Famous in Asia

Kiddo has a bit of a following here in Rama II.  So much so, J and I have discussed printing cards with a thank you and goodbye to them, just so they don’t wonder or worry about what happened to us and Kiddo.  I mean, most of the Tuk drivers know Kiddo by name and if you ask her, she’s famous in the market.

It’s wild, watching the world interact with her.  We will go places around here on weekends and she will come with me or us to the mall, Tops, the market, Amazon for coffee, or just outside playing and whatever and we will have Tuks stop and wave and say hello to Kiddo.  A few stalls in the market have Kiddo specials for her… all we do is show up and order “for Kiddo” and we get it modified and made special, or we get double of something Kiddo likes.  Usually, we’d have to pay for this, but when it’s for Kiddo, it’s all smiles and hellos and happiness.

Her and I have gotten onto Tuks leaving the mall before and I’ve had people ask if Poley was alright because she’s got a different friend with her.  Last weekend, when Kiddo and J went to the mall to get Bday gifts for the pool party we went to, J told me that on the ride home from the mall in the Tuk, the whole Tuk was abuzz with convos and comments on Kiddo and her new hair and bangs.  

It’s amazing watching it.  It’s fun.  It’s frustrating at times.  Especially when her and I are on a Tuk and we get home and the Tuk driver tries to give me change for the ride.  Kiddo free free.  Hello Kiddo.  It’s 15 baht and even that is overpaying, but that’s roughly 40 cents USD.  Just take the extra.  Instead, I’m reduced to, “No no.  Ok ok.  Pay both, pay you for both her and self.”  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes, I’m still handed change.

We stick out like a yellow dress at a funeral.  There’s no helping that.  We all have our own style.  I don’t say that to blow our horn, but it’s true.  Not to say that we are fashionistas, we’re not.  We’re peacocks.  Bright, colorful, and hard to miss.  We also try.  This is our home.  So we shop local.  We stay local.  We don’t disappear on weekends for adventures, we make adventures at home.  Other people disappear weekends, or they get out and go into town and try new things.  We’d like to, but we have a kid.  20s and single is a lot different than married 30 and 40somethings with a child.  So, we keep local.  We eat at the market on weekends for lunch (and sometimes breakfast waffles) and shop there for produce and fruit.  NOTE: We may be nuts, but we still push back on the wet markets.  That stuff is nuts!  We’ll get out meats and fish from stores, not wet markets, thank you very much.  Because of that, however, we are noticed.  

We don’t hesitate, however, to put Kiddo out front.  To have her talk for herself.  Ask for herself.  I tell her all the time, I don’t know what she’s hungry for, but she does, so she can ask for that.  Beer helped a lot as well, as they will go (over summers or on days/weeks off) to the markets on Beer days for lunch.  A few times, with J and Beer at some of the farms or places they go, Kiddo has been offered chickens to take home.  “For you, for you… new pet!”  Nope!  We live in a condo, we ain’t got time and space for a chicken.  

Even the place that we go for massages.  They are a five minute walk around the corner and about once a month, J and I will go and have a Thai massage or Foot and Leg massage, but they same place also does nails and mani/pedis.  J and Kiddo have gone a few times to get their nails done.  Even they now enquire about Kiddo.

It’s her charisma and personality coupled with how cute and brazen she is.  She will march up to a Tuk and pick her seat and ours as well.  She will grab Poley or whatever friend and unabashedly talk to them, teach them, and play with them; All while riding down the street in a Tuk or walking through the market and suddenly she needs to teach Poley about different fruits.  She’s just so completely her that she doesn’t need to “turn it on” to get the attention.  Usually, if she needs to “turn it on” she gets shy and embarrassed and kind of hides behind my legs.  But, when it’s just her being her, she is bigger than life.  

I’ve written about what we will miss here, what we wish we could take with.  About those Tuk drivers, market vendors, cafe employees, or just people in our day to day that see us and know her.  We never asked her to charm them or enchant them.  We don’t put her in front to get things for us, but because she wants to be out front, to be the leader, and because she is just that.  She is the upfront person.  Bold.  Confident.  Beyond cute.

We can’t wait for China and Shanghai to see how and what she is there.  We will stick out there even more than here, from what we’ve been told, so it will be interesting to see who in our new world there will take to Kiddo.

In other news, Kiddo and I went to town on Tuesday for an Allergist appointment for Kiddo.  It was… disappointing.  I’ll save that rant and harangue, but it was to the point that we will NOT be going back to the medical center.  We did, however, get to Washin Ramen for lunch, so that was a perk.  She loved it, if you can’t tell.  Oh, and for the ride into and out of town, we (on her request) brought homework with us so she could do that, “since she’s missing school, maybe doing homework will be like school so I can still learn.”

How’d we get her?  Is there a Kid lotto and did we hit the jackpot?  

Let’s go, Kiddo… To see the world and watch you dance and prance through it with your charm and charisma.  We love you and can’t wait to keep watching you flourish and grow.