Filial Piety

C-bao heard that her mum is suffering from a stiff neck and shoulders, so like a good filial daughter she immediately gets to work rolling out those knots.

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.

His praise

While C-Pop was away on a business trip recently, the girls gathered for their nightly scripture reading. The memorization verse of the week was Psalm 34:1, and both K-bao and C-Mum handled the English version from memory with aplomb: "I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips."

When it came to the Chinese version though, K-bao recited the first half ( "我 要 時 時 稱 頌 耶 和 華...") but then got stuck. C-Mum was similarly perplexed. Mother and daughter looked at each other blankly. 

Suddenly, the littlest one piped up. "讚 美!" she cried. By George! That was it. 

The rest of the verse flowed out, and C-bao even finished the sentence for them: "口 中!" she inserted, at just the right time, while pointing to her lips. "讚 美 他 的 話 必 常 在 我 口 中!"

Amen! shouted C-Mum. "C-bao! I'm so proud of you!" chimed in K-bao.

What's the big deal, Mum? 

Touchy

C-bao has turned out to be quite a touchy-feely girl. She has loved to touch animals, for example, from an early age (despite being simultaneously petrified). Whenever she sees a dog walking by, she shouts, "摸它! 摸它!" (Touch it! Touch it!).

Predictably, she has turned out to be a big fan of petting zoos, and will run around like a glutton at a buffet, from one animal to the next.

Here she is with the goats:

And the pigs:

And the rabbits:

She can also be quite friendly with any little cuties she sees at the park or on a play date, insisting on generously doling out hugs whether requested or not. Here is a young gent she met in Scottsdale who was quite pleased with all the attention.

In other cases, such as with stalwart little Emmett, a friend she sees from time to time, the affection is not as visibly appreciated.

Poetic Justice

Here a casual poetry reading takes a turn south.

In Scene I, C-bao and K-bao are collaboratively reciting a recently learned Chinese rhyme, Tricycle (三輪車), emphasizing the rhythms by banging on the green sofa in unison.

In Phase II, a few seconds later, Little C-bao decides she wants the stage alone, and rather bossily demands that her sister cede the microphone.

In Scene III, predictably, K-bao decides that she will return the annoyance by snatching at the blackberry in her sister's hands, a gadget that of course belongs to neither of them.

Yes, this happens every day. Multiple times. The joy of siblings.

Heat

Now that April has come and the weather has warmed up somewhat, C-Mum insists only on 4 layers rather than 5 when C-Pop takes the girls to the park.

Indeed, C-Mum has bought snazzy matching puffy vests for C-Pop and the girls (two of which are shown above) to finally replace our winter coats and hats during our outdoor excursions.

Now no one said San Francisco has the warm balmy climes of San Diego, but the Eskimo gear (see below) was starting to attract some funny looks from strangers. Perhaps the shiny red cheeks and profuse sweating finally convinced C-Mum to allow the clan to leave the house more lightly clad.

"Um, California?"

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.

Center of Attention

C-bao showed up to pick up older sister K-bao at the end of her ballet lesson the other day.

The little one was somewhat startled by the reception she received. K-bao's friends immediately crowded around and took turns picking her up and complimenting her on her outfit. In the meantime, K-bao beamed from ear to ear and proudly showed her off like a coveted doll in a show and tell session.

Church

C-bao hangs out at church with friends Sam and Emily. Lots of play and snacks, not much worshipping going on.






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Tight

The other occasion C-bao has to sing the aforementioned favorite Frozen song is when sister K-bao is over-affectionate.

"Too tight! Let It Go!"

Let It Go - Cover

C-bao's sister K-bao recently saw the new Disney film Frozen, and since then has insisted on pulling up the now-iconic and Oscar-winning song Let It Go on YouTube at all hours so she can sing along at the top of her lungs.

Not to be left out, C-bao has learned not only the names of the key characters ("Elsa! Elsa! Anna! Anna!" she will go around the house shouting), but a few select parts of the song which she will belt out much too enthusiastically at select opportune moments. Below is representative.

