Inspired

Little K-bao came running over to read a poem, with little C-bao running behind her, trying to get in front. Public dispute ensued.

C-bao: "You copied me!"

K-bao: "I did NOT copy you!"

C-bao: "Yes you did! I inspired you. I'm like Gandhi, you're like Martin Luther King."

Yes, she really pulled out the Gandhi comparison. At not even six years old. 

Blessed are the Peacemakers

C-bao overheard a little tiff between C-Pop and C-Mum this afternoon.

Later, while C-Pop was in another room, she ran over with the following message:

"Daddy, you should say sorry to Mommy, and then she'll forgive you, and then that will be the end of the fight!"

"Um...ok, C-bao. But Daddy has to have something to be sorry for, right?"

"Well you accidentally changed your schedule and now Mommy has to go to Taiwan and she was like 'What the heck?' and so you should say sorry!" That wasn't really it, but it was too cute to really argue with.

Before C-Pop knew it, she had run off to the kitchen.

"Mommy, you should forgive Daddy, because Jesus forgives!" she exclaimed to C-Mum.

"You little peacemaker, you!" smiled C-Mum.

C-bao was back in no time, tugging on C-Pop's hand. "Come on Daddy, Mommy said she'll forgive you! Come on, just say sorry! Please, Dad, just say it! But you have to mean it."

Before the adults really knew what happened, C-Pop was in the kitchen apologizing to C-Mum.

Another day in C-bao's world as the peacemaker of the house!

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

Amazingly, C-bao is coming to the end of her year in the Rainbow Dolphin class at her school, and in celebration of a great year her class put together a spring musical.

The musical was Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, and C-bao was assigned an important role as one of the Gardeners.

By the way, C-Mum astutely noticed that the key sign with the show name had a number of, um, "autographs" repeated several times in 3 or 4 places on the sign.

Here the performers enter the outdoor stage area, to great fanfare and applause.



Here are a couple of snippets of the story narration and accompanying songs.


Both C-Pop and C-Mum attended the show, and  Aunt Christina cut short her workday and came all the way up from South San Francisco to catch little C-bao in action. Aunt Christina brought a nice flower for our star performer.

Smart But Not Wise

Conversation C-Pop just had with C-bao:

C-bao: Daddy, King Solomon was the smartest king, right?
C-Pop: Well, he was supposedly the wisest.
C-bao: What's the difference between "smart" and "wise?"
C-Pop: Um...Wisdom is being able to make good decisions and having judgment. Smart is being able to understanding problems and complicated things.
C-bao: I'm smart but I'm not wise.
C-Pop: Hey -- you're right about that! How did you know that?
C-bao: And that makes me a little wise, right?
C-Pop: By George, yes it does!

Parties

C-bao was at a couple of birthday parties in January with her buddies from the Rainbow Dolphins, her class at preschool. This is the age where the birthday parties still involve everyone from class -- which is fun for the kids, but obviously a load for all parents of 4-year old birthday boys and girls.

At one party, the facility had some nice basketball rims. C-bao's immediate instinct was to dunk on them, something C-Pop heartily approved of.

In the other there were some climbing walls, and C-bao made it all the way up without assistance. All of her monkey bar work at school has strengthened those forearms nicely.

She also got to try a zip line. Frankly she could have done it without the assistance, especially as it was only a couple of feet off the ground.

Much of the time though was spent running around chasing her friends and vice versa, which was just fine with our little one.

Sun & Sweets

C-bao absolutely loved her time in Mexico. Then again, with endless amounts of good food, sun, swimming and family all around, what was there not to love?

Here are a few moments in the sun with her various family members, including sister K-bao, her cousins J-Cuz and K-K, and various uncles and aunties.

While C-bao hasn't fully embraced the water, she enjoys splashing around, as long as she is safely sitting on the stair or C-Pop is around to hold her.

Of course, the best part of it was the unlimited dessert!

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. 

A Note

Today was C-bao's first day back at school after an extended holiday with the family, and our little one had a tough time with morning goodbyes.

C-Pop had to make multiple promises involving early pickups, snacks and sundry other bribes, which together with a series of minor threats ultimately convinced C-bao to stay in her classroom, but not without a few tears.

When C-Pop went to pick up C-bao at the end of the day, she had apparently just finished dictating the below letter, which Teacher Soara had jotted down for her.

A heart-warming (and slightly heart-breaking) note. The plants referred to in the last sentence were little beansprouts that C-bao has recently grown in a plastic bag with the help of moist soil and sunlight, which she proceeded to show C-pop enthusiastically.

As we departed, C-bao also collected from her cubby a large swath of cards and papers, amidst which C-Pop found the below, written at some point in the recent past. To the delight of the C-folks, an ever-expressive C-bao has now taken to putting her sentiments regularly down on paper.

Hopefully the beginning of a series of lovely notes which undoubtedly over the teenage years will morph into printed complaints about how the C-folks are the strictest and meanest parents in the world. Well, enjoy it while you can, C-folks.

Year 2

This has been a very productive Year 2 for C-bao in preschool. While her school's approach is definitely play-based, we've noticed our little one making significant progress both socially as well as in specific cognitive and academic areas (such as sums and subtraction through 20, which C-Pop regularly tests her on).

She has also started to find her voice, and now has a steady group of friends who she hangs out with (though, troublingly, still mostly boys!).

One activity she has hugely enjoyed is hands on cooking. Here she makes a grubby little pizza with three friends.

She also has progressed a ton in terms of physical strength and agility. Her climbing and particularly her monkey bars -- an area her sister has always excelled at which in turn has inspired C-bao's determination -- have been highlights.

Cleats

Lace them up! C-bao has started her first soccer session.

C-Mum made sure the little one looked the part, replete with headband, high socks, shin guards and cleats.

While C-bao was a bit slow to warm to the activity, before we knew it she had jumped in and was following the ball around with enthusiasm.

In fact she would have made some good progress downfield in the below video if, um, her own sister K-bao hadn't played such zealous defense.

Costco

C-bao enjoys going to Costco, largely for the free samples and the opportunity to clown around.

Here she is trying to determine whose breath smells worse, hers or her sister's. (Answer: Both equally bad)

Pixie Dust

Following C-bao's summer trip to Taiwan, grandparents C-Grandmum and C-Grandpop made a trip to San Francisco this fall. As usual, little C-bao was showered with that special pixie dust that is found nowhere else in the universe: a grandparent's love.

In response, C-bao felt compelled to create a little message for her C-Grandfolks.  "How do you spell 'love'?" she whispered to C-Pop morning. Then she ran into the study and reappeared with the below sign.

Not to be outdone, C-Grandpop got in his fair share of hugs and kisses as well.

Food Trucks

While picking up sister K-bao from soccer the other day, C-bao stopped by the food trucks by the Presidio.

Pre-food excitement

Unfortunately, while she was quite excited at the prospect of the food she saw, the actual taste left her very disappointed. 

Snap

C-bao has been introduced, at a very young age, to Snapchat. Yes, the always trendy Aunt Christina (a.k.a. Xiao Ah-Yi) showed up the other night and introduced the nifty face swapping features of the popular Millennial app. Needless to say, the girls were very entertained.

Service Please

O to be young, carefree, and have your hair dried gently blow-dried while you leisurely read a picture book! Such is the blessed existence our young C-bao enjoys.

In fact she is so used to her pampering that following her shower (after which she naturally raises her arms to be dried off and carried to her room), she goes immediately to pick out a couple of books and then wordlessly plops herself in C-pop's lap, with no further direction needed.