Weathering the storm, praising the girls.

I’m going to keep this brief and just say that Typhoon Bebinca was an experience.  We survived and there was no major damage to the apartment.  The grounds took a beating, however.  

I was a LOT of wind.  The sliding doors to our patio rattled a few times pretty hard, but nothing of consequence.  We just kind of sat around as a family and played with Kiddo and kept things as normal as we could with a typhoon raging outside.  We got lucky— The path was predicted (about 24 hours previous) to come and just smack us, but it kept south and we just took a glancing blow.  Landfall was right around 09:00h, but by 15:00h, Kiddo got to go over to her new friend Y’s place and play there a bit before we had a very yummy chicken stir fry that I made.  It was simple, but I was prepared for a much worse storm, so it was just using up what we had in the house.  

Here's some pics and vids, but there’s going to be more below that.

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OK, part two.

We took some time on the Mid-Autumn Fest to watch Stardust with Kiddo.  It’s one of J and my favorites.  Kiddo was digging it.  However, during the end with the kissing scenes, she pulled a blanket over her head and “Ewwwwwwed” at it.  J and I just laughed and I quoted The Princess Bride at her; “Is this a kissing book.”  LOL.  So, we did have some fun with that.  

Also, Kiddo and I got a chance to play some BattleShip during the long weekend.  She’s good.  She was playing smart.  She was picking her spots well.  She was thinking about how the ships would fit and where to place shots.  She won and not because I punted or gave it to her, but she thought it through and beat me.  I’m proud of her for that and she’s really starting to get strategy and some basic game theory.  Not bad for a kid her age.

Not all the praise goes to Kiddo, however.  J, for her part, has been kicking butt also.  Teaching at a new school, helping around the house, mumming the Kiddo, and doing a Masters is a TON of work.  Yes, she’s stressed and busy and she wishes she had more free time, but I gotta say that she’s keeping on top of all of it and not just forgetting me or Kiddo.  She’s still making time for us and to be a family member and not just work/school lady.  I’m very proud of her as well.  She’s doing 80 hours of work in a 24 hour day and still managing to keep a smile on her face for Kiddo and make time to hang with me a bit and share a smooch and a smile.  You’re doing great, J, and keep kicking butt.

As for me… I’m just managing things.  Air traffic controlling it all.  Filling in the gaps (as needed), cooking, cleaning, keeping Kiddo up on life and school and friends and all that, and just Dadding the situation as best I can.  Little things to help, the errands and tasks that need to be done.  It’s not the funnest stuff in the world, but it’s the needed stuff.  Soon, we will hit a stride and catch a routine and that will make things easier, but for now, it’s just filling in as needed and doing what I can to keep Kiddo Kiddoing and to keep J focused and kicking butt.  I’m going to get some new Converse out of it… And (as autumn falls) some new Doc Marten’s as well.  So, I’ll count that as a win, for sure.  

We’ve survived a rough move in and then a typhoon with a smile and without killing each other.  That says a ton, I feel.  About us as a family.  About us as individuals.  About the trust we have in each other and the love.  It’s only going to get easier from here and that also says a lot about a small family of American Expats living in Shanghai China.  

Let’s go, Kiddo… It’s been a weird and eventful week.  It’s a short week this week and that’s a plus.  Also, you get to hang with new friend H tomorrow and eat a hamburger.  How cool is that?  Keep being you and being the unique and wonderfully imaginative kid you are; We love it and so do your new friends.  Let’s keep the adventure going and see all we can see— Even if that means experiencing a typhoon.