Horse

C-bao is a born equestrian, and has loved pictures and videos of horses from an early age. Indeed, when she sees C-Pop at the computer, she typically runs up to say 騎馬! 騎馬! (Ride Horse! Ride Horse!) to indicate that she wants to see some videos of kids riding ponies.

Several months ago C-Pop inadvertently allowed her to witness her sister K-bao getting a piggyback ride while yelling 騎馬! 騎馬!

So guess what C-Pop has been roped into doing - every night when he comes back from work, and all through the weekend?

Let's Shake Feet

Friendly little C-bao enjoys shaking hands and can often be observed walking up to someone and saying,  "握握手,好朋友" (Let's shake hands and be good friends).

 That's why she got a particular kick when her sister taught her instead to say ""握握脚,好朋友" (Let's shake feet and be good friends) - which she now insists on taking her shoes off and doing at every opportunity.

Hey Orange

C-bao has always liked oranges, from day one. She will eat as many as you let her, until she gets the runs (which is inevitably after orange #3, and sometimes even after orange #2).

Bananas, on the other hand, have been hit or miss - sometimes she's into them, oftentimes not. Here C-Pop tries to trick C-bao into substituting one for the other, to no avail.

Led Astray

Lest any reader, after the last post, fall into some misguided notion around how lucky little C-bao is to have such a wonderful sisterly influence in her life, someone to play with, guide and teach her and act as her True North as she navigates the murky moral waters of her childhood...the below video will set you straight.

Hop Hop

C-bao learns the bunny move from her sister K-bao and gets an assist with hopping from tree trunk to tree trunk.

Vanity

C-bao is a lover of smooth skin, and here she ensures the continued suppleness of her own epidermis by liberally applying lotion all over her face. With a glee she cannot contain. This is seriously one of her favorite pastimes, right up there with brushing her teeth.

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.

Imp

In the last few months Little C-bao has not only become a mischievous imp, she has embraced the identity and now basks in the knowledge of her mischief.

Ask her "誰是小皮皮?" (Who is the Little Naughty One?) and she will proudly say "C-bao!" (or sometimes 小妹妹 - "Little Sister" or "Little Girl," her other nickname), before smiling sassily and running off.

The below video where she purposefully grabs too many snacks while grinning from ear to ear is broadly representative. Reminds us of a certain incident around greedy grapes several years ago.

Conversations with C-bao

C-bao's vocabulary has expanded by leaps and bounds over the past few months, and she uses her newfound communication skills to issue a nonstop stream of commands to C-Pop and whomever else is in the vicinity.

A few examples:

• 爸爸喝奶奶！("Daddy drink milk!" This is not, Daddy can I get a drink of milk. This is, Daddy, I want you to drink your milk. There, nice and slow. That's it. Good boy.)
• 妈妈陪! ("Mommy stay with me!" C-bao's understanding of "陪," which means "stay with," is "hold hands")
• 姐姐刷牙！("Sister brush your teeth!")
• 爸爸抱抱出去! ("Daddy take me outside!")
• 要！要！要！要！橘子! 橘子! 橘子! ("Want! Want! Want! Want! Orange! Orange! Orange!")
• And her favorite: 不要！不要！不要！("Do not want!" Do not want! Do not want!" - always in 3's)

Yes, everything has an exclamation after it, and is usually repeated at least 3 times before C-Pop or C-Mum has a chance to get a word in.

In the below video C-bao talks about her socks and shoes, the pen she's not supposed to be holding, and how much she loves her extended family (saying "Love!" with increasing ferocity as we went through the list).

Warm Runnings

Little C-bao is a runner like her sister. Just whisper "跑跑!" (Pao-pao, "Run, Run!") in her ear, and she's off.

Here is a quick jog on the Embarcadero in her full Eskimo gear (which C-Mum insists on her wearing even in 70-degree weather).

Happy new year!

Happy new year from C-bao & Co.!

