Dolphin Day

We were up early today.  Ryan was up at six with Tim and I followed shortly after.  I had to wake Nicholas up at seven since he was awake last night until after eleven.  There was no way I was going to let him sleep in though so Ryan and I went in and started playing on his bed to help him get moving.  It worked and we actually managed to get outside before eight o'clock.  I'm still amazed at my ambition there.  The boys took their shovels and dug in a dirt pile while a Chinese man on some scaffolding watched.  He was up two stories and climbing higher.  Another guy was up six floors and was making me a little nervous.  The way they do things like that here I was afraid I would see someone fall to his death and scar the children for the rest of their lives.  I talked them in to going to the playground and they had some fun there on the slides then we roamed around and ended up back at the sandbox right outside our building.  It was actually not so overbearingly hot this morning and therefore was rather enjoyable.  We finally decided to come in when Nicholas, who hadn't had any breakfast, started to get hungry.

Ayi was here today and tried one of the cookies that Tim and Nicholas made.  After she took a bite she pointed at the toaster and I think she thought we cooked them in it.  I showed her the oven.  I guess she's never made cookies before.  The boys played cars until Ayi finished then Ryan went for a nap.  Nicholas and I read some books including The B Book since that was our 'letter of the day'.  I decided yesterday that perhaps we should steal the Sesame Street idea of learning one letter each day, lower and upper case.  I hope it helps to get him a little more interested in learning his letters.  He loves books and being read to but, as of yet, hasn't had the desire to learn for himself.  I don't want to push it too much and have him hate it, so we're just taking it slow and trying to make it fun.  His is so keen to know about everything it's just difficult to get him to realize that reading will help with that.  Oh well, he's got some time.

After Ryan's nap I had a little snooze on the couch then got up and got out the playdough.  We haven't played with it for a while and the first thing Ryan wanted was for me to make him a dolphin.  I did and he played with that while Nicholas and I made ice cream sundaes and did haircuts.  I 'ate' my sundae and Nicholas gave one to Ryan.  He asked me if I ate all mine and I said that I did, not thinking that he is still two-years-old and might take me literally.  A minute later he said, "Mmm, this is yummy".  I asked him if he really ate it or was just pretending.  He said he really did and I checked his teeth.  Sure enough, he was really eating it.  Good thing it's non-toxic!  Eventually I made a couple more dolphins then left the boys to play so I could do some emailing and make supper.  For the next couple of hours they played and played with those dolphins, being quiet and for the most part getting along.  I'm becoming convinced that Nicholas should become a negotiator or mediator.  He has learned quite well how to deal with his little brother without resorting to yelling or hitting.  I hope he keeps it up.  Here are the little munchkins with their playdough dolphins.  Two of the pics are pretty similar but I love the expressions on their faces.  They were so pleased with their animals.

Tonight we were playing again and Nicholas said, "I'm really glad when you guys are our parents".  I said that was nice to hear and asked why and he told me it was because we know when they have had enough to eat for supper and will give them a cookie for dessert.

I was talking to a friend here today and she was telling me about eating out last week.  She and a friend were at Wu'ai Market and didn't want to eat in there thinking that the KFC across the street would be a safer option.  It was really busy and unfortunately the only table they could get was near the bathroom.  She was pretty disgusted by the fact that while she was eating, because there was no door between the restaurant and the bathroom, she was able to see right in (there were doors on the stalls - thank goodness).  What she saw was parents taking their kids in there and instead of taking them to a stall, pulling their pants down and letting them pee right in the sink.  As if that wasn't bad enough, the person in charge of cleaning used a rag to clean those sinks then went into the restaurant and started wiping off tables with the same rag. Eww!  I'm so glad we don't eat out a lot here and when we do it's usually a proper, clean (we hope!) restaurant.  My friend said she didn't want to finish her meal after that.  Like us she has also seen parents or ayis holding kids up to pee into, onto and around garbage cans.  It's pretty yucky.  Great reasons to eat at home and carry a lot of hand sanitizer! 

Another friend of mine was telling me about a trip to Metro, a store very similar to Costco or Sam's Club.  We shopped at this store a lot when we first got here because they have a lot of imported foods and other household goods.  We never really got into buying much fresh food except for salmon and actually haven't been back there in over a month.  This friend was looking around and spotted a huge rat roaming through the store.  She freaked a little but went to the 'service' desk to tell them about it.  What bothered her most about the whole thing was their reaction.  They actually laughed.  Apparently it's not special to see a giant rat shopping along side you at this store.  I wonder if he paid for a membership too?  Needless to say, she isn't going back and we have decided we won't either.  It's YooHoo, Ole and Carrefour for us.  I hope we don't hear anything bad about them!