Xiao Goo-Goo

Aunty Catherine (Xiao Goo-Goo) recently visited K-bao for a week from Singapore, and experienced the full gamut of K-bao activities including feeding, diaper-changing, strolling along the Embarcadero, and general clowning about to keep the little one entertained. K-bao took quickly to her little aunty and consented to being fed, read to and held by Xiao Goo-Goo.





By the way, after any picture or video is taken of our little one, K-bao insists on reviewing the camera work herself to make sure it passes muster and doesn't - God forbid - portray her in an unflattering light. Here, after posing for a pic, she is demanding that Xiao Goo-Goo preview the images with her before they get uploaded or published. We've all quickly learned that K-bao insists on tight editorial control - she has no qualms about reaching out and pressing the Delete button.

Bullfighting

Knowing her passion for her bei-bei, Uncle Calvin discovered this little trick to keep K-bao entertained. After showing us his discovery, he noted "There's a lot more mileage on this one." And indeed, we've used it almost daily to get some giggles from the little one.

Grandfolks Hu

Grandfolks Hu visited K-bao from Taiwan recently (Aunty Catherine - Xiao Goo Goo - was here as well from Singapore, as will be chronicled separately). With three additional pairs of arms ready to spoil her, K-bao took full advantage of the situation, running from one person to the next for attention and love and generally acting like a brat. Here you can see her snatching the camera from Grandma, refusing to sit still for a picture, introducing her bei-bei to Grandpa, muscling the shakers away and asking for a tummy rub. Grandfolks Hu took it in stride and treated little K-bao like a princess, which of course didn't help the situation.

Prowl

K-bao demonstrates her feline instincts below.

Good Eats

One of K-bao's favorite restaurants is Everyday Beijing in San Mateo, a wonderful and down-to-earth assemblage of culinary delights of the noodle and dumpling variety.

Here is K-bao perusing the menu and then placing her order with her parents.

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.