Mexico!

During the holidays, C-bao took a very special trip down to Mexico. She had been asked to be the flowergirl for C-Mum's cousin Stephen's wedding. Having done the flower girl thing before, this was old hat to her, and C-bao accepted the kind offer on the spot.

C-bao was all business at the airport, marching with purpose and a sense of destiny.

Except, of course, when she was hanging out with her cousins, which was most of the time. Here the kids react to a directive to "calm down and be quiet." (Cousin Justin was ill with a stomach bug and didn't join us until a couple of days later).

C-bao always loves hanging out with C-Grandmum, and walks with her hand-in-hand through the Mexico terminal.

The girls continued to be all smiles on the trip over to the hotel, despite the late hour (past midnight). Here they are in a hotel van, pretending not to be over-stimulated.

More to come!

Movies

C-bao had a Daddy-Daughters Date along with C-Pop and K-bao a few weeks ago, and went to see a movie in the theater. The movie was Sing, from the Illumination studio that also produced The Secret Life of Pets, Minions and other hits.

C-Pop had to admit: the movie was pretty good. Good themes, the right mix of humor and sadness, fantastic animation and sensational music. For music lovers out there and particularly fans of singing competition shows like The Voice, this one's a keeper, and not just for the kids.

C-bao and K-bao both loved it. Here is C-bao before the show starts, distracted by a preview.

Chinese New Year at School

During Chinese New Year, C-Pop and C-Mum stopped by C-bao's school to share with her class some of the cultural background behind Chinese New Year traditions.

To mark the occasion, C-bao wore a purple qipao, or classic form-fitting traditional Chinese dress.

C-Pop read a book about the Chinese zodiac, sharing the story behind the great race ordained by the Emperor, and why the Cat and the Rat are enemies to this day.

Here are a couple of clips from the session.

C-Mum made a traditional CNY fare -- dumplings, rice cake, oranges -- and brought it for the whole class to share. The red-bean paste rice cakes in particular were a big hit.

C-Mum also created an arts and crafts project, involving a do-it-yourself paper dragon, that occupied the class for a good hour-plus. The coloring and intricate cutting involved challenged the young 4-year-olds, and they were genuinely excited to be making a fairly real-looking dragon.

Finally -- and this was a stroke of genius on the part of C-Mum -- the C-folks brought red envelopes stuffed with chocolate coins, and little C-bao got to hand them out to the class. Talk about a dose of Santa power! C-bao's classmates fell all over themselves getting in line to get their chocolate coin.