Snail Trail

I love my kids playing together outside. Love, love, love it. They all went on a snail hunt the other night and because we've had a deluge of rain recently there were a plethora of giant snails climbing all over. It was a great night for a snail hunt.
I was, however, less excited about the evolution from snail hunt to "snail massages".

Landslide on our Mountain

Over the last 12 hours we've had a torrential down pour, not terribly uncommon this time of year. But this morning Nathan drove past this very spot on his way down the mountain, and when he came back a few minutes later, this mini land slide is what he found. 

It doesn't seem too scary, until you see the taxi underneath the wreckage of broken trees and foliage. 

 Nathan said the man in the blue shirt is the taxi driver, so it appears he was unhurt.

 But from the looks of it, I'd say today is his lucky day. Wow.

Put Her There!

We live in a world where contracts are made to be broken. Americans are so litigious that it is hard to think any other way but defensively. Long gone are the days of "My word is my bond". Anymore, a good strong handshake is merely a formality and never an actual binding contract. 

Or is it?

The other day I was waiting at a light. The light turned green and traffic started moving along slowly with me at the back. All was well until a car parked on the side of the road suddenly pulled out and hit me. 

Annoyed, more than anything, I took a deep breath and got out of my van. 

The Chinese man was already out of his car shooting rapid fire Mandarin my way until I turned my head and from behind my black hair emerged my white face and he instantly stopped short and put his hands up in the air, turning away from me like, "You have got to be kidding me!" 

I walked around to check for damage, just paint transfer and a minor scratch, no big deal. I look at his car, a little body damage. He starts speaking very urgently to me again and then says his first English words to me, "Ok? Ok?" Like, it's fine, let's just call it good and go.

Umm no. Not ok. 

I understand quite a bit more Chinese than I can speak. What I was not hearing in his rants were any of the familiar apologetic phrases that I expected to hear from someone who was so clearly in the wrong. So did that mean he didn't think it was his fault? We can't just drive away without him at least admitting wrong doing! But I was now late for an appointment and not in the mood to do the song and dance with the Foreign Police.

So I did what I think most people would do. I grabbed my phone and started taking pictures. I got the scene, the damage on my car and his car, followed by his license plate. 

He starts getting more agitated. 

In Mandarin he is asking each and every passerby on the street if they speak English. 

About this time, a friend of mine had pulled over and come up and a worker tending nearby greenery also comes over and says in surprisingly good English, "He wants you to delete the pictures before you leave." I replied, "I am not going to erase the pictures, I will keep them so he can't say I did this."

Understanding seemed to dawn on our impromptu translator, he turned to the man who had hit me and explained the problem.  All of a sudden he got it and began saying to me, "Sorry. Sorry." finally apologizing. 

The translator then told me we must shake hands. What? Hmm... Awkward......but okay.

And that is how my friend got an official, totally-wouldn't-hold-up-in-court picture of us shaking hands. 

The funny thing is, as I drove away I thought, that handshake actually did make me feel better. The damage to my car was so minor and body work is very cheap. I just wanted him to say, Hey, I  am so sorry about that. It was an accident. 

 Sometimes it is refreshing to live in a place where an apology and a handshake can still make everything right. 

PS- I still laugh until I'm crying when I look at this picture... I love this quirky little country.

PPS- I feel pretty confident I could've taken this guy, if it'd come to that. 

Enablers

For the most part, Scarlett's big brother Ander has taught her everything she knows...

 But this was all her.
When I went to investigate a strange tinking sound I found Scarlett precariously perched on top of the piano. She was throwing the little decorative rocks and was pretty dang pleased with herself. Not dissuaded at all by my sudden appearance, she was reaching for another rock when I snapped the pic.

 Scarlett has recently turned into her big brothers protege'. He has bequeathed his vast wealth of knowledge to his quick-study baby sister. 

Sure, they laugh and wrestle and play pirates, with Ander fitting Scarlett with a too big pirate hat and trying to help her get a make-shift sword to stay in the elastic band of her pants. But he also teaches her how to climb up on the counters, leverage her weight to open the fridge, and climb in the pantry to retrieve snacks. And should she need assistance, he is of course always there to offer her a boost.

                                         

Mei Mei is pretty proud of her new skill set, proven as she gleefully scatters the napkin pile off the table for the millionth time. And be warned, if there are any liquids on the surface she has scaled, she will empty them all on the floor before you ever realize she was even on the counter. 

It was actually in a pretty quiet moment that I had the epiphany that I was in the grips of some serious toddler tyranny.
They both love the same blanket which is fine, we have several. But I've noticed my two self soothers put their fingers in their mouth whenever they have a blanket. I've tried really hard lately to keep the blankets in their beds to help minimize the fingers in the mouth. But they've taken to sneaking them whenever possible.
The other night I witnessed Scarlett, the girl who is so stingy with her words, bring out two blankets she'd scavenged up, casually handing one to her brother saying, "here doh" before she crawled up on the couch beside him and they both assumed the position.
It dawned on me then: they are totally enabling each other.

I absolutely love that they are buds, I really do. I'm just not sure it's worth the knowledge transfer that is  going on. The only thing trickier than one Ander is two!