Boys

Over the last couple of months, C-bao has begun mentioning the names of some of her best friends at preschool. What struck C-Pop right away was that the list was comprised of ALL BOYS. This observation did not fill C-Pop with any warm fuzzies.

"Let me show you how to use that, my lady"

Now, some of the little tots in C-bao's class have always been quite friendly to our little girl, and in the beginning of the school year, when C-bao was first getting adjusted to a new environment and needing new friends, all of that was fine and good. Perhaps even welcome. Indeed, one or two little tykes even insisted on calling her "cutie" and giving her a hug when she left school each day.

"Surely a quick tap-dance isn't too much to ask?"

Things are different now. C-bao has settled in nicely. She seems to enjoy the learning environment and is comfortable with her surroundings. These days, C-Pop has begun to look askance at the various chummy overtures and overly affectionate gestures of those little chicos.

"And swing your partner 'round and 'round!"

 Just what exactly are they up to? What are their intentions? C-Pop found himself asking.

"My intentions? Um, a game of high five"

All this, of course, was accentuated by the parent-teacher conference today, during which C-Pop and C-Mum were shown various "cute" pictures of our little girl "having fun" at school (some of which are posted herein) - virtually always in the close companionship of some little pipsqueak or another.

Wait...WHAT???

And to think, all of this is just beginning. We've got twenty five or so more years to go, maybe more! C-Pop can feel his blood pressure rising just thinking about it. 

Cold Day at the Beach

About a month ago, C-bao took a rare trip to the beaches by San Francisco's Outer Richmond district, near the Cliff House. The day was chilly but sunny, and various intrepid souls were kitesurfing and frolicking among the waves. C-bao and her sister K-bao were not among them. They did, however, have a plenty good time digging in the sand, singing in the wind, and otherwise running around creating havoc.

Here C-bao needs some help with her attire:

Next, she does her Feraba African tap-dance to express her joy:

Finally she celebrates the completion of her muddy ditch.

Dancing on Water

C-bao grooves to her Aunt Catherine & Uncle James' iconic song Running on Water.

All moves self-taught (including the floor sprawl).

The "elbow freeze" is particularly inspired.

Lion Dance

We've had six straight posts about singing and dancing - why not another one? Last weekend after lunch in the Sunset, C-bao and sister K-bao stumbled across a Chinese Lion Dance in the streets and quickly decided to join in.

Feel that rhythm!

Rambunctious

If it isn't clear by now, C-bao is into singing and dancing. Any song will do - she will happily join in even if she's never heard it before. And if she doesn't have a tune on hand, she's happy to make something up (as she does in the video below), and choreograph it herself to boot.

As to what she is actually saying in the video below? No one will ever know.

Jig

On a recent visit to C-Grandmum's home in Los Angeles, the two sisters perform a little dance to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off, which somehow infiltrated the family song list recently.

C-bao bunny hops vigorously in the back, providing some solid complementary moves to sister K-bao's boogieing.

Party Crasher

One of the great perks of being a younger sister is having access to a ton of parties that you aren't even formally invited to, but get to attend by virtue of association.

Just this past weekend, for example, C-bao found herself stuffing her face with ice cream...

...splashing around at a pool party in Napa...

...running around crazily on a trampoline at said pool party in Napa...



...mixing it up with the older kids to "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift...



...all at birthday parties of her sister K-bao's various friends.

Furthermore, at each such party, she typically gets a ton of attention from the older girls (and their moms), who all recognize her now and treat her like a little cute puppy.

As if that were not enough, C-bao generally walks away from these parties with plenty of swag. Today, for example, she snagged both a balloon and a sizeable bag of candy (which included candies given to her by older girls who felt sorry for the fact that she wasn't quite big enough to snatch up candies when they were scattered from the pinata).

Pretty good life, we'd say!

Fillmore Jazz

Aunt Carol's family was in town over the independence holiday, and after church on Sunday C-bao took her cousins Justin and K-K to the Fillmore Jazz Festival.

The largest free jazz festival on the West coast, the Fillmore Jazz Festival routinely draws 100,000 visitors. Legendary Fillmore Street is entirely shut down to traffic, and music lovers pack the road and listen to the latest jazz beats from the California Jazz Conservatory Ensemble, Kim Nalley, Blue Grazz, Jungle Biskit, Native Elements and many others.

