Nothing Too Exciting...

Hmm...one of these is not like the others.

So there's not been too much to write about in the past couple of weeks. I've been keeping up with my promise to run more, and I've managed to run 40k a week for two weeks in a row. I also look forward to settling into a routine to get my runs in before I go home because soccer practice is no longer a conflict. Spending so much time running leaves me little time or energy to do much else of importance. My roles as mother, wife and teacher take up the bulk of my time. But we did manage a little bit of exploring in Shenzhen a couple weekends ago.

Super sleek subway

Dongmen...Pretty sure every pic had KFC in it

We decided to take the subway out to an area of pedestrian shopping streets called Dongmen Market. It was similar to Picadilly Circus in London or other metropolitan shopping areas. Except a little rougher around the edges. We set out, strapped Paul in the stroller and took the bus to the nearest metro stop. Paul was asleep before we even got on the train, so the hour train ride out there wasn't so bad. The trains are sleek and new, and not so crowded until you get closer to the Louhu district. We arrived there around lunch time, and Paul woke up, so we made it a mission to find a place to eat. We ended up picking a crowded restaurant (those are always a good sign) with a picture menu and ordered so yummy food. Paul even got some freshly made watermelon juice, which literally tasted like eating a watermelon. It was impressive. After our food, we headed out to do some shopping. Paul had been slowly practicing using the toilet, so I bought him some new underwear and we found a really cool toy (something other than trains!). After an hour or so of wandering through the market, we headed home on the train.

All good stuff...

Yum!

Explaining Dongmen

The wives were warned.

We had a pleasant evening with our friends Zack and Honey, they came over to have dinner on the request of Paul (he's in love with Honey). And around 9pm our husbands were "kidnapped" to go out for a co-worker's birthday. It was all in good fun, and pretty hilarious watching them come in and nab our husbands.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, work, soccer, running. Quiz night was especially fun because we won second place, which was good because Zack had set the ultimatum that if we didn't place, we had to sit out a week. So luckily we'll be back in the game next week.

View from our weekly hike

Please just take us!

This past weekend was supposed to be uneventful, but after a hike with Honey, we got lost trying to find Ikea and Metro. Correction, we didn't get lost, our taxi took us to the wrong place. My phone wasn't working and we had no Chinese address for Ikea, so we were out of options. Donnie even went into phone stores and took pictures of a map to show taxi drivers, but none of them would take us. I'm pretty sure they knew where it was, but pretended they didn't know what we were talking about in the hopes of getting a better customer. Finally, a woman took pity on us and asked us if we needed help. She spoke to the taxi driver (one we had already pleaded with) and he suddenly knew where to go. ;) We arrived a little bit frazzled, but after breakfast in the Ikea Cafe, we were ready to shop.

The rest of the weekend was spent painting with Paul, watching Mickey Mouse, and kicking the soccer ball around. It was fun, but not especially restful. Monday rolled around and it was time to start the week again.

From nap to paint

Working on using those chopsticks!

In the midst of all of this normalcy, there was something very special going on. Just like all of his other milestones in his life and development, Paul made a choice to grow up a little bit. He decided he wanted to use the toilet instead of diapers. Previous to these past weeks, he would squirm and avoid using the toilet at all costs. Suddenly, he wanted to do it. And he has been successful with it ever since. He even gets up at night to use the toilet instead of going in his diaper. It's miraculous! It's fabulous! We still have some accidents with #2 and he's not so fond of using the toilet for that one. But I can't believe how fast he went from only using diapers to only using the toilet. He told me at the bus stop on the way to school this week that he had to go potty, I asked him if he could wait until we arrived at school, and he said ok. He arrived at school, and used the toilet like it was no big deal. He is getting bribed with lollipops, which he loves, but he hardly eats any of it, and I think it's a fair trade for how successful he's been. Hopefully, the progress continues and I never have to buy a diaper again! EEEK! How fabulous!

Pals for life.

Other than that, the week has been uneventful. Donnie and I have spent the last two days conferencing with parents while Paul plays with Amy. I think he actually likes spending the day at school because he gets to come with us to work first. He doesn't like getting left behind, but Amy is bringing him up to school this afternoon because we are going to host a fundraiser for our Autumn Fest. It's called Dogtoberfest, a spin off of Dontoberfest from years ago. :)

Have a good weekend! And Happy Halloween if I don't get a chance to write before then.

Sweet rewards...:)

"Let me do it myself"