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"Um, K-bao, what are you doing to your sister?" inquired C-Pop.

"Oh, nothing," replied sister K-bao innocently.

Little did C-bao know that her sister had laid her out like a roast suckling, about to be braised in a high-temperature oven.

When confronted, K-bao insisted somewhat unconvincingly that that wasn't on her mind. Nor was she offering up any type of propitiatory sacrifice. Just to assuage us, K-bao arranged the various fruits quickly on the ground and hopped in herself. "See, Dad? No big deal."

Hugs & Sun Cakes

One of the key bonding moments on the C-Grandfolks' recent visit was when C-bao discovered the dessert that her grandfolks had brought from Taiwan: sun cakes (太陽餅).

Indeed, C-Grandpop and C-Grandmum, on the day before they left Taipei, had made a special trip out to buy several boxes of the sweet, flaky treat for their grandchildren.

"我想要吃太陽餅!" became the constant refrain around the house the minute C-bao had tasted it.

"Of course!" shouted the C-Grandfolks enthusiastically each time. Naturally, many contented hugs followed thereafter. 

Grandfolks

"I said, 'Ice-cream!'"

The C-Grandfolks are here! After getting to see her grandparents in Singapore at Aunt Catherine's wedding in November, C-bao is being treated with a visit by her grandfolks here in San Francisco.

With C-Grandmum in the sun at Golden Gate Park

The C-Grandfolks enjoy going for long walks, so have accompanied C-bao on her daily constitutionals.

Below C-bao enacts her best lion character with C-Grandmum as the poor zebra (drawing particular inspiration from her recent viewing of The Lion King), pouncing and roaring until C-Grandmum throws up the white flag.

Conversational

As readers of this blog know, little C-bao is a chatty 2 year old. She loves querying and opining, probing and interrogating. Here she is having a wide-ranging conversation with C-Pop about brushing her teeth, the Big Bad Wolf, the relative strength of various building materials, her health, the English and Chinese translations of different words and sundry other topics. C-Pop had to cut this video off after close to ten minutes, as this little one can sit and talk much longer than the recording capacity of any of C-Pop's devices.

Potty Joke

"It's hard for anyone to make me laugh," said sister K-bao last night in the car, with a serious but proud face.

A few seconds later the following conversation took place.

C-bao: "Where are we going?"
C-Mum: "To a party, C-bao. Remember I told you? Sister K-bao's friend is having a party."
C-bao: "Pah-tee?"
C-Mum: Yes.
C-bao: (Pause)..."Why are we going to the bathroom?"
K-bao: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up. 

Well Parked

C-bao is a park aficionado. Park-hopper, one might call her. She is well acquainted with all of the major recreational areas in San Francisco, and rotates among them regularly.

Metal slides, plastic slides, Golden Gate's stone slide - she's tried them all. Wooden structures, rubber structures, stainless steel - C-bao's an equal opportunity climber, though her temperament is naturally cautious and she usually takes her time getting to know the potential pitfalls.

However, she is at the stage where she naturally wants to do everything herself, and can get quite frustrated when an unwelcome helping hand is thrust in her direction. "I do myself!" she might even exclaim in fobby English. If that's not properly complied with, "我要自己來!" comes quickly next. Don't you understand English, Pop??

Hike

C-bao enjoyed a hike with the family and Uncle Calvin (Jiu Jiu) last weekend at Mount Davidson Park.

Despite looking like she couldn't care less in the above pics, she actually enjoyed herself - largely because, instead of having to exert any energy, she was carted around like royalty in a special hiking backpack pretty much the entire way.

She also has been spending some extra time these days with Jiu Jiu, who has always been held in high regard by the little one. Notice the affection below.

C-Pop was also able to take some nice shots with the girls.

"Smile softly and carry a big stick"

Chitchat

Little C-bao, at 2.5, has become quite the conversationalist. Pick the topic - life, love other mysteries - and C-bao has an opinion.

Sister K-bao is a bit of a chatterbox herself, and together the two of them can go on endlessly.

Below is a snippet caught at the park of the two girls chatting it up. At one point, K-bao has to remind C-bao to let her finish before adding her own perspective.