This was C-bao's first exposure to live jazz, and she grooved it. Couldn't stop moving her feet. Below you can see C-bao bringing out the Feraba African tap dance routine, with sister K-bao jumping in on the action as well, followed shortly by Cousin K-K.

Negotiating an extra bite of froyo from C-Mum

Sister K-bao with her well-rehearsed "Studied Indifference" look

Music Class

One thing C-bao has learned to LOVE is her weekly music class down by the Creativity Museum downtown.

C-Pop got a glimpse over the past weekend when C-bao decided to stop by to check out the Saturday class. While it wasn't her usual weekday routine, and her favorite teacher, "Ms. Mo," wasn't present, she still managed to get a good session out of it - drumming, singing, clapping and throwing colorful handkerchiefs.

While she was at it, she also ran upstairs to show C-Pop the karaoke machine. Along with sister K-bao, she tried out both the Lion King's Be Prepared - which she was totally unprepared to sing - as well as the always popular and entirely overdone Let It Go.

Clownin'

Visiting the home of Aunt Carol (a.k.a. Da Ah-yi) in Redding, recently, C-bao brought out her inner entertainer. As you can see, she has clearly perfected the Arm Roll dance move.


Later, she showed off her book-balancing skills - as well as her ability to appreciate her own talents - while Cousin Kaitlyn and the family look on.

Gangnam

C-bao's all-time favorite video of her scant two years on earth thus far is a clip of an Asian mother and son duo hip-hop dancing on the Ellen Degeneres show, set to Gangnam Style.

Concededly, she's gotten into the song a little bit past its peak popularity - but she has more than made up for any lost cycles through her intensity. She can watch this clip on the iPad or computer a dozen times in a row.

While not quite able to articulate exactly what this video is, she has always been able to communicate precisely what she wants by coming up to C-Pop with a big smile on her face, stomping her feet (in imitation of Psy's horse-riding dance), and then climbing into his lap. In the below video she also tries to say "se- se- se- sexy lady!" to make sure C-Pop gets it. This is now a daily routine for the little one.

Rosie

C-bao, like her sister, loves to both sing and dance. Here she performs Ring Around the Rosie, one of the many rhymes in her repertoire, with sister K-bao.

Princess

C-bao dons her princess outfit - courtesy of sister K-bao - and is swept up in a dance by C-Pop (who appears to be king only by virtue of his paternal association with C-bao and her sister - certainly not in evidence by his sphere of influence).

No one wants to be thinking of the hopefully long-ways-off and very far away wedding banquet dance, but these are the moments that remind C-Pop of how fleeting time is.

Slow Twirl

Here is C-bao enjoying a little music that her Aunt Catherine and Uncle James recorded, as posted previously here.

She's heard the song enough times now to chime in on the last word of each line.

When asked to dance these days C-bao generally breaks into her patented 2-Way Slow Twirl  (where she spins first counter-clockwise and then clockwise), as can be seen beginning at 0:55. Of course, she then gets dizzy enough to need to be held afterwards.

You Lift Me Up

For most of her life C-bao has had to tolerate being suddenly lifted into the air by her older sister K-bao and swung around like a rag doll.

Occasionally, C-Pop is an accomplice, singing along to give K-bao a rhythm to swing to. The song below is the old Taiwanese folk tune GeGeBaBa, which K-bao learned at a young age herself.

Singing with Grandma

Grandma's in town! Here is C-bao learning a tune and some moves from C-Grandmum.

The Motorcycle

C-bao has patented a new dance move - "The Motorcycle" - where she twists her hands as if she's revving the handlebar accelerator of a bike. Here she can't help but break into it as older sister K-bao does the "C-bao Chant." Afterwards, she gives herself a round of applause.

Group Dance

Below C-bao and C-Pop enjoy a moment dancing.

Sister K-bao, who is never one to sit on the sidelines, then joins in rather forcefully.

While initially startled, C-bao resumes smiling quickly; she has quickly gotten used to the (forcefully) affectionate ways of her older sister.