HKG196: Etiquette Gone Wrong

my name is lori, and i misplaced my children in an elevator today. *sigh*

i try to keep this blog full of rainbows and unicorns, but sometimes i just gotta tell ya like it is.

etiquette is very different here. that's the nice way to say THERE IS NONE. every single DAMN day, we get pushed, shoved, stomped, trampled, squished, and experience any other manner of physical rudeness. most often, we have doors let go in our faces right after someone shoves past us to get out the door before we do. one of my biggest pet peeves is elevator etiquette. there is none. zip. zilch. nada. i can't even begin to count the number of times we've had people push in front of us to crowd into an elevator, but my least favorite is the obsession with the bleepin' close doors button. if you get into an elevator last, and you do not IMMEDIATELY push the close doors button...or, gasp, even worse...hold the door so that another passenger can board ... the hair on the back of your head will be singed from the evil glares. oh, and you will be unceremoniously elbowed out of the way so someone else can push that ever lovin' button.

what does this have to do with misplacing my kids in an elevator today, you ask? EVERYTHING! you see, olivia is getting to be a big kid, and she loves her some big kid responsibilities and privileges...one of which is pushing that *&@% close doors button in the elevator (self assigned... i really couldn't care less if that button is ever pushed).

today, the kids and i were getting on the elevator to go down to the playground. first of all, the elevator was open when we came out of our apartment, and of course, q made a beeline for it...i was still shutting our apartment door...mistake number one...i let the kid out of my line of sight...i know better than to do this. secondly, not only was the elevator door open, but there was a gentleman unloading a large push cart of boxes, so the doors were already cranky and trying to close (oh, yeah, the elevator closes really fast even without the help of that *&@% button...and it closes hard...i have had matching bruises on my hips more than once from getting squashed in the doors). so, livie and i are running to get to q and get on the elevator with him, and there's some jostling b/c of the large cart in the way...and livie presses that god forsaken close door button before i get on the elevator...and she keeps pressing it, so even though i am frantically mashing the button in the lobby, the doors remain closed. screaming ensues (from quinn).

i assume livie will get them off at the third floor, so i high tail it down the stairs (in flip flops) to meet them at the elevators on three. they aren't there. i can hear them screaming and crying (the elevators are not sound proof at all). i go back up to 10...i can still hear them...and then they finally come down to 10 (they had ended up going all the way up to the 44th floor). the same delivery guy with the cart had gotten back into the elevator and was in there with them (not sure how much this comforts me, but he was trying to calm them down).

so, i breathe a sigh of relief and hop on, count the number of years shaved off my life, and begin having a stern talk with olivia about that god forsaken button. we set a new rule...she doesn't touch the button unless she's told to. it's going to take some reminding...she was mashing that damn button again on our way back up after playing at the playground.

so, there you have it, the hong kong lack of elevator etiquette has rubbed off on my 5yo daughter, and as a result, she shut an elevator door in my face...with me on the wrong side of the elevator door.

heretofore, i have worked to make sure that if both kids are not holding my hands, they are in front of me so that i can see them at all times (have learned never to turn my back on q or walk away from him and trust he will follow...i have some leeway with olivia, but try to make sure she's always in front of me simply because we can get separated easily in the crowds). obviously, my strategy was poked full of holes today. note to self...start shackling self to quinn. maybe i will have to start strapping him to my body again. did you just hear my vertebrae groan in protest?!

and now for the rainbows and unicorns....

a very nice bright spot in my day...my favorite flower is a sunflower. today, olivia roped josh into helping her make me this beautiful sun flower that now adorns one lonely wall (the walls are lonely because i am a terrible decorator).

today is a public holiday (it's called the day after mid-autumn festival...that's really the name of the public holiday), so josh was home. he left for the u.s. this afternoon, so he spent some extra time with the kids this morning...they all worked on a train track designed by q and this beautiful tower designed by olivia).

