Xin Nian Kuai Le, Kai-Lan!

Thursday is New Year's Day in China, but it's also the eagerly anticipated launch of "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan," a new children's show about a little Chinese girl. The show is supposed to teach kids about Chinese traditions, culture and beliefs as well as some basic Mandarin words.

We've seen some commercials for it on Noggin already, and Ting Ting always watches them intently. We're setting the DVR so we won't miss any episodes.

I haven't seen the show yet, but I'm hopeful that it will be good quality, interesting and that Ting Ting might like Kai-Lan even as much as Dora the Explorer. Already, she seems to be learning some Chinese from the commercials -- Lance and I each caught her saying what sounded like "Ni Hao." When we repeated it to her, she immediately said, "Hi!" which is the English translation. It could be coincidence, but she's done it at least twice.

Sunday we'll be back at Sunny Ridge's Chinese New Year celebration. It'll be our fourth year in a row, the second time we've had Ting Ting in tow. This will be the year of the rat, which makes it a good year. Both Lance and I were born in the year of the rat, which means that this year we'll turn . . . ummm . . . some multiple of 12 years old.