Kaavia James's Best 'Shady Baby' Moments -

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Kaavia James, the 4-year-old daughter of Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, has absolutely earned her nickname of Shady Baby. The preschooler is one of the funniest, most entertaining, highly adorable kids you’ll see on Instagram — and we’ve got several examples to prove it.

Shady Baby, as her parents have dubbed her on social media, always keeps it real, whether she’s letting her mom know that she has some breath issues or trolling her parents in photos. “She is like the George Carlin of babies,” Union said in an interview with Ellen Degeneres in May 2020. “That is our little nugget. She’s pure comedy but absolutely dead ass, dead serious — she’s just stone faced.” The actress added that Kaavia “is unbothered and unimpressed at all times.”

There’s even a book about Kaavia’s innate shadiness (which was a New York Times bestseller)! Union and Wade penned an illustrated homage to their little one called Shady Baby, which is all about empowering kids to stand up for themselves and others.

Shadiness, Union noted, is Kaavia’s “superpower.” “When Kaavia gives you a look, it’s either you’re not respecting her boundaries or something is happening that she doesn’t like,” Union explained to PEOPLE. “The main takeaway is that she’s free to be this amazing, dynamic, shady at times, loving at times Black little girl when the world has not been so kind to Black girls and women.”

Here’s to so many more moments of Kaavia expressing herself freely and unabashedly. Shady Baby forever and ever!

The mean(est) mug
Kaavia showed the world that she’s the ultimate mistress of the mean mug when she learned the distressing news that her parents were going on vacation … without her. The audacity! To be fair, we’d probably make the same faces too — though maybe not as expertly as Queen Kaav.
“When your child finds out that you’re going on vacation … but they’re not invited,” says the voiceover, followed by an evil laugh, as mom Gabrielle Union looks absolutely delighted.
If ‘I’m done with this’ was a person
Kaavia James is not one to hide her feelings, and her mood on the tennis court was VERY clear in an adorably over-it snapshot captured by her mom, Gabrielle Union.
“When the ‘Quiet Quitting’ is loud,” read the very accurate caption. “Why is Tuesday giving Monday vibes?”
Always keeping it very real
You can trust Kaavia to be honest with you — even when the truth hurts. During an Instagram video session with her mom, the little one alerted Union that she should consider brushing her teeth. She indicated that by blowing into her hand. The conversation went like this:
“My breath stinks?” Union asks.
“Yeah,” Kaavia responds.
“What should mommy do since her breath stinks?”
Kaavia once again blew into her hand. The absolute cherry on top? Her adorably smug smile to the camera right after.
Sharing is not always caring
Sure, it’s fine if someone takes one pretzel from Kaavia’s bag. But multiple? No thank you. In this video, we see the toddler promptly walk away when she noticed that the person who she had offered to share her snacks with was taking advantage of her generosity.
“That man asked for 1 pretzel,” the caption read. “This is why I have trust issues. Happy Monday. #MondayMotivation.”
Where’s my invite?
Kaavia brought out the ultimate Shady Baby energy when she discovered she hadn’t been invited on a trip with mom. Union shared some footage of Kaavia looking hilariously irked about the lack of an invite.
“When your child finds out that you’re going on vacation but they’re not invited,” the actress said slyly in a voiceover. “Stay mad, Jan, stay mad.”
Honestly, we get it. We all deserve some summer TLC.
Keeping her cool
In May, Kaavia attended a festive birthday party that included a pony ride, petting zoo and lots of cotton candy.
Perhaps our favorite part? Kaavia’s absolute deadpan reaction as she galloped along on her horse. She was equally nonplussed by the cotton candy and then promptly fell asleep in the car, stuffed animal in lap. Union, meanwhile, was having an absolute ball. “Okkkk @arrowfox you did it up big!!” she wrote. “Pony rides, petting zoo, bounce houses…come on son, ya making the rest of us look bad! Way to bring in the big 1 homie. #ShadyBaby”
Places to go, people to see
Nothing quite epitomizes Shady Baby more than this video of her with her heart-shaped sunglasses on, purse slung on shoulder, phone in hand. “Kaav, where are you going?” her mom asks.
“Going to a meeting,” Kaavia responds. Later in the video, her dad can be heard saying: “You’re the coolest” as his daughter shows him her shades. We’re going to have to absolutely agree with him on this one.
Trolling her parents
In May, Union shared a cute photo of herself and Kaavia grinning at the camera. Turns out, there was a whole lot more to the picture than meets the eye. Shady Baby, FTW.
“When @kaaviajames started smiling like this, it came outta the blue and none of us could figure out why she was doing it. Now I get it,” Union wrote. “She’s been trolling meeeeeeee 😂🤣😭😂🤣 swipe to see how Kaav thinks I smile. It really be your own kids! #ShadyBaby”
Keeping dad in line
Kaavia took on teaching duties (in very cute pajamas to boot) while schooling her dad on his classroom etiquette. The toddler was offering some important lessons in her playhouse when Wade tried to excuse himself.
Union explains to Kaavia that her dad was “trying to go to the bathroom to try to get out of school” to which Kaavia replies, “You’re coming back.”
Prepare yourself for a whole boatload of cuteness as Kaavia continues to teach her lesson which, incidentally, is all about Kaavia.