I find my Chinese calendar baby

The other night, I took a stroll down to Italian Street and found a nice spot to sit and people watch, while I enjoyed a taro bubble tea. As I settled in to my favorite spectator sport, I happened to turn around and notice a man with a young baby sitting at the next table. The baby was the sort of infant that you see on Chinese calendars; sturdily built and of generous proportions, with the sort of cheeks that any Jewish grandmother would die for. He was just so happy, that I thought about asking if I could take his picture, but not really knowing whether that might be a cultural gaffe, I erred on the side of caution. On the way back to my apartment, I as kicking myself for not taking his picture.

Fast forward to the following night, when I was meeting with the two students that I mentioned in a previous post, I noticed that the same father and baby were again sitting at the next table. Via the students, I asked the father if I could take a picture of his son, and he very enthusiastically said yes.

Again, asking questions via the students, I learned that the baby (I never got his name) is just 6 months old. The little chap was very happy with me talking to him, and liked holding onto my fingers, and so his dad decided to suddenly pass him to me. This did not go down quite so well, so suddenly had hold of a screaming baby.  I quickly passed him back to his dad, and this is one of the students took this second photograph.

As you can see from his all-in-one, there is no need to second-guess the nature of Chinese babies, and it becomes something of a game of Chinese roulette if you’re given one to hold. Fortunately, this not-so-little one fired only blanks when I was holding him. I think that  Chinese baby attire is designed for the easiest of access, and also to prove that his other two  cheeks were just as chubby and rosy as the ones on his face!