The Next Challenge

I'm not sure why, but on Sunday, I decided it was time for Coop to potty train! I know it was spur of the moment, but the time just felt right! This week is a quiet one for us and then we start travelling off and on until the end of January so why not?! Sunday he had a couple of accidents, and then Monday and Tuesday he was completely dry! I say he was dry, but of course, he is having trouble with the other. He can pee, no problem, but it seems that doing the other is a completely different ball game for him! He is now getting to the bathroom before he does it, but sitting on the potty is another story! I had so much trouble with Eens, so I am praying that Coop will not follow the same path! He loves the fact that he is a big boy and doesn't wear a diaper so I don't think I'm pressuring him, but who knows!

Here is the end of my diaper supply...only time will tell if I have another diaper purchase in my future! The sad thing is, my baby is getting big!!!!

Where has the time gone?

I think this is the longest I have been away from blogging and I do apologize!! Last week was fun with Dan's parents, but I was exhausted by the end of the day! I'm not sure that is different than any other week actually!!!

Last week we really wanted Dan's parents to get a sense of what it is like living here! We spent most of the week doing normal, daily activities like visiting the grocery stores, finding ingredients at the different import stores (this is really an entire afternoon activity!), playing with the kids, doing homework, having Chinese lessons, watching ayi cook, massages, manicures, etc... It was fun to show someone how different our lives are now, but also, that different is not always bad. It is just different here!

My favorite part of the week was going to our favorite restaurants! Food is very important to the Chinese - I must be adapting quite well to this part of the culture!! We usually eat out several times during the weekend, but to get to go to our favorites all in one week was a real treat! We took our ayi with us on Friday night because she was so sad she didn't get to cook dinner! We try to spoil her a little because she has become such a big part of our family life here! The kids love this restaraunt because there are seals and we had our own private room (restroom and all!) so they do not have to have proper restaurant behavior!!
On Sunday we went the the Shi Family Mansion which is located a little ways outside of Tianjin. This was my first time visiting this place and I thought it was well worth the trip! It was a mansion built in 1875. We were able to view the sleeping quarters, the theater, offices, and living spaces where most of the original furniture was still there. I found it quite fascinating! The furniture is, of course, hand made and exquisite!


On Sunday night we celebrated El's birthday a little early so she could have some family here! She loved blowing out the candles and eating cake - especially since she knows we get to do it again in a couple of weeks!! Nai Nai and Pepere also took us to Din Tai Fung (2 times in 1 week, life is good!!) since El loves the noodles there and the fact that some of her friends are usually there in the playroom!! I'm pretty sure she had a great early birthday!!

On Monday we had to say good-bye which is never easy! Especially when you know that it will be months, not weeks, until you will see each other again. As I've said before, this is one of the not so fun parts of expat life. Until we meet again is a phrase used often here!

The Boys First Haircuts Here

I knew the day would come when I would have to deal with haircuts while we are living in China! I made it almost 4 months and finally gave in to trusting someone with the boys hair. I found a place called MelonHeads in a magazine for Beijing. Since we were going to Beijing to meet up with Danny's parents, I decided that we would also get haircuts. I did pull the kids out of school on Friday so I needed to make our trip worth our while before their plane arrived!

First we checked into our hotel and then jumped in a cab with my magazine in hand ready to find the place! It ended up not being too far away from our hotel - nice short cab ride. After asking a couple people, I was lead in the general direction of our target location. I've found that the more confident I am when I am alone with the kids here, the better behaved they are! They know I can't speak the language, but they also know that they can trust me and I will get them where we need to be!

We found the haircut place on the 7th floor of the "mall". It was very cute and reminded me of Cookie Cutters in Bettendorf! Eens was thrilled that there was a huge pirate ship in the middle with slides that he could play on! I was thrilled because right when they saw us coming they called in their hairdresser who could speak English!! The boys were fascinated by their new surroundings, so they sat nicely and got their haircut! El just played around with everything they had to offer! After we were done, Eric (the English speaker) gave me his card with his personal cell phone number on it. He was so sweet, he told me if I ever needed any help in Beijing that I could call him and he could translate for me!! This happens quite often and it is a win-win situation! I get the help I need and the other person gets to practice speaking English!!

Here are some pictures of our haircutting adventure...

Since the kids did such a great job getting haircuts, I decided they could play in the indoor play area that was on the same floor. This place was extremely clean and there were not very many children there. It was pretty expensive for China standards, but more and more parents are able to afford these luxuries since they have more wealth and also, they typically only have one child. The kids had a great time running around and playing - I enjoyed watching their faces light up!!

Welcome to China Mom and Dad S.!!!

We finally (I know it's only been 3 months!!) have our first visitors here in China! Danny's parents arrived in Beijing on Friday to spend 10 days with us! We are so excited that they are here and can see how we truly live! They were fortunate to arrive in time to trick or treat on Friday (see post!).

