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.

Hot

If there's one thing Taiwan is justly famous for, it is the overbearing heat. Along with the 100% humidity, walking around outside feels like wearing a wet blanket.

The upside of course is that C-bao got to wear cool shades and cute tank top outfits pretty much the whole time.

To escape the heat for the first few days the clan had a few dips in the swimming pool. Even C-Mum made an unlikely appearance, and splashed around in the kiddy pool for about five minutes.

Vigorous swimming in turn inevitably led to some very sound naps.

Cool Relatives

While in Taipei, C-bao got to hang out with her musician Aunt and Uncle, The Lighters, quite a bit. Xiao Goo-Goo and Shu-Shu distinguish themselves by being quite a bit cooler than her parents.

Here she is trying to keep up with Aunt Catherine and sister K-bao's yoga moves.

Here she is feeling alternatively sassy and safe in her auntie's arms.

As for Uncle James, several years ago in Taipei it was a victory for her uncle even to have the little one consent to being held.

My, how the tables have turned. Now it is C-bao seeking out her uncle's attention at every turn.

Foodie

One of the most beautiful things about Taiwan is the food. C-bao, being an epicurean of the first degree, loved just about every meal. Her daily diet consisted of:

...Red bean dumplings...

...ice cream...

...waffles with cream...

...freshly baked pastries...

...beef noodle soup...

...more ice cream (or sorbet, in this case)...

...leek dumplings...

...sun cakes...

You get the picture. 

Summer Sprints

Near C-bao's Taipei home is National Taiwan Normal University, also known as Shi-Da. The university has a nice track, and despite the summer heat, C-Pop took C-bao out for a few runs to work on her speed game.

C-bao was a great sport about it, and in fact pranced around like she owned the place. "No. 1, clearly," she appears to be indicating in the video.

Our girl not only tried some proper sprints, she also insisted on being timed. Check out on the effort on this sprint.

Afterwards, to demonstrate that she still had energy to spare, she sang her special gibberish song.

Summer Vaca

C-bao just returned from visiting her parents' homeland, Taiwan, over the past month. Her last visit was some three years ago, as documented in these pages. This was yet another eventful trip, and worth a number of posts.

This time, however, C-bao could actually walk, which, to put it mildly, made a difference. What hasn't changed since 2013 was the below Eva Air cardboard cutout, which C-bao didn't recognize but her sister posed next to several years ago.

C-bao actually enjoyed the long trip, largely due to the various amenities along the way, from the red bean dumplings to the ugly airline socks.

The C-fam arrived near midnight, and didn't settle down until close to 3 a.m. local time. Jet lag kicked in however a few hours later, and C-bao and her sister K-bao were bouncing off the walls by 6. The below family picture was taken at the hotel the morning after arrival.

The rest of the day was spent swimming, eating with family and taking in the sights of Taipei 101, one of the world's tallest buildings.

And, of course, ice cream with C-Grandmum!

Runner

Over the weekend the C-folks took C-bao to a park, initially to bike. C-bao has only had a few experiences with a slightly-too-large bicycle (with training wheels - which has not prevented her from tilting over multiple times). Her comfort level is still quite low. Let's just say that they have not been the most glorious of experiences.

After a forgetful bit of biking, the family decided to burn a few joules on the nearby paved track. Once off the wheels and back on her feet, C-bao regained her confidence as an athlete.

Indeed, the C-folks have observed that our little one is a steady and even surprisingly fast runner. After seeing C-Pop run a lap - probably a 300 meter loop - C-bao was the first in the family to ask to run it herself, timed. She completed it in ~2:40, never stopping once.


After C-Mum and sister K-bao went, she wanted to do it again! This time, she improved her time, down to 2:27. C-Pop and C-Mum were duly impressed.

At the end, the girls all raced together. C-bao ran a third lap without stopping and again equaled her time of 2:27.

BGW

C-bao's official class mascot is the Big Gray Whale, or BGW for short. Over the course of the school year, BGW has been carried home by each kid, and her adventures have been duly documented in a class journal.

Two weekends ago it was finally C-bao's turn to spend a few days with BGW. She made the most of the opportunity and really showed her around town.

First stop was a musical drama Peter and the Wolf, starring sister K-bao, described in more detail here.

BGW  got to enjoy brunch at one of C-bao's new favorite haunts, People's Cafe in the Haight.

The first evening, C-bao even took the lucky marine mammal dancing (admittedly at a very low-tech, dress-down club). Uncle Calvin looks on with amusement.

BGW had plenty of company her first night at Chez C-bao - perhaps a little too much for her comfort. Though among her new friends was a patchwork whale, which sister K-bao had procured at an amusement park some months back.

The following day, C-bao took BGW biking down at Stanford University in Palo Alto.

The weather was warm, and C-bao & Co. stopped by a fountain to cool off.

 The girls dipped their toes (and fins) in the water. "Let loose!" C-Mum declared.

Later that afternoon, BGW witnessed C-bao engage in a little free-form painting.

Pretty sweet life for a stuffy, thought C-Pop over the course of the weekend - pampered, showered with attention, exposed to a never-ending set of adventures and other stimulating experiences...Almost as sweet as the life of one little tyke we know. 

Storytime

As part of C-bao's birthday celebration last week, her preschool class, the Gray Whales, invited C-Pop and C-Mum to come tell a story about the little one to her classmates.

At the appointed time, C-Pop and C-Mum showed up and took their seats next to the birthday girl. With the help of a few pictures on an iPad, C-Pop told the class about C-bao's experience as a flower girl in Singapore back in 2014, as documented on these pages here.

Afterwards C-bao participated in the traditional birthday jump, signifying her leap from a lowly 3-year-old to a big-girl-4.

After her class sang her her birthday song, she got to blow out a candle and then pass out some ice pops (brought by C-Mum) for the whole class to enjoy.

Despite C-Mum's claims to the contrary, C-Pop insisted that the class paid rapt attention to the story. Luckily, one of C-bao's teachers kindly shot a video of the anecdote, excerpted below, which only partially supports C-Pop's theory.

Father's Day

C-bao is now old enough to scribble a note to C-Pop on Father's Day. ("Does that say 'I love you'? she asked as she handed C-Pop the note walking out of Sunday School).

Little C-bao is going to be four this week; today was her 3rd Father's Day, having missed the 2012 one by a few days. Hard to believe how fast these years have flown by.

Pump It Up

C-bao attended a friend's party the other weekend at Pump It Up of San Francisco.

PIU is filled with jumpy houses of all kinds. The company promises to make private birthday parties "epic," and the kids did have a blast bouncing from one air-filled apparatus to the next. The business model is of course all about volume and utilization, and the employees knew the drill, ushering our party on a tight schedule from room to room.

Now, some of the balloon houses did look fun. In the above picture C-bao is trying to reach little plastic strips stuck by Velcro to a slippery slope. After a number of failed attempts C-Pop tries to give C-bao a hand, with, um, limited success.

After a solid 90 minutes of non-stop bouncing, everyone was ready for pizza and cake, which was in the final room. An enjoyable party, and, C-Pop had to admit, an admirable business model!