It seems I either have a spy or a stalker. Considering where we are, either is a possibility. A young, handsome even, man with a “Marines” T-shirt was in our square this afternoon. I first noticed him because his look was kind of striking and reminded me of a husband of someone I know. After a while I realized he wasn’t talking to anyone and didn’t seem to know anyone there, and what’s more kept looking at us. He smiled sometimes watching the boys and I thought perhaps he just thought they were cute (who wouldn’t?) but even when we moved off the square to another small park then over to the fruit vendor, he would turn and watch us each place. Very peculiar.

We also found out it really is a small world. One of the friendlier folks here is a native Beijinger, very traditional, very Beijinger, but friendly. He is a little older with a 25-year-old daughter and wife probably not much older than that and a boy a little older than Ethan and Isaac. I have been making observations about Olympic preparations and asked Jack to ask him if he thought Beijing was ready. He said yes right away, then kind of back-tracked and said well, not completely. But it turned out he works for the Volleyball committee and is also in charge of the Taiwan delegation. On hearing this, Jack immediately asked if he knew his old boss at Mikado in Indianapolis, who is in Beijing on the delegation for the Games. Turned out he did. Jack was amazed and still can’t get over it.

We find we have to get a bit more creative with entertainment, especially on rainy days in such a small apartment with five us. Coloring and painting last for a brief time. The scooter is also popular as an indoor toy. The other day, they insisted on making robots, which turned out to be wrapping paper around their legs, arms and head. They were very eager to go outside like this after their nap to show off, but were disappointed (I was relieved!) to find the square mostly empty of other kids. They are getting familiar and friendlier with the other kids. Some kids are very possessive of their toys but others share freely and play well with them. When we have something to share like the scooter it certainly helps. They take turns riding bikes or kicking balls around. They also start to try to "read" in bed like mama or on the potty (which is still hit and miss - literally)

At the same time, we find ourselves collecting more toys than we probably should. On a visit to the local planetarium, Jack, who’s usually more “mean” about these things, bought them a ball rolling device. It’s taken us longer to put it together, or fix it, than they actually play with it. Still, it provides us all entertainment.

But said trip to the planetarium proved mildly disastrous. We thought we’d try the 4-D movie, thought the boys would like it, like a roller coaster, and spent a bit of money of that. Well, it turned out to be some under-the-sea kind of thing and the boys were absolutely terrified when air would blow on us and some scary-looking fish would jump out. So we had to take them out before the very short film was even halfway through. They kept saying they were “scared” after the fact, not a word I knew they knew! I kept telling them, “you want to ride scary, dangerous roller coasters but a movie with some fish scares you??” It’s kind of a relief though to know something does scare them!

Yeye is here now. It’s been interesting. He loves the boys, though he said if we came when they were five, they’d be more fun… As it is, he annoys them to death and I see where Jack gets it from. I have to bite my tongue and instinct to drag them away when they get upset. But they annoy back. He gets upset that they just call for mama all the time and only stay out for brief periods if he takes them alone. But he will just have to wait til they get used to him. He’s not the kind of grandpa to go buy them presents all the time, but he does buy them watermelon, and suckers every day, which they are addicted to (always grape for Isaac and always a new flavor for Ethan every day which he then discards two minutes later and asks for more). He speaks his kind of non-standard Mandarin to them and tries to teach them but so far they aren’t picking up a lot. I’m sure, like with English the first couple years of their lives, they are absorbing a lot and I can tell they understand more and more even if they don’t say more than “ni hao” and “xie xie” when they feel like it (and “pigu” when they see a kid with the open pants).

Speaking of open pants, one unexpected positive side of our trip is the boys are going diaperless when they are not sleeping. And I now understand the benefits and ease of the open pants and may even get some! It’s very handy to be in a country where no one looks twice if your kids stop to pee in public. Heck, grown ups do it too. They have been getting very good and holding it and going when we tell them or letting us know when they are starting to go. Isaac even poopooed in the potty yesterday of his own volition. He was soooo proud of himself. He is so eager to be a “big kid” and when he does something like that or eats all his dinner, he will stand up tall and say “big, strong”. Of course it probably has something to do with wanting to be big enough to ride the roller coaster at the zoo. Ethan, as usual, is more in lalaland. He’s refused to poo poo for the last few days, will sit on the potty as long as I sit there too playing with him or reading a book, but nothing happens L However, he has progressed vastly from a few days ago when he was peeing on the floor to telling me he has to go (and sometimes then pointing out to me where some of it didn’t make it to the potty!)

Okay, enough potty talk. I’m just excited about that! In other news, we finally got them the scooter they have been longing for. They always see the other kids on the square with their cool toys. So daddy went and bought them one and they have been riding it non-stop. I do have visions of my brother as a kid getting a big injury from a scooter, but this one is small and hard to have a serious accident (she says hopefully). They do fight over it though and try to ride it in the house, in the street… They even got into a fight with a girl about it this morning. This little girl, kind of tomboy, we see all the time with her granny, she was riding it for a while while the boys played with her bucket and shovels and some dirt and they alternated blowing the cheap plastic trumpet daddy also got them. Well, after a while Ethan wanted to ride again, got on and while her granny was chatting to someone and I was rushing to tell her to just wait a minute, the girl pushed Ethan off. He of course became very upset and when granny intervened and the girl also didn’t get to ride it, she also started throwing a fit. Granny suggested we just take off and let her cool off, so we did.

It’s also been good to catch up with a few friends. We see Pamela every now and then, last time went to the Botanical Gardens with her and her replacement at her job (she starts a new one at China Daily) and his Russian cousin. Mark is supposedly coming before we leave – we’ll see. And we’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get together with Rob who seems to wake up about the time we’re going to bed! Today we also had lunch with Laurie Lew, who helped me get the job at CCTV, along with Edwin Maher, a really sweet older Australian man who is an anchor there. Where we live is the compound for the hotel staff. It’s kind of weird to see all these people we were used to seeing dressed up serving us, walking their dogs in their civvies. A lot of the same ones are here and they all remember us well, as well as remembering how pregnant I was when I left. Jack does better at remembering them though than I do! Jack has a lunch with his classmates tomorrow – we’re still debating whether the boys and I should go or not, I think probably not. He hasn’t got together with any of them since we got back. One sent us the tickets to the sports performace at the Bird’s Nest and then later asked if I would teach his wife English in exchange for her watching the boys. I couldn’t quite picture the logistics of this, especially with her living a ways away. Jack has another friend, Wang Hao, who we used to spend some time with who has disappeared. He kept changing jobs and lived in a $10/month shack and now noone can track him down. Another good friend of ours who lives in Sichuan we also can’t get a hold of. That’s kind of troublesome considering his family is from the earthquake area. Jack thinks though it’s just that he didn’t write down the correct cell phone number the last time they chatted before we left. I certainly hope that’s the case.