Stinson Beach

C-bao hit the beach this weekend for the first time in her young, privileged life. It was a blazing hot day and the single-lane mountain road was congested and horribly curvy.  Not too far into the trip, C-bao began to complain and several times along the way C-Mum threatened to commandeer the car and turn the family around.

Once the gang arrived though at Stinson Beach, the pain was forgotten and C-bao settled down to some serious sandplay and seagull watching.

Did a little sand end up in the tummy, not to mention diaper, somewhere along the way? Undoubtedly. But C-bao was too busy to notice.

Below she runs alongside of sister K-bao in the sand. More accurately, she kicked her legs and pumped her arms furiously while C-Pop carried her underarm like a football to help her keep pace.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to our sweet little C-bao!

Below is her humble birthday celebration with sister K-bao and a strawberry frosted cupcake. You can see C-bao rocking out to the Birthday song, leaning in to blow out the birthday candle (ultimately delegated to her older sister, of course), and finally taking a poop right as she makes her first wish.

Ab Smooch

Here is C-Mum getting in her abs workout with the help of little C-bao.

Squeeze It

As noted on these pages before, C-bao is not the most obliging eater, which generally makes the job of any unlucky fellow assigned the task of feeding her a rather trying experience.

Here she is using her remarkably strong little fingers to pulverize her food and scatter the crumbs, while being egged on in her mischievousness by sister K-bao.

Party

C-bao attended the 1st birthday party of her buddy Emily over the weekend, where she gorged on sumptuous Korean delicacies while being loud and rambunctious and drawing all sorts of unnecessary attention.

Here she is agreeing reluctantly to a Daddy-Daughter pic with the birthday gal and her Pops, all the while sporting her patented "Ostrich Tail" hairdo.

Reality

Here is little C-bao praising the Lord with C-Mum in Sunday School at RealitySF.

Actually, that was the aspirational reality; the real reality is that she spent her time jamming random toys and carpet fuzz in her mouth in between demanding to be held. Hopefully she gets more worshipful over time.

(Photo Credit: Gus Dizon)

Forward

Triumph!

At last, little C-bao has acquired the foundational skills to crawl forward (as opposed to backwards, which was her only achievement in this area to date).

The breakthrough appeared this weekend at Uncle Calvin's ("Xiao Jiu") sunny Sunnyvale apartment.

You can see older sister K-bao clapping and encouraging her through it - and setting up the tempting water bottles just out of reach to motivate her forward. C-bao is lucky to have a real cheerleader in her sib - who was more excited about the accomplishment than she was ("Yay!!! She did it!!!")

Tilden

Here is C-bao enjoying a day at Tilden Park with the C-folks and her sister K-bao. After watching her sister hand out some munchies to the greedy goats, she took her first steam train ride, which she thoroughly enjoyed. You can see her gurgling with delight below.

Jieh Jieh

Each morning after C-bao takes her milk and gets her diaper changed, she starts looking around for her sister K-bao. Indeed, her first two phrases have emerged over the course of the last week: "Jieh Jieh" (older sister) and "Da Da."

C-Pop and K-bao can't seem to agree which one came first; naturally, K-bao insists vehemently she started hearing the former ages ago.

By the way, C-Mum, who has been trying to elicit the "ma" or "mum" sound from little C-bao for some time to no avail, has taken the view that C-bao's "da da" is actually the Chinese phrase "beat down," rather than any paternal recognition.

The Silent Swinger

C-bao swings in a contemplative silence - largely because she can't see what's going on around her.



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Footstool

The C-folks have apparently not done a very good job with passing on strong Confucian values to the next generation. As you can see, the concepts of "parental respect" and "dutiful daughter" are about the last things on C-bao's mind.



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Pretzel

Another reason C-bao hates covering up her little hoofs is because it doesn't allow her to demonstrate her remarkably flexible and agile footsy moves. Here she demonstrates the "pretzel foot" - which involves twisting and turning her feet and toes in quick succession.

A Dip

"Hooray! Going swimming!"

"I like beach balls and I cannot lie."

"Less posing, more swimming."

"Not going as fast as I think we should be, for some reason." 

"I did great! Just like my sister K-bao."

Sock Conqueror

C-bao has a deep seated hatred of socks, shoes and any other paraphernalia that prevent her ten little sausages from seeing the light of day or inhibits easy foot-sampling.

Put anything over those hoofs and her 9-month old mind instantly dedicates all of its resources to finding a way to remove the articles, by hook or by crook.

And once she does, she celebrates by waving around the offending items like trophies of war (0:30 of the below) - or better yet, shoving them in her mouth to show them who's boss.

Umm

C-bao enjoys her Umm-Umm biscuit.



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Love Slap

Here is C-bao demonstrating affection for her sister (i.e. "Let me slap you as hard as I can").

Pod-oisseur

When it comes to her preferred snack / personal pacifier, C-bao has moved on from her hands to her feet.

As you can see below, she likes to juggle and massage the little puppies while orchestrating them like a maestro conductor. At one point she serenades them with a benevolent squeal.

