So We've Been Warned

We get a lot of compliments. Correction. Kai gets a lot of compliments from strangers and passer-bys. In fact, he gets praised so much that, last weekend when we were at Costco, Bill said he could always find where Kai and I are in a crowded place just by following the people saying 好可愛喔 (hao ke ai o).

可愛 literally means "lovable", and the 好 here is an adverb meaning "so" or "very". That 喔 by itself has no meaning. When placed at the end of a statement like this, it is to soften the statement and to add emphasis. Other variations of this statement are 真可愛 "Really cute" and 哎呀! 怎麼這麼可愛啊! "Oh my gosh! How could he be this cute!"

Kai's already quite a celebrity in the neighborhood. The people at the 7-11 near our house change the standard greeting "huan ying guang lin" 歡迎光臨 (Welcome to 7-11) to"Kai Kai lai le" 凱凱來了 (Kaikai is here) whenever we go there. The shift manager at our neighborhood Starbucks said I could work there if I want as long as I brought Kai with me. The owner of the fruit stand in the traditional market started saving ripe bananas on the side for Kai after I told him I make my own baby food. A young man working at a different Starbucks told me that it would suck big time to be Kai's friend because he'd get all the girls. Oh boy....

It took some getting used to, but Bill and I have gotten quite good at saying "Thank you"s in a timely manner when we're out. Doesn't matter if we're taking a leisure stroll or getting into a cab; talking about what's for dinner or having a serious discussion about our plans. When we hear the word 可愛, we look at the direction of the voice, smile and say, 謝謝.

The record of the largest number of times Kai received a combination and repetition of ALL the variations mentioned above was set by the financial consultants at China Trust Bank. It was said so many times so quickly that I gave up trying to thank people. Within a couple of minutes after we got into the bank, we were surrounded by 4 financial consultants, 1 customer, the manager, a security guard, and the cleaning lady. The word 可愛 was said so many times by individuals and in unison that my financial consultant strongly suggested that I send a photo of Kai to all the modeling agencies in Taipei. "He should totally be in ads or commercials," she said, "I'd buy anything he sells just for that smile." Can you hear it? Ki-ching! Ki-ching! Ki-ching! $$$$$$$

As Kai smiled and giggled in response to the silly voices and funny faces, the manager jokingly said, "You'd better get used to this. You know little girls are gonna call him, right? Or the moms of little girls are gonna call you to hook their daughters up with Kai. Hahahahaha!"

I wanted to say to him, "Ew~~ don't you talk about my 6-month-old son hooking up with girls, you perv!"

And yes, I got to talk about my investments with my consultant, but it wasn't until after they all took turns taking pictures of and with Kai.