cutest thing ever

I am in love with the baby panda at the National Zoo. He is SO CUTE. He is little and squidgy and has cute little face markings. The newspaper publishes a picture every time he has a veterinary exam, and he's just so CUTE. They splat him down on the table with his legs all splayed out and poke him and measure him. Here, you can watch him and his mom on the pandacam. Right now they're asleep.

All through my childhood, the old pair of pandas kept having babies, but every time one was born, it died within a few days. It was so sad - every time there'd be this whole is she pregnant? isn't she? thing, and then she'd have a cub, and everyone would be so happy, and within a couple of days, it would be dead of pneumonia. So even though the Smithsonian is paying China some exorbitant amount of cash for this little guy, I'm glad to have one here at last.

There were local campaigns to name him Butterstick, because every report of his birth said he was "the size of a stick of butter." Sadly, though, the Zoo went with boring real names.