved immensely over the past few days, but still looks under the influence when she ventures out there. We first got her to do it by putting bei-bei a few feet in front of her, as you can see below.

Security

K-bao has developed a very close relationship with her blankie (bei-bei in Chinese). It's to the point where she won't sleep without it, and at random points during the day may shout "Bei! Buh! Bay!" into the air until she locates it or we bring it to her.

Beyond the emotional attachment, blankie also serves as teething relief (K-bao stuffs it into her mouth at every opportunity and bites ferociously), a sign of her love to her parents (she offers bei-bei to K-Pop and K-Mum when she feels particularly generous; after a few seconds, of course, she'll snatch it back), and general object of distraction (whenever she is about to launch into a tantrum about, say, not being allowed to play with the electrical outlet, we'll holler "Where is bei-bei?" and she will immediately forget what she wanted and go looking around for it).

As you can imagine, bei-bei takes quite a beating around the house and generally doesn't smell the best, so it needs to go into the washer not infrequently. This creates some anxiety for the K-folks because we never know when she'll start to bellow "Bei!" and grow inconsolable (which has happened already). We've hunted around Babies R Us online - the original retailer - for backups but so far haven't had any luck. Bei-bei came as a gift, in a pair with a second blankie in a different shade, but K-bao won't settle for ugly sister Leah.

Of course, K-Mum blames K-Pop, whom she accuses of carrying around a security blanket through junior high - a claim K-Pop vigorously denies.

Uncle Xiao Jiu

K-bao is a fan of her Xiao Jiu - "Little Uncle," a.k.a. Uncle Calvin. It may be because of his gentle disposition or infinite patience, or it may be because he lets her abuse him.* It could also be because of his burly hands and capacious digits - she has shown an affection for hanging on to particular protuberances such as K-Pop's ears (while being carried around) and Xiao Jiu's index fingers (while eating or watching Barney).

Below are some shots of Xiao Jiu zooming our little Supergirl around on a cardboard box. Naturally, K-bao demanded repeated zooming until poor Uncle Calvin had built up a month's worth of lactic acid in those quadriceps.

* K-bao's capacity for cheerfully overtaxing her uncles is well documented, as Uncle Shu-Shu can attest.

Strum

K-bao exhibits here an early knack for the guitar and musical performance in general, including the applause piece at the end (self-given). Our kid also gives a lesson in percussive guitar, whereby she deftly uses both the strings and the wood to achieve an optimal sound (note the rhythmic pounding on the soundboard as well as the scraping along the frets and strings). There's even some less than tonal grunting and squawking in the background as K-bao attempts to contribute some vocal harmonies, though at this early stage the intonation and musical ear could use some refining.

Moral Dilemma

In the below video, K-bao has a tough choice before her. Should she do the right thing and share her cheese with K-Mum? But if she does, will there be any left for her? What does the Monterey Jack inventory supply look like??

On the other hand, if she doesn't share, K-Mum will be sad and perhaps hungry, and K-bao might be burdened with guilt - for issues ranging from hoarding and miserliness to ungratefulness and gluttony.

In a world of scarcity, with limited visibility into the supply chain, such a choice presents a moral quandary indeed. How will our little one navigate these tricky waters?

Well, what K-bao lacks in scruples she makes up for in imagination. Want to have your cheese and eat it too? The solution lies in a combination of deft hands and artful relationship management. To wit:

1. Offer the cheese to K-Mum.

2. Before she can actually accept it, pop it into your own mouth.

3. Then, apologize profusely (her sign for "sorry" is to cover her face in shame).

4. Hopefully, this preserves the relationship - "Hey, the offer was made, it's not my fault you were slow to react"; plus, there's an apology on the back end to smooth over any hurt feelings.

5. This also deals with any lingering guilt (so long as the contrition is genuine).

Very clever. But very alarming.

Vanity

K-Mum made the mistake a week ago of showing K-bao a couple of the video clips on her blog. K-bao obviously approved of the camera work, along with her own performances in those clips, because since that time she has been insistent on seeing the videos multiple times a day. In fact, she will proactively crawl over to the computer desk, tug on our pants (or bang on the floor) until she is lifted up to our lap, and then preemptively plant a few kisses on the cheek to encourages us to press play.

While the videos are on, she will alternatively (i) smile shyly, and (ii) reach out to the monitor, to get closer to her virtual self. Her early favorites are "Bribery" and "Can't Touch This." When one clip is done, she will beg for the next one by attempting to say More and signing please.

"More K-bao? You want to see more K-bao?"

"Mmmm, mmm!" (scratch, scratch)

Vanity, thou dost strike early.

Update: K-bao's second favorite video is now in fact the below video, which creates the eerie situation of K-bao watching K-bao watching K-bao. She doesn't appear to mind, however, the mind-bend.

Personality

K-bao's personality is rounding into view.

(1) Curious and stubborn: during her bath, K-Pop probably forcibly sits her down in the tub 25 times, only to have K-bao, by hook or by crook, pull herself back up each time to a standing position so she can get a closer look at the faucet handle.

(2) However, willing to trade if she sees a deal: e.g. kiss for cheese.

(3) Sophisticatedly aloof: not one to pawn over anyone, she waits for the attention to come to her. When Daddy first comes home she even pretends to look away for a little bit.

(4) But knows who she likes and trusts. We tried to leave her with a babysitter once - turned into World War III. On the other hand, she was perfectly happy to hang out with Uncle Calvin, though she only had seen him once before as a baby.

(5) Also knows what she wants, and is quite loud about it: When offered a choice between two books at night, she will slap her choice (usually the larger, longer one) strongly and clearly. K-Pop tried to go with the other one once and was loudly chastised for it.

My guess now would be INFP.