On Saturday we became tourists with them! We went to visit the Summer Palace and the Olympic Stadiums. The Summer Palace was built for one of the empresses because she felt Beijing was too hot in the summer. It is a huge place and really would take an entire day to properly cover all of the sights! Needless to say, with three children, we were there for a little over two hours! It was beautiful with a huge lake in the middle.

These are part of the stairs going up!

Ahhh...we made it to the top! This is what we saw!! Not sure what it is, but it must have been important to put it so high up!!
A little snack break!

Danny taking a break after climbing halfway up!

It was a beautiful day so we decided to climb to the top of the Tower of Buddhist Incense. There were gorgeous views from the top although I was a little scared of how high up we were! Wouldn't you know it, at the very top, after we had congratulated ourselves for making it, Eens has to go to the bathroom - he needed to sit down if you can understand!!! So after a total of about 3 minutes on the top, Danny quickly descended down the steps to find a restroom for Eens!! After that, the kids were pretty tired of looking at the landscape that I was in awe of, so we headed to the Birds Nest!

I knew the Bird's Nest was a very interesting structure, but to see it up close is very cool! The unfortunate part is that because of the pollution, in the short time since it has been built, you can already see the build up of "yuk" on it. We were able to purchase tickets to go inside where we could go to the floor and see the original costumes used in the opening ceremonies. It was a lot of fun to visit! I think the kids even enjoyed it!

We went back to the hotel for a rest after our busy morning and then we headed out to have Peking Duck for dinner - Danny's favorite! The kids all had colds, so they were not the most cooperative, but we were together and that is what mattered!! When the kids were in bed, Danny and his dad headed out for a drink while his mom and I had a very relaxing foot massage in our room! A perfect end to a perfect day!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween is not really a holiday celebrated here in China, although it is gaining in popularity. A couple of department stores even dressed up their windows downtown! Since Halloween is one of my children's favorite holidays, I tried my best to make it fun and to do some of the activities we would do in the states!


First, we decorated the house with our Halloween decorations. Eens was bummed out that his pirate ship couldn't be plugged in because it was the wrong voltage! We have also been reading Halloween and fall books over the past month! Coop has memorized his favorite book, Ghost Eats it All! And of course, we had to decorate pumpkins. Thankfully, I brought their decorations for pumpkins from the US so it made for an easy after school activity!


We knew we would be in Beijing for trick or treating, so last weekend I had inquired whether our hotel/serviced apartments where we were staying would have an activity. And, yes, in fact, they had trick or treating and a party! The kids were very excited to trick or treat (plus Nai Nai and Pepere were there) and get dressed up! I told the front desk we would be trick or treating, but we would not be handing out candy. We met in the lobby area to begin trick or treating at the businesses and then up to some of the apartments. All was going well, until we get to the 15th floor. They kept saying the room number 1513 and I thought it sounded familiar, but didn't realize until it was too late that that was our room number!! There were about 25 kids pounding on our door waiting for someone to open up and give them candy. I just looked down at the floor and pretended I had no idea what was going on! It probably wouldn't have been that big of deal, but we were all going around together and trick or treating with 25 people in 2 elevators on about 10 different floors is just not that easy!! Another memory for me to giggle about!!! After the misunderstanding, we skipped out on the party - the kids were tired and I was extremely embarassed!











You may be asking yourself what type of goodies my children received...here is a glimpse into one of the bags!!

Ethan's Artistic Ability

Lately Eens has been showing some interest in drawing! I love it and crack up over what he draws. I have taken some pictures of different pieces that show just how much personality my little guy has!!!

Ethan's monster here is quite elaborate!! It even blows fire! Also, you can see he has not lost his love for pumpkins!

Sorry this next picture is sideways! I couldn't resist though, this is from his school journal. Mom, I wonder where he got the idea for this picture?!!

I realize this is not a drawing, but I thought it was so cute what Pre-K children want to be when they grow up! Notice that Eens and his good friend both want to be pirates. I'm pretty sure we can stop putting money in his education accounts!!!

UN Day at IST

I'm a little behind on posts!! Last Monday at El and Eens' school, we celebrated United Nations Day. The parents were asked to bring in food from their home country and the students dressed up in clothing representing their home country. It was amazing to see all of the different nationalities represented! The theme of the day was peace - it must have hit home to my kids because on Wednesday El had a playdate with a friend and they painted pictures about what peace meant to them!! Too cute!

There are only 5 American families at IST so one mom organized a meal of chili, cornbread and cheese! I baked several boxes of cornbread and grated some cheese! Not too difficult! We all tried to wear red, white, and blue - we had no idea what to dress like to represent the US. I need to get more creative next year!!

I offered to help in Eens' room for the lunch hour when they would be serving all of the food prepared by parents. It was so much fun, but a lot of food went to waste because the sweet little munchkins (including Eens and Coop) refused to try anything!

It was a fun day and I even got to taste a litle bit of the yummy food!! Here are some pictures from the festivities!