In the second clip, she decides - coincidentally while she had baby jam all over her mouth - to bring the little babes up for closer inspection. She savors with all the expertise of a wine-taster - slowly sipping, aspirating, sniffing and swirling.

Princess & the Frog

C-bao gets hold of a slimy amphibian at the California Academy of Sciences. Here she is contemplating whether or not to pucker up for it (deciding of course, to go for it, though she mistook the feet for the lips).

Xiao Goo-Goo

Shortly after C-bao was finished being spoiled by the K-Grandfolks and Shu-Shu, Aunty Catherine (Xiao Goo-Goo) arrived to pick up where others left off.

Hallelujah! More hugs! More kisses!

Here is XG2 doing the Surprised Cuddle and the Patented Stroller Portrait.

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.

Bookworm

Little C-bao enjoys her literature. Eating it, that is.




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Path of Grace

C-bao gets a frontrow seat with the talented Shu-Shu (aka Uncle James). Mesmerized by Uncle James' silky voice and the excellent praise music ("Path of Grace" - written by our dear friend Grace Tseng of Streams of Praise), the little one nonetheless could only stay focused for thirty or so seconds before being distracted by her blue bumbo. Luckily, like the army captain he is, Shu-Shu would have none of it and called her attention back to where it belonged.

(Too) Much Love

The C-Grandfolks and Uncle James ("Shu-Shu") were here visiting from Taiwan over the last week.  Little C-bao took full advantage, soaking up the love like an ultra-absorbent diaper.

Every little smile elicited coos, fawning gazes and delighted chuckles. Every whimper or sneeze brought a concerned grandma or uncle to her side, tissue and baby blanket in hand, ready to comfort, wipe or hug, on demand. Camera phones were working on overdrive.

Let it be shown for the record that the additional attention from all these parties did indeed have an impact on the little one's behavior. A highly deleterious impact indeed.

Uncle

"Say 'Uncle'!"

Sock It

Tastes great! Less filling!



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Location:Sock it

Swing High

Daddy-daugher date at the park on a sunny Saturday. C-bao enjoys the swing at this age much like her sister.

Pincer

C-bao has learned that the "pincer grip" is the next developmental milestone for her, and she has been practicing liberally on the ears, neck, chin and lips of whomever is holding her.

The problem is that C-bao's little fingers pack surprising strength, and her naughty little maneuver delivers a genuinely unpleasant experience for her unlucky caretaker of the moment. And after much trial and error, she now knows this too, and will determinedly reach for one of her spots (usually an ear) and squeeze hard until she hears a satisfying squeal from the other end. At which point she will look innocently at said person before breaking into a coy smile.

Saturday

Chilling with sister K-bao and munching on Mr. Parrot on a lazy Saturday morning.




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When You're Having Fun

Time flies - C-bao is 7 months old! Here are small snippets of C-bao and older sister K-bao some videos taken during this time, inspired by Cesar Kuriyama's One Second Every Day.

Excited

C-bao is a squealer, particularly when she gets excited. Here she adds her ol' penguin flapping routine to demonstrate her enthusiasm.

Swing Low

C-bao got so comfortable swinging in the sun over at Alta Plaza park the other day that she dozed off. First time the C-folks have seen that happen, with any kid.



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Squeeze

Inspired by Russian Matryoshka dolls, the Hu girls - C-Mum and older sister K-bao - give C-bao a squeeze.

Glow

C-bao enjoys a post-bath glow.

Never mind the fact that C-Pop and C-Mum are not sharing in said glow as this bath is C-bao's second of the day, the earlier of which could be traced back to the same rancid reasons: the inexplicable strength of C-bao's bowel movements. This joyous force easily and consistently overwhelms the flimsy elastic bands of C-bao's diaper and inevitably ends up enriching her back, clothes, C-pop's hands and any other surfaces lucky enough to be nearby.

Incidentally, C-bao's post-bath glow increasingly gives C-Pop a "Sister K-bao" tingle - compare below.

Giggling with K-bao

While in the early stages of her life there was a significant adjustment period for baby C-bao to get used to the frequently loud and colorful antics of big sister K-bao, over the past month or two C-bao has not only acclimated to the noise, but actively looks for her sister whenever she wakes up.



Here she is thrown into a fit of uncontrollable giggling by her sister, who is doing nothing more than waving around a plastic bag filled with hair clips.

Bodes well for future babysitting duty for big sister K-bao!

Serious

"This is serious!" cried big sister K-bao.

"What's serious?" asked C-Pop.

"C-bao stuck her hand in my mouth!" Knowing that she still had the remnants of her cold and wasn't supposed to get her face too close to her sister (and failing to disclose that she had positioned her mouth right next to her baby sister's hand), K-bao exclaimed again, "This is serious!"

"When C-bao grows up, we have to tell her! Daddy, you have to remember! Tell her when she is three years old!" huffed and puffed K-bao.

C-Pop suggested that K-bao record the story of this malfeasance so that it would be documented properly, such that when C-bao reaches her third birthday she would learn of the seriousness of her transgression.