Mutiny

It was a rather trying Friday here in Shenyang.  I had a headache all night and it was still there when I woke up this morning so I was in no mood for sauciness from a couple of little boys.  But, that's what I got.

By the time Ayi got here at nine I had the air conditioner in the living room apart and cleaned.  I had also moved the furniture around so she would be able to sweep and mop underneath everything.  Although she is very pleasant, Ayi isn't overly ambitious about her job.  I would say it's the pay but I don't think so.  If you add up the various other jobs she goes to, she really isn't doing too badly compared to other people here, especially since she doesn't read very well.  Like a lot of Chinese people I have seen here, she is very methodical and slow about her work and doesn't do anymore than absolutely necessary.  Anyway, while she did her work I buzzed around her vacuuming the furniture while putting it back in its place and getting everything put away.  I even decided to take some of the trays out of the fridge so she could wash them along with the dishes while I cleaned the inside.  Unfortunately the powers that be decided that today was a good day to shut off our water.  Periodically, for some reason I have yet to understand, the water to all the apartment buildings is turned off for several hours during the day.  Ayi always does the kitchen last and since I had delayed her in the living room, she was unable to get the dishes done.  What a pain in the ass.

Once she left I got the kids some lunch and put Ryan to bed for a nap.  I sent Lena a text asking for an emergency massage and she said she would be able to get here at 4:30.  In the meantime, I wanted to get the laundry and dishes done but still had no water so I tried getting Nicholas to do some letters.  Both boys had been giving me grief while Ayi was here and this was no different.  Finally I gave up and we decided to play some games.  Eventually we moved on to Cariboo which helps to learn letters and numbers so I still won that battle, sort of.  Ryan didn't sleep long and he soon joined us.  Before long there was fighting going on so we decided to try going outside.  That was a struggle and I ended up sending Ryan to his room for throwing things.  To this Nicholas said, "I'm mad.  But at you, not at Ryan" since he wanted to go out and I was delaying things.  He starting getting mouthy so I sent him to his room too.  As he walked in he said, "Fine.  The next time you want to go out for supper I'm going to say no."  Oh brother!

We finally managed to get ourselves together enough to go outside.  Of course, it was hot and humid but we went back to the spot in the shade so the rugrats could play with their diggers.  After about an hour of fighting and peacemaking, Nicholas and I decided we were ready to go in.  Both boys were sweaty and needed a bath.  I told Ryan it was time to go and he wouldn't cooperate and sat down to cry.  I told Nick to get his toys and come with me, that Ryan would eventually follow us with his big dump truck.  Nick hesitated to walk away and between the two of us we managed to convince Ryan to come.  As we made our way toward the apartment, I went one way while the boys went another.  They decided that they would take their dumpers up the steps and around the sandbox except that Ryan wanted me to take his truck up the steps for him.  I was already well passed them and was not going to go back since Nick was offering to help him with it.  This began a standoff that lasted almost ten minutes.  Ryan stood on the steps crying for me to help and would start hitting Nick if he tried to grab his dumper to take it up for him.  I told Nicholas to come with me and he did for a minute, then turned and went back.  He wouldn't leave his little brother, which was sweet, but he kept trying to convince me that I should go over.  I knew exactly what Ryan was doing since he had done it on the way out and this was one battle I was not going to lose.  If there is one thing I have learned in the last four years it is to pick your battles carefully and make sure you win the ones you do choose to engage in.  When Ryan finally agreed to come inside with us, they approached me with Nicholas in the lead and he told me that next time I wanted to go into a store that I liked he wasn't going to come.  I said that would be just fine and I would do the same thing.  Then we would see how many 'Cars' toys he would be able to get.  That shut him up, for a few minutes anyway.  After what seemed like an eternity we finally made our way back to the apartment and Ryan decided to go into the stairwell instead of coming inside.  I told him to go ahead and stay out there while we went in to which Nick said, "You'd better be nice to Ryan or I might just switch to another family".  Ha!  I told him to go ahead and see how much he liked it, that he wouldn't even go with Celine to her house for an hour.  Did he really think he would leave us for another family?  That really shut him  up.  Finally.

Both boys had a bath, although Ryan's involved more crying, then I settled them in with a movie while I had my massage.  My head had actually started to feel better the closer it got to 4:30.  I think just knowing that Lena was coming made me relax my muscles somewhat.  The massage was very nice although Tim called in the middle of it to say he would be home late.  Oh goody.  Supper and bedtime by myself.

As I was getting supper ready the boys were being loud and obnoxious and I told them a few times to quiet down.  Eventually they did and I had a feeling that something was up since they weren't making any noise at all.  I got my veggies into the wok and decided I had better look and when I came out into the living room I found that my little Einsteins had colored their feet with markers.  They were washable markers but, since they had colored the bottoms, when they started to walk away they left the color all over the floor.  I ended up carrying both of them to the bathroom for another bath then made them clean up their mess afterward.  By this point I had had enough of the day.  I shoved some food into them, brushed their teeth, read them two stories that they barely listened to (which meant I was able to skip quite a bit), then threw them into bed just as Tim was getting in the door.  Luckily Nicholas didn't hear him but Ryan has been up several times and we had another battle getting him to stay in bed.  I finally locked him in the room and after a crying spell he seems to have settled down.  So, that's it.  I'm done.  I have had enough of this day.  I am going to go take my own bath then go to bed.  Goodnight everyone!