A bit later on the walk the two girls discuss (1) who is "big" (concluding that they are big and C-Pop and C-Mum are small); (2) who their favorites are (C-bao singles out Uncle Calvin, a.k.a. Xiao Jiu, while K-bao includes a broader swath of the extended family, during which time C-bao reminds her sister not to leave out WZ Shu-Shu); (3) avoiding water on the ground, and sundry other topics.

2015

C-bao wishes everyone love, joy and peace in 2015! Happy new year all!

"Progress is everyone's business"

Let's move forward in 2015!

K-Cuz

C-bao is hanging out with her cuz Kaitlyn this week (a.k.a. K-K). Born only a few days apart, the two have plenty in common, not the least of which is each having a "strong Chinese woman" as a mum. Check out these pics from a couple years ago...my how time has flown by.

Going for our daily constitutional

The two are at a point where they can do more than parallel play, and have already spent plenty of time this week teasing, testing and hugging one another.

Come here, you little rascal you

 They have also had plenty of affection from anyone standing nearby.

In the loving arms of C-Grandmum

Uncles everywhere!

Christmas

After all that traveling, young C-bao is all traveled-out and is staying put these holidays. Instead, her other C-Grandmum and C-Grandpops, along with C-Great-Grandmum, have come up from LA to see her and other family members in the Bay area.

That, of course, means that young C-bao is feasting and partying like royalty. Her very first meal with C-Grandmum looked like this:

Not quite feeding the 5,000, but close

Indeed, C-bao couldn't get enough of those green onion pancakes (at the bottom left hand corner of the picture), and helped herself repeatedly to those slices throughout the evening.

After she had finally had her fill, naturally she was ready for play. C-Grandmum was more than happy to oblige, zooming her around on the new scooter that Cousin Justin had received as a Christmas gift.

Who needs a helmet when I've got loving arms on all sides?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Flower Girl

And here it is! The culmination of all of the rehearsing and dressing up, jet lag and thousands of miles across the Pacific.

As noted in the last post, the wedding ceremony was held at the Chijmes, a historic building complex in Singapore, on a beautiful Sunday morning.

C-bao makes her first appearance at 3:19 in the video, and her entrance into the hall at 3:35 (after a quick pep talk by C-Mum). While she hung on pretty tightly to those petals, and accelerated down the aisle particularly after the midway point, overall she looked quite comfortable with all of the attention.

The C-folks were very proud of her performance. Sister K-bao and Cousin Elizabeth were also magnificent.

Rehearsing

"Practice makes progress!" chimes sister K-bao often, and C-bao took the advice to heart recently in Singapore, practicing her Flower Girl routine at the wedding hall (coincidentally named Chijmes) ahead of the big day.

In her first attempt, she was asked to hold the hand of another young toddler, a nephew of WZ Shu-Shu (Uncle Zech) who would be bearing the rings. C-Mum comes alongside and gives detailed instructions, while WZ Shu-Shu encourages sister K-bao to manage the pace.

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Cute as he was, the handholding clearly impeded C-bao's petal disposal motion, so in her second try she walked alone, leading the young procession down the aisle. This would end up being the winning combination, and on the actual wedding day C-bao was in fact the very first person the audience turned to see. Fame!

Jackpot

One of the big bonanzas for C-bao on this trip was the opportunity to don a little make-up. Already a young lover of all things fashion-related - who attempts to over-apply lotion and lip balm at every opportunity - the possibility of adding a little rouge and perhaps a touch of foundation was almost too much for our little one's young heart to handle.

C-Grandmum

C-bao got to spend some time with her beloved grandparents on this trip, particularly C-Grandmum.

Here she is with C-Grandmum on a trip to Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, which besides being filled with beautiful flowers, was - Hallelujah! - fantastically air-conditioned.

Here she is pointing out something perplexing to C-Grandmum and asking for some clarification.

HB to Uncle James

The first order of business on this Asia trip was, of course, to wish Shu-Shu a.k.a. Uncle James a very Happy Birthday.

Both K-bao and C-bao are big fans of Shu-Shu. "Is Shu-Shu going to be there?" is usually the first one or two questions the girls ask when told of an impending family gathering.