HKG195: Sweepy

today was a busy, but low key day. i have no pictures of the day, but the kids did have lots of fun. they both had gymnastics classes today, and again, the classes were a big hit.

after gymnastics class, q and i were hangin' out at home and getting ready to eat lunch when he looked up at me and said, "mommy, it's sweepy!" with an indignant expression on his face. it took some sleuthing, but it came to light that the floor is slippery when he's wearing socks. shortly after the sweepy revelation, q also figured out how to sock skate and has been thoroughly enjoying his new skill.

q's other big news for today is self-led potty training. while he's not yet telling me he needs/wants to go potty, he is keeping his diaper dry for long periods of time and will agree to go sit on the potty when i find one of these dry diapers. today, while we were waiting outside sissy's gymnastics class, he told me he had a dirty diaper, and when i went to change him, i found that he did not AND his diaper was still bone dry. i asked him if he wanted to go potty there, and he did...FIRST PUBLIC POTTY.

even though i have been a mom for nearly six years and this is my second time participating in the potty training rodeo, i still find myself laughing at how obsessed i have become with someone else's toilet habits. it's still so STRANGE!

HKG193 & 194 : Weekend Roundup

livie preparing to blow pirate bubbles

taking a nice, deep (and probably bubbly) breath to blow more bubbles

josh buried the kids, and they thought it was pretty hilarious...especially quinn.

josh buried olivia first, and she had to patiently wait for him to finish burying quinn...it's not like she was going anywhere, right?

we had a great weekend doing some stuff close to home : burgers, fries, and ice cream along with a fun book shopping adventure on saturday; and far from home : a trek to lamma island, a nice hike, and a turn at the beach on sunday.

this week will be back to the usual, mostly...there's a holiday on tuesday (observance of the day after the mid-autumn festival). q and i will enjoy having olivia home from school that day!

today, josh and i are remembering how our country came together ten years ago and reflecting on how the horrors of 9/11 have changed us all for the better and the worse. my heart goes out to all the affected families...thinking of them today.

HKG192: Lantern Festival

today, q's and my morning adventures included going into the wet markets to find lanterns for the kids to bring to the festival in our apartment playground tonight. we found tons of adorable lanterns, and at first, we settled on a fruit shape for q and a fish for olivia. q wanted to carry his lantern home, and just seconds after leaving that first store, the light in his lantern went out. so, we stopped at one more store on the way home and got two bunny lanterns. once we got home, i figured out why the fruit lantern wasn't working and fixed it, so the kids had four lanterns to choose from. they had a great time at the festival playing with other kids and enjoying their lanterns and some glow sticks they were given.

while q and i were out this morning, we also got some frozen yogurt at a place we noticed this week. i made sure we got an early lunch before indulging in this yummy treat, and i think we might do this weekly...the yogurt was delicious, and it was nice to get a little mini date with my mini man.

today was a great day, and we are looking forward to a good weekend!

my mini man enjoying our shared yogurt at our mini date

the kids got glow sticks at the festival tonight, and josh decided to decorate our cat. meet disco waffle.

q chose to carry his bunny lantern tonight, and i decided to hang it in his room to act as his night light tonight. i keep hearing random squeals from his room...i may have to liberate the bunny ;-p

livie chose to carry her fish lantern tonight, and i also put it in her room to be a nightlight. her air conditioner was making it move, which freaked her out, so i had to liberate the fish.

HKG191: Thoroughly Normal Thursday

today was normal. blissfully normal.

this morning, q and i skyped with baba and played a sorting/matching game, and then we headed out about an hour before his lego class so that he could have some play time and a picnic lunch at a nearby park. he thoroughly enjoyed his class again, and he did a better job of leaving class without quite as much drama.

the afternoon was pretty quiet...just hangin' out at the house and going down to the playground.

my big events for today were very, very domestic. josh has been having terrible allergy problems inside the apartment, but then is fine when he leaves it. he cleaned all of the a/c units this past weekend, but he's still sneezing a lot in the morning. today, i worked on the vent/fan in our kitchen. it was a mess...it was actually quite a mess when we moved in and really needed to be scrubbed shiny. i got it shiny on our side, and i can see that there is a way to remove the fan to scrub the outdoor part, but i have not tackled that yet. here's hoping that the dust reduction helps josh.

my other domestic task for the day is making apple butter. i had a bunch of apples the kids didn't want to eat, and i wanted to try out the slow cooker option on my rice cooker. so far, the apple butter is tasting (and smelling) really good.

cutie q mid bite during his picnic lunch

clean vent/fan...still have to work on that fuzzy outer portion you can see

q matched up all of the shapes with very little help. he got this game as a party favor from a recent bday party, and he loves it!

