Baby's First Friend

Recently, my parents went to New York City for a business/vacation trip. But imagine my suprise on my birthday when we received a package at our door from FAO Schwartz for BABY Edelbrock (not Mommy Edelbrock? Kid is ALREADY stealing my thunder!!)

After a call to the Entwistle household I learned that it was a main priority on the trip for my Dad to make it to FAO to get a gift for the baby... because that is the kind of Dad he is -- you know, the awesome kind? When at the toy store, they chose a giant stuffed Panda because earlier this year, Ben and I got to have the experience of a lifetime and travel to China for two weeks. Where, might I add, I got to see REAL LIVE PANDAS and they were breathtaking... stunning... adorable. So not only is this bundle of cuddly softness too cute for words, it is a great, meaningful gift for our kiddo. (Real LIVE Panda, photo courtesy of Liz Svadlenak).

When we were in China, Ben was traveling with his MBA program a lot, and I was with my travel companion (another Liz) who is married to his co-worker and classmate Jeff. When the four of us first arrived in Beijing, Jeff and Liz had a small stuffed panda in their room which they immediatly adopted as their travel mascot and named Gao Gao (or "Big, Big"). I don't think I can get into the whole Gao Gao saga, but lets say that his hijinx included a trip to the Great Wall, an outing to see the real pandas, and then some tears, a little hysteria and then a lot of wine and some snacks. Here is Gao Gao celebrating a victorious day in Beijing.(photo courtesy of Liz Svadlenak -- again)

So, in honor of Gao Gao, of the real pandas that we were lucky enough to see and in an effort to make some of you that I KNOW read this blog actually use the comments section, I'd like to open the floor for voting on Baby E's first friend's name. These names below are suggestions based on the Giant Pandas at the San Diego Zoo, but feel free to offer your own suggestions. Please vote on one of the following options by leaving your selection in the comments section.

Zhen Zhen -- means "Precious"
Shi Shi -- means "Rock"
Bai Yun -- means "White Cloud"
Su Lin -- means "A little bit of something very cute"
Hua Mei -- means "China/USA"
Mei Sheng -- means "Born in the USA" or "Beautiful Life"

And now, just because I'm on a roll about how much I LOVE these creatures, click here to watch the San Diego Zoo's Panda Cam (super cute).