So it was no surprise that they elbowed each other out of the way in their eagerness to serenade their uncle. C-bao in particular was aggressive about singing alone to make sure her voice was heard.

Go East Young Girl

C-bao has made the 2nd major international trip of her short 2.5 years, this time to play an important role as Flower Girl at the Singapore wedding nuptials of Xiao Goo-Goo (Aunt Catherine) and Wen Zhen Shu-Shu (recall the immodest "dress rehearsal" a couple months back).

A very full and busy trip from which C-bao has just returned. Below are few pics of the first 24 hours of the 10-day trip: 

Knocked out, with feet firmly planted on C-Pop. On the first leg to HK

Moving all these suitcases C-Mum packed is a family affair

Arrived! At the hotel

First real meal in Singapore. Yes - pizza

More to come!

Reading Time

On a quiet Sunday, C-bao waits patiently with her sister K-bao for the C-folks to get ready for church. The sisters pass the time by reading Dr. Seuss.

Unable quiet yet to make out any words, or frankly to speak any English, C-bao nonetheless gamely mumbles aloud a string of random syllables she hopes sounds vaguely like English while she checks out the colorful pics.

Soon will the come the day - not too far off, we hope! - when the two sisters will sit side by side, engrossed in Judy Bloom, Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl, and then C.S. Lewis,  J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien and many others. Magical times await.

Bounce

C-bao jumps on the buggy bouncer at the park with sister K-bao. Predictably, craziness and some head-bumping ensue.

Secret Plan

The following conversation took place just now, while C-bao sat on the potty.

C-Pop: C-bao, 爸爸今天晚上要带你们去吃 pizza (Daddy is going to take you to eat some pizza tonight, Cbao)

After a moment of silence...

C-bao: 我在想一个东西, 爸爸 (I am thinking about something, Daddy)
C-Pop: 什么? (What is it?)
C-bao: 阴谋! (A secret plan!)
C-Pop: 阴谋? 什么阴谋? (A secret plan? What secret plan?)
C-bao: 妹妹吃大的 pizza, 姐姐吃小的 pizza! (Little Sister will eat a big pizza, and Big Sister will each a little pizza!)
C-Pop: ......

Not quite two and a half, and already hatching grand conspiracies.

Zoo

C-bao, an animal lover, chats about her planned trip to the zoo. She was particularly excited to see the baby giraffe, and clearly has an affinity for the lions as well. Notice the well-practiced roar.

Trick or Treat

#Nonconformist

C-bao fights the social currents of our times, deciding to dress up as Anna, not Elsa, this Halloween.

Below she stops by C-Pop's office for the first Trick or Treat outing of her young 2-year-old life. At first, she was hesitant, even suspicious, of the gratuitous outpouring of candy. "All these treats for free? Is this a trick?"

"But I thought you said not to take things from strangers, Daddy"

The skepticism did not last long. The pragmatist in C-bao soon took over. Before we knew it, she was taking not one, not two, but three or more pieces of candy from whatever candy jar was in front of her, and transferring them as quick as possible to her little pumpkin bag. Clearly a little capitalist in the making!

Beach rides

C-Pop took the little one for a stroll on the beach this weekend. The sun had just burned away the clouds and the sky was a perfect blue when we snapped the pic below.

C-bao enjoyed watching the waves and seagulls, and commented on many a passing dog frolicking by the water (typically on their size and color).

She also made C-Pop do a number of windsprints, while being carried in his arms like royalty. "Faster! Faster!" she hollered, egging on C-Pop much as an equestrian might urge on a steed. It turns out these Daddy-Daughter dates provide quite a bit more exercise than C-Pop might otherwise expect.

Fashionista

 

If there's one person who loves clothes more than K-bao, it would be C-bao. Put a fashionable dress in front of our 2-year old and she lights up like a Christmas tree. "O thank you!" she will proclaim, and rush to embrace her benefactor (typically C-Mum. Ok, always C-Mum).

Here she is trying out some new threads for some upcoming big events. Sister K-bao was sporting some new attire as well and the two sisters strutted around our home like proud peacocks.