Happy Hollow

C-bao took her first trip to Happy Hollow today (with the lovely Wangs - Tony, Mel and Lucas), where she thoroughly enjoyed herself riding the buggies, feeding the goats and running around getting dirty. (A couple of sister K-bao's visits were documented here and here.)

First, she started the day greeting the bronze animals at the park entrance with her characteristic Up Close & Personal approach.

Next she took her first ride of the day on the ladybugs, accompanied by sister K-bao. Lots of smiles all around. No sweat.

Unfortunately, this experience instilled a bit of misplaced swagger in Little C-bao. She insisted on riding again immediately afterward, even though sister K-bao had run off to do something else. This turned out to be an error in judgment. Once the bug achieved liftoff, little C realized she was all alone in the world, flying at an altitude that felt altogether unsafe. The rest of the ride was spent with her face buried in her hands yelling 不要! ("No want!") at the top of her lungs. (Unfortunately C-Pop did not capture this rare footage on camera, but the below forlorn-looking image was when the wheels first started turning)

Luckily there was more to see and do at Happy Hollow, and C-bao soon forgot about these unpleasantries by feeding the goats.

All in all, a fantastic trip which wore out Little C so much that she promptly dozed off the second she was put on her stroller, even before saying goodbye to her friends.

A Wink and a Smile

C-bao is a naturally jovial soul and loves to keep the mood around her light. Here she smiles, sways, and finally breaks into a full-throated chuckle as she contemplates how good her life is.

She's also recently learned to wink - or blink, really - and will happily oblige when asked to demonstrate.

One Second: Jul-Nov 2013

Short snippets from the last 5 months from the little ones, inspired by Cesar Kuriyama's One Second Every Day.

Verbal

Recently, C-bao has become quite conversant on a number of topics:

• Love. As she was lying in bed a few days ago in the early hours of the morning shortly after she awoke, C-Pop overheard her run through a list of people in her life and how she felt about them. 
• "Ba-ba...ai! Po-po....ai! Shu-Shu....ai!" (爸爸？爱！婆婆？爱！叔叔？爱! Daddy? Love! Grandma? Love! Uncle? Love!)

• Hunger. While she remains as picky as ever, far be it from C-bao to starve herself. She'll run to one of us, holler for our attention, point to her stomach and cry:
• "Uh!" (餓! Hungry!). And then irrespective of what the response is the immediate follow-up is: "Yao!" (要! Yes, want!). After dinner, she enjoys rubbing her tummy while grinning from ear to ear and making sure one of us comments on how rotund it looks.

• Oral Hygiene. C-bao has developed a real affection for keeping her pearly whites shiny, and also making sure her loved ones are taking care of theirs. She will run to the bathroom at all hours of th e day, looking back to make sure we are in tow, then raise an index finger and exclaim: 
• Shua-ya! Shua-ya! (刷牙! 刷牙! Brush teeth! Brush teeth!). Giving her her toothbrush with toothpaste is necessary but insufficient; she will then point at C-Pop and boss Dad into picking up his toothbrush too with a Ba-ba Shua! Ba-ba shua! command (爸爸刷! 爸爸刷! Daddy brush! Daddy brush!). The below is representative.

Other words frequently used include Nien! (念! Read!), Bao-bao! (抱抱! Hold me!) and a variety of other verbs generally used in a commanding tone while pointing urgently at C-Pop or C-Mum.

Kiss Me

About 5 or 6 weeks ago C-bao achieved a new milestone - on-demand affection - which C-Pop has understandably made her practice every day.

To 四個乖小孩

C-bao's talented Aunt and Uncle (Shu-Shu and Xiao Goo-Goo) penned, sang and recorded a brief piece of music for their 4 nieces (including C-bao's cousins Elizabeth and Grace as well as C-bao and her sister K-bao) one recent afternoon.