HKG190: Weird Wednesday

this morning started off normal, for the most part, but shortly after livie got on the bus, things got CRAZY.

first of all, i made the mistake of trying to fix olivia's hair while at the bus stop, and of course the bus came around the bend just as i took one rubber band out...and then the bus passed right by us and continued up the hill. so, i stopped working on livie's hair, and the three of us took off up the hill (fortunately, the bus stopped after getting about 20 yards past our regular stop). when i started working on livie's hair, i had handed her my keys because i needed both hands free and my keys are attached to a small purse that is too big to fit in my pocket. you see where this is going now, right? yep...just after the bus took off, i realized that livie had my keys. josh was in china. i had no phone (it was in the small purse), no cash, and no keys. way to start the day, eh?

my very kind neighbors lent me enough cash to get a cab to livie's school. we got up there and got the keys before school even started, and then came back to pay our neighbors back and get our day started for real. shortly after we got back home, i got a phone call from josh asking me if i was back home yet. i asked how he knew i wasn't home, and he relayed that people on the bus and at the school had contacted him to let him know livie had my wallet/keys/phone at school.

so, since josh is gone a lot, i am left wondering how in the world i will find a way to avoid this situation again. i need to hide keys somewhere, but considering i live in a high rise apartment building in which we are not permitted to have anything but a door mat outside our door, i am coming up empty on ideas. i have locked myself out before, but josh was in town that day. i really need a better contingency plan.

the rest of the day was far less eventful...it included a couple trips to playgrounds and wet markets and a trip to flamenco class for olivia. josh returned from china this evening, and things are settling in for a nice, normal, quiet night...complete with keys/wallet/phone in my possession.

q chillin' out on the carousel in the spinny park.

shortly after getting home from school and having a snack, livie announced she was going to her room to lay down. i gave her some time, and then went to check on her to make sure she was okay. she assured me she was, but asked if i would leave her door open so that waffle could go in. a short time later, i start getting "paged" to come "look at this." waffle was only too happy to cuddle up with olivia in her bed and allow her to pile stuffed animals around him while also covering him with a blanket.

while it's adorable to see q and his budding soccer skills, this video is meant to showcase the incredible amount of noise we hear on a daily basis. the loudest sound you hear in this video is from a construction site beside us where an 80-story tall apartment building is being built. that sound is part of the process of building the foundation for the building. believe it or not, we have mostly become immune to this noise, though evenings and sundays are blissfully quiet, and we do notice that!

HKG189: Trains on Tuesday

today was a pretty low key day. i asked q what he wanted to do after we got sissy on the bus, naming several of our favorite parks...i was rewarded with an adamant reply of "TAY HOME" complete with angry eyebrows.

so, we stayed home most of the morning. i needed to drop off some shirts to be dry cleaned and get to a housewares store to get livie a new cup for school, so we did get out for a bit in the late morning. the housewares store has a toy section that makes q salivate. today, he chose a classic train set, and it's a HUGE hit...he's played with it for several hours now...temporarily ignoring thomas and all of his friends.

this afternoon, we went down to the building playground for a bit, and both kids had some fun playing with others until it was dinner time.

i am not sure what our morning adventures will be tomorrow, but in the evening, livie will go to flamenco class while q and i roam the wet markets and play at hidden playgrounds.

mid autumn festival is coming up soon, and our building playground is all spruced up in preparation for a carnival this coming friday evening.

here q is holding his newly beloved classic train and horning in on sissy's pbskids time. this pic looks great, but literally a split second after the shutter clicked, q unceremoniously dumped sissy on the floor with a solid shoulder jab.

i dunno. q decided to do some quality control on hotel la fu this morning.

is this not the saddest little baby face?! he started out sad b/c he got in trouble for dumping sissy off the chair, but mid-wail, he started telling me he misses daddy. neither of the kids has adjusted to josh's travel schedule...every week that he travels is a struggle for them. i could not stay mad at this little face for even one more second. i just cuddled those wet little cheeks...and i even forgot to tell him to stop dumping sissy off the chair (this happens a lot).