Jujube's Transformation

Jujube has had to deal with a complete life change for the past two months. She flew from Menlo Park to Beijing, had to learn a new language, and now answers to a different nickname preferred by my parents.

In barely two months, she learned to understand mandarin Chinese and can say some simple stuff. What's most astounding is that she can actually sing a verse or two of simple Chinese children's songs. My mom firmly believes that Juju is as smart as they come, and has told me that if Juju doesn't understand something, it's simply because we didn't teach her the right way. Funnily enough, even though I was just as precocious as if not more so than Juju at the same age, my mom always denied that I was smart when I was growing up. She's only very recently admitted somewhat begrudgingly that perhaps I have a few fast-firing neuron myself.

Back to Juju. Since a single syllable in Chinese can carry a lot of meaning, Juju's been able to express herself in simple sentences. However, she has a funny pronunciation. For example, when she means to say little doggie, she says "shiao dao dao", when the right pronunciation is "shiao go go" (小狗狗读成小道道）. She learned to sing "You are my good friend" in Chinese, and when she sees furry little animals she'll quietly sing that to them.

You would think that a little Chinese girl in China shouldn't stand out, but for some reason Juju's an eye-catcher. I'm flattered that many people have commented how cute or pretty she is, but worried at the same time as I don't want her to become enamored with her appearance.

Before I log off, I'd like to make note of one more thing. It is as certain as the sun will rise that Juju is a bona fide, proud badge-wearing, daddy's girl. It is clear that she adores Mr. MP; this is something that was evident ever since she was only a few months old. At the time, one of my aunts had commented that she simply lights up when Mr. MP walks into the room. Whenever Mr. MP and I are both home, Juju will always prefer playing with her daddy to me. When Mr. MP leaves, Juju sometimes looks forsaken. Today, the two of us accompanied Mr. MP to a cab so he could stay at my parents', and after the cab drove off Juju kept asking where Baba was and wanted to walk towards the direction where the cab headed off. As for Mr. MP, Jojo may be his son, but only Juju will ever be his baby.