Music: To 四個乖小孩

Lyrics:

寶貝妳要做個乖小孩

Watch the tone when you are asking why

做個討神喜悅乖女孩

Our love will always be with you

永不分開

寶貝乖乖跌倒不用怕

It hurts a bit but you will grow a lot

別因妳可愛就不用聽話

Learn to love and trust in God

Your life will be

Right where it should be

記得永遠守護妳的心

A message C-bao's parents hope she internalizes early in life!

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.

Carbs

Here is C-bao enjoying her onion-oil noodles once again. Fruits, vegetables and meat C-bao can do without, but carbs? All day, every day.

Equinophilia

A couple of weeks we ago we showed C-bao the video of her riding a pony at Lemos Farm. This turned out to be a mistake. Since then, whenever she sees C-Pop, she starts yelling Ma! Ma! 馬!馬! or Horse! Horse!) to strongarm him into showing her the video again. 

And who could resist? Just look at the big smile and the declarations of "Yay!" and "Good job!" from the little one once the video starts playing. And as you can see below, watching the video once is not enough (Hai yao! More!). She also likes to demonstrate the act of riding by rocking back and forth and saying "Qi! Qi" (Ride! Ride!). 

By the way, other videos of kids riding ponies also hold her interest, to the point that C-Pop is on the verge of making a Youtube playlist just of pony riding. He also tested her interest in watching other animal videos. Generally after a few seconds, C-bao looks disgustedly at C-Pop, shakes her head, and says Ma! Ma!

Eyes Ears Nose Mouth

C-bao has become a regular chatterbox and is now generally able to understand most things her parents tell her - though at times she pretends not to hear or comprehend some of the more annoying commands (e.g. "Don't play with the toilet").

In those moments she will, with a huge, impish grin on her face, ignore whatever is being said and plunge forward with her mischief, though not without looking back with a sly look to make sure her naughtiness is being observed.

In general, though, C-bao is fairly compliant with parental directives, and will indulge her folks when asked to smile, sit down or come here. She also is able to express herself reasonably clearly - bao-bao (pick me up), poo-poo (which she says excitedly and repeatedly while she points at her diaper), xie xie (thank you), yao-yao (I want, I want), roof-roof (whenever she sees a dog on the street), etc.

Here she demonstrates her command of her various body parts and happily points out her appendages (or raises them, as appropriate).

Park

Given her newfound mobility, being on a playground is a whole lot more fun for C-bao now. She usually visits various neighborhood parks generally at least once and usually twice a day.

Here she is making a new friend. C-bao tends to be quite touchy.

Later in the afternoon C-bao donned a new outfit and tried out a different park, where she pet rocks and stone turtles, sat on a bench (inexplicably, one of her favorite activities) and messed around in the sandbox.

Doggie Hike

C-bao has made enormous progress in walking by herself over the past few weeks during Grandma's visit, and now is able to traverse the length of the house without help. Yes, soon she will be running at top speed and crashing around the house causing a ruckus, as her sister did at this age.

Here she is taking a hike by Lands End with the family, during which she encounters a dog. As we know, C-bao is a big fan of the canine species ("Wof Wof! Wof Wof!" she says) and forced C-Pop to turn around and follow Spot for a while.

Tasty

C-bao enjoys the finer things of life.

Some of you may remember when sister K-bao first discovered the pleasures of twinkle toes. The last recorded incident was at 18 months old, which we include below for comparison.

Singing with Grandma

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

Lemos Pony

C-bao took a trip to Half Moon Bay's Lemos Farm recently. While the abysmal traffic on the way there put everyone in a foul mood, all was forgotten as soon as C-bao saw the trains and ponies.

C-Pop was concededly initially skeptical that the little one was going to be able to handle riding a pony by herself - especially after she freaked out while C-Pop was introducing her to the goats. Nonetheless, when C-Pop suggested to C-Mum that she might be a little young, the little one gave an exasperated look , as if saying "What's the big deal?"

Then when it came time for her turn, she cooly got on her pony without a fuss and enjoyed her ride enthusiastically, except for staring down C-Pop every once in a while when she passed him.

Baby Steps

C-bao, who is a superior crawler and has always been content jetting around on all fours, has finally decided to give bipedalism a try.

