Cookin up an adventure and J saves the day.

We’ve had a lot going on the last few days and I needed to take a break from writing and blogging as world events were just overwhelming my thoughts.  I had errands to run and played hoops on Thursday, so all that took some time and effort and energy and with BKK opening back up and Covid restrictions starting to relax a bit, traveling is becoming a bit more time consuming… As J found out as well.  Wednesday, J and I scheduled a late day with Nanny Beer so we could head out and adult together.  Also, when we scheduled that with Beer, we hadn’t already found me an anniversary dinner outfit yet, so we thought we could do that.  Instead, we adulted and had a meal without Kiddo.

Yesterday, J had some Professional Development to attend, so I was on Kiddo and J’s day went sideways, so it was a long day and then it rained.  A lot!  Today, we headed out to Lumphini Park and we were excited to see it.  Ended in a lil miss meltdown, but even in that, J was great and handled it mom skillz all the way.  I put in my Dada voice as well, but the tears and crying all the way to the taxi was full of five year old angst and sorrow.

The park was nice.  Beautiful.  It felt, in a lot of ways, like a jungle.  And the lizards…. WOW!  I’ll let the pics and vids speak for themselves, but I’d like to get back and wander around more. 

 

Kiddo and Nanny Beer got to a “camp cafe” or something like that.  Drinks and desserts and a play area that was camping themed.  And Kiddo has been talking and wondering if we can do camping in Thailand, so that was right up her alley.  And it looks like she had a great time.

The rain yesterday was amazing.  It was sprinkling and then… IT GON’ RAIN!  J and Kiddo ventured out and J got some really good pics of Lil Miss playin and loving the rain.

Friday night Big Girl was a movie at home.  We had chicken tacos (Donar Kebabs, but Kiddo gets just chicken and lettuce in a wrap, so she calls it Chicken Tacos) and then watched Sonic, because Kiddo is into Sonic and Video Games and wanted Mumma to see it so she was in on that.  J couldn’t look happier with Kiddo just cuddling and loving.

Kiddo eating cereal is great.  Our little Mowgli just munchin’ away.

The big Kiddo news is that she got to be my sous chef yesterday while I made a salad.  She’s been wanting to help and see and just be in the kitchen with me and do little tasks and help, even if it’s just taste testing the veggies that I toss into the salad.  Well, J and I talked and Kiddo is very very respectful of the kitchen and tools.  She was helping last week at some point and I tasked her with putting a chopped up bell pepper into a bowl.  Usually, she’s all about that and sneaks an extra nibble or two along the way, but on this day, she stopped and told me, “Dada, I can’t pu them in the bowl.  You still have your knife on the cut board.”  I told her that she could ONLY touch the cutting board and take bites or help scoop if my knife was OFF the board.  So, she saw that I left my knife with the tip resting on the far side of the board, but it was still touching and on the board, so she couldn’t scoop.

We decided to try out her using an actual and real knife to cut an actual and real thing.  Cucumbers are easy enough.  So, we are working, slowly, on getting our cutting down and making sure we use good technique and stay safe.  We still have a ways to go and I’m looking into a child safety knife for her to use as well.  But, as you can see, she’s working on it and it was her first go after a hand over hand with Dada.  Come this time next year, she will probably be making full five course meals.  HAHA

I also need to give HUGE props to J.

She had a Professional Development thing yesterday.  So, besides the stress of meeting new people and educators who probably had years of experience on her, she also had to navigate to and fro, be “On”, lose half a weekend day, and rep herself and her school.  That’s big time!  And, from what I hear, she was great and made a few contacts with people who she can share ideas and techniques with, or maybe just meet up for drinks and hanging out one day.  Plus, she mentioned a thing or two she learned and could incorporate into next year, so that was a great thing and sounds like it was a positive day for her.

Until the end.

She was going to get lunch at a little place, but language barrier got in the way, so she decided to just head home.  Couldn’t get a cab.  Grab was 25-35 minutes away, at best, and prices were high.  So, with zero experience outside of two trips with me, she found the BTS (Train) and navigated getting a ticket, and headed home.  Only to have bought a card for the wrong (too far) stop.  She called an audible and just got off at the correct stop, only to find that getting a Grab from there would have cost almost the same as in town back home.  So, she audibled again and got in a cab and used the Thai she knew and landmarks to get herself home…. At 1/3rd the price.

I wanted to write that, if for nothing more than to recognize J and that effort.  The bravery of doing that.  The will to figure it out and not melt.  The resourcefulness of solving the problem and not just punting and paying ~500 baht and waiting 30ish min on a Grab.  She told me the story and I was amazed at her.

Then, today, she amazed me even more, as we were leaving Lumphini Park with a melting down kid, I was on Grab and we were working on what was the best way home at this point, but Grab was pricey and a bit of a wait (12-15 minutes), so maybe we get a Tuk to the BTS and reverse engineer yesterday.  As a cab pulled up and a couple got out to go to the Park.  J took action and spoke with the cabbie and got us moving.  Once moving, I was able to take over and get us to our building, but as much as I want to paint that as a team effort, it was 85% J being brave, bold, and confident that she could accomplish something.  

I know she would say that I’ve done the same, that I did it first, blah blah blah.  She did it in real time, solving problems as she went and then followed that up with a Mom Moment and Melt Down Kid to do it again.  I’m glad I get to do this Internationally SEA thing with her.  She is beyond amazing and beyond resilient and strong.  Loves to you, J.  Kissies too!

For a bit of a laugh, J and I were talking last night.  About the news and leaks and info on the upcoming That 70s Show spinoff coming to Netflix right now titled That 90s Show.  Well, J was laughing that in That 70s Show the characters high jinx usually revolved around them smoking in the basement of a house and then doing wacky things.  J said that she thinks, sometimes, that when you see crop circles and Stonehenge and all that, it’s like the Universe had a high moment and did something strange that it just thought was cool in the moment.  Think about that for a minute.  A crop circle pops up and it’s not aliens or a hoax or anything like that, but just the universe being stoned and deciding to do something wacky.  Maybe it was just the day and the stress of it and then life and Kiddo and all, but we laughed for a good minute.  Being on our second glass of wine probably didn’t hurt either.

Let’s go, Kiddo…. You may melt down occasionally and that frustrates and disappoints Mumma and Dada, but we still love you and we’ve still got 27 months to explore this wonderful and chaotic city.