Potty Training?!?!?!

So I had no intention of trying to potty train Timmy until well into next year, but he apparently has other plans. Earlier this week he started talking about the potty, so Scott took him into the bathroom a few times and let him stand on the toilet seat and try to pee. Nothing happened. I figured now is as good a time as any to buy a little potty for him to get used to. I didn't think he would decide to use it within a few minutes of seeing it. He did. Twice in two hours. What the heck. Now what? I guess its time whether I like it or not. Pray for us! :)

Timmy's 1st Doctor's Visit (In Shanghai)

Tim's been coughing all week and having a bit of a hard time breathing normally, so I decided to take him to the doctor and get it checked out. We've been here over 6 months and have not had to go to the doctor or hospital for anything yet, pretty good, huh? When we told people we were moving to China, many of you asked about the health care. I gave my best answers from research, but until today had not really known anything first hand.

The whole experience was pretty decent. Everyone spoke English, it was only 15 or so minutes from our place, the place was super clean (compared to the local hospital I volunteered at a few months ago) and they billed my insurance directly. The pediatrician we saw was an African American guy from New York named Tyrone. He is apparently the Chief Medical Officer in Pediatrics at Shanghai United Family Hospital. He was super cool and turns out that Timmy most likely has allergies that are flaring up from the intense humidity. No biggie, but I feel better after going and checking out the lay of the land.

Facebook Blocked!!!

China blocked Facebook last night because of the riots. I hear Twitter is blocked too, but I am not a tweeter, so I wouldn't know. Even our personal VPN tunnel witopia secret passage through the great firewall thingy (yep, that is something like the technical name for it) is not working. How annoying. I can still post stuff through our blog, so I guess that is good. I hope this is only temporary. I love Facebook. :(

Taxi Miracles!

Two days in a row now I've had unexpected taxi blessings.

Yesterday I was waiting for a taxi and I saw a middle aged business man flag one down a little up the road. I decided to walk to where he got his, and when I got there, he proceeded to give up his taxi for me and Tim. This is unheard of. I saw him as we were driving away trying to get himself an new one! I guess chivalry is not totally dead!

Then this morning, not only did I get a taxi right outside our apartment compound IN THE RAIN, but the driver spoke really great English. He was only the 2nd or 3rd driver I've had out of over 200 taxis that spoke any English. It was great!

Our Almost Fearless Son...

So as most of you know by now, Timmy falls a lot. He always has a bruise or twenty somewhere on his face, head, knees, legs and most recently we found some bruises on his spine! How does that even happen? Anyway, these "injuries" are due to his recklessness in jumping, climbing, running, etc. He has no fear when it comes to physical challenges.

Recently, however, he has developed a fear of bugs. Hilarious. We will be walking outside, merrily jumping along, when all the sudden my tough little boy melts into a puddle of, "Mama, bug, bug, buuuuuuuug!" I can't help but laugh most of the time. He does really like butterflies though. He chased two today for almost 5 minutes, yelling something that sounded almost like the word butterfly.

Here's a picture of him playing in our tiny baby pool on the balcony, trying to beat the heat, when a gnat flew by his head. Priceless.

Xiamen Highlights

Our long weekend in Xiamen was good. It was really nice to get away from the now familiar Shanghai sights. Here are some highlights from our trip...

Day 1: After insane amounts of transportation (taxi, bus, plane, van, ferry & tram) we arrived finally on Gulong Yu, an island right next to the island of Xiamen. Both are located west of Taiwan. Our hotel in Gulong Yu was the only 4 star hotel on the island, but was definitely not what Scott and I would

consider 4 stars. There were no elevators!!! We were on the third floor, so that got a little annoying with Timmy and stroller in tow all the time. The island itself was only worthy of a day trip, but we enjoyed the time anyway.

We were traveling with 7 of Scott's coworkers, all young/our age single people. They were

traveling cheap, so they stayed at a hostel. We joined them for a few meals and got to experience what traveling cheap means to a twenty-something Chinese person! Some of the places we ate at I would have never thought to set foot in, much less actually eat at. The first meal in Gulong Yu was delicious. Since these islands are in the ocean, lots of seafood. Some

good, and some gross.

Day 2: We took the ferry back over to Xiamen and found our new hotel, much nicer. We searched the internet on our phones for "American Restaurant Xiamen" because after two cheap Chinese meals, we were ready for a burger! We found some place called the Red Armadillo, but it didn't exactly have an address. We decided to go anyway and hunt it down. After an hour long taxi ride, and glorious tour of the southern coast of the island, the taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road. We had no idea where this place was. We started wandering and after about ten or fifteen minutes, a really sunburnt white guy yells down the road at us, "Red Armadillo?" Sweet. We followed him to his home, which I should have taken a picture of because I can't even begin to describe it. Definitely not your normal restaurant. He was an American expat, who has been in Xiamen for 8 years. The food was delicious, and we talked to the owner (sun burnt guy) for a while. It was super relaxing, complete with Jimmy Buffet on the stereo and a view of the beach.

After lunch, we went to the beach. Due to a recent typhoon, the water wasn't what we

considered swim worthy. So we played in the sand, walked down the coast and watched 4 different engaged couples take wedding pictures on the beach. In China it is a thing to hire a photography company to take pictures of you

and your fiance in different wedding attires at different locations. Many are like costumes, some are more traditional wedding garb. Either way it was fun to see. While we were people watching the brides, everyone in Xiamen was watching us! Timmy seems to create a scene wherever he goes. Its really annoying. On our last day Scott and I both actually hit someone for touching Timmy because she wouldn't back off.

Day 3: We went to the 10,000 stone botanical gardens, but we didn't stay long or take very many pictures. It was ridiculously hot, so much that Scott and I were drenched in sweat and the whole place was full of stairs. Not exactly fun with the stroller. Not to mention the intrusive people that want to touch Timmy. This is where the hitting incident took place. So we made a short loop through the gardens and retreated back to our hotel for some AC. After some shopping with our Chinese friends, and lunch at the highest Pizza Hut in the world we came home.

For the rest of our pictures, click here.

Long Weekend!

So Scott has a random day off on Monday for some type of power shut down at his company so we are going with 6 of his coworkers on a trip! We will be flying south the city of Xiamen (She-Ah-Men) which I am pretty sure is also the name of the island it is located on. Its a beachy place and is said to be in the top 5 most beautiful cities in China. Yea! I will of course be taking a lot of pictures so stay tuned. We'll be back on Monday.

It will be interesting to travel with 6 young single Chinese people and Me, Scott and Timmy. Already we are staying at a different hotel than them because they are going cheap and roughing it at a not so nice place. Yun Lou (our friend/translator/angel that I have mentioned before) didn't think we would like where they are staying. So this could be interesting. I hate being the snobby, rich foreigner because we are not rich, just not as poor as the average Chinese person. I am snobby I suppose, but I still don't like the label! :)