Over the last couple of weeks she has been tottering around while holding onto a C-Pop/C-Mum/Auntie Katie hand, and finally has ventured to take her first few steps on her own, which she does generally with a huge smile on her face.

Noodles

C-bao, like her sister, loves her noodles. The below is a clip of C-bao gobbling up Auntie Katie's famous "Onion Oil Noodle" (葱油麵) - polishing off two plates by the end of dinner. Despite the love, however, you can see the fastidious approach as she examines each bite to make sure she hasn't picked up any offending vegetables along the way (at one point spitting out the beans which she had accidentally put into her mouth).

Halfway through a bite she spots something she wants (a cup of water), and in the most commanding and peremptory manner possible, points and yells until C-Pop, like a foot servant, fetches it for her. Shockingly her Royal Highness managed to squeeze out a "Thank you" afterwards.

Cousins

C-bao enjoys a Facetime session with her cousins, Rong-Rong Jieh Jieh (Cousin Elizabeth) and Ling-Ling Mei Mei (Cousin Grace).

Busy with her apple sauce, C-bao was more in listening mode for this conversation. Ling looks on worriedly as if concerned her cousin is eating a tad too fast - or perhaps wondering why she isn't sharing. 

Fetch

C-bao has always had a thing for colorful balls and balloons.

Here she makes up a little game for C-Pop, namely "Fetch," with herself as the master and C-Pop as the dog.

Eyelid Flip

C-bao has fallen ill over the last few days and has experienced interrupted sleep, which has caused one of her eyelids to flip, becoming a "double eyelid."

While C-Mum has always been a double-eyelid girl, C-Pop was born with single eyelids, as is common in the Asian genotype. Growing up, his eyelids would "flip" and become double - adding a crease in the upper eyelid - only when he was extraordinarily fatigued and sleep-deprived. After he joined the finance industry, his eyelids flipped permanently, never to return to their single state. (Who has need for blepharoplasty when there is Wall Street?)

It should also be noted that C-bao's Xiao Goo-Goo was born with single eyelids, but over the course of her adolescence they developed creases and evolved into double eyelids on their own, so there is some historical and genetic basis for the eyelid identity ambivalence in the family.

Here you can see her right eyelid in its double state, while the left remains blissfully single.

Golden Gate

C-bao enjoys a day in the sun at Golden Gate park with C-Pop.

"Let me eat dirt!"

Ling-Ling

C-bao met her cousin Ling-Ling (second daughter of Da Goo-Goo, Aunt Esther) for the first time on this trip. Little Ling is a couple months behind C-bao in age and C-bao took an immediate liking to her, though the affection did not appear to be immediately returned.

In an anatomy of the hug shown in the freeze frames below, it is clear Ling sees the imminent threat, starts to mount a defense, attempts to stiff-arm C-bao, but then ultimately is enveloped in C's warm embrace, much to her dismay.

Here is C-Pop holding the two cousins who, in this picture, look remarkably alike.

Demure

C-bao was similarly demure with her Xiao Goo-Goo (Aunt Catherine) and Shu-Shu (Uncle James) in the early stages of this Taipei visit, forgetting entirely how her Uncle James had once mesmerized her with a guitar solo, or how she had once cuddled with XGG.

Within a day or so, however, she had warmed up to XGG - charmed by her aunt's warm dimpled smile and smooth voice.

Shu-Shu, on the other hand, had to truly work his way into her good graces. At one point on day 3 or 4, he thought he had arrived at last: C-bao leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulders.

However, when he reached out to hold her, she whirled around with an impish grin and refused to let go of C-Pop. A few seconds later, of course, she turned around and tapped him again - only to repeat the tease. This nonsense carried on for many minutes. Eventually, Shu-Shu broke through, once again, via his musical talents - by offering to teach little C-bao the piano (i.e. let her bang randomly on the keys). After that point, slowly but surely, S2 made his way onto the Hit List, as shown by the tangible evidence below.