Everyone chill

Winter finally descended on us.  It went from cool to cold real quick.  Kiddo, thankfully, has plenty of fluffs to keep her toasty in the cold weather.  

Thursday, our water heater quit on us as well.  Thankfully, it was a quick turn around and it was replaced with a new unit the next afternoon, so it was about 24 hours without hot water.  No worries, as we had an easy dinner on Thursday that didn’t require hot water to do the dishes with, since nothing was greasy or sticky.  Mostly, it was plates and forks.  In our post Thanksgiving abundance of chicken, I made an Ala King earlier in the week and we were able to reheat that.  Toast and ala king isn’t a big clean up and the pot could soak and we could use the kettle to boil water as needed as well, so we made it all work.

Friday, with the heater being installed and not sure of the timelines on that, we went out and had a meal at a place we know and like near us, but after that, since we were at a mall, we hit up the Xiaomi (pronounced, Shi(a)-oh-mi) and looked at a smartwatch for Kiddo.  They have kid versions that J and I can link some of our accounts to, allowing Kiddo to receive calls on the watch from us, or messages, but also have payment options for using her allowance to buy herself things.  We can set limits on spending, though, so we can set a max cap on purchases or limit her ability to use transit as well.  It’s actually pretty neat.  I can set it up to read my phone using NFC and Bluetooth that I need to be within 10m of Kiddo to allow her to use transit…. Or to spend more than 15ish RMB.  So, for example, if we went back to the Wild Animal Park, Kiddo could get on the train using her watch and it’s linked account as long as J or I were near and then, let’s say she wanted to buy a stuffed friend at the WAP and that friend cost 200RMB, again, as long as J or I were within 10m of her, she would be allowed to do so.  However, if she was with her class on a field trip to the WAP and she wanted to do the same, it would’t be allowed, as it would be over her limits.  However, she could buzz me and I could approve a one time purchase, if I were inclined to do so.  It also has some GPS, so as long as she’s wearing the watch, I can know a general area that she is in.  Not that we’re paranoid about her, but if she were at the playground and decided to go to Family Mart for a treat, I could see that she was half km north, instead of in the general area of LQ.  That will all become more and more helpful as she expands her world and starts doing Tweenager stuff with friends.

J worked on Saturday, but it wasn’t a school day.  It was an extra day for her to work, enrollment of Kindergarten students, or Kinder to 1st or something like that.  The details I missed, but the important part was that J was gone all day, for an extra day of pay and work accumulation time, and I was with Kiddo all day.  We had a great day, playing some, doing the produce market together, and also doing some Xmas shopping.  We needed to go find J a gift or two.  We also grabbed lunch while we were out.  We were hoping for Pho, but the place we knew closed down, so now we are back to square one for Pho.  Bummer.

View of the walk to the Produce market via Kiddo

View of the same, via Dada

Kiddo, however, did get a Pho fix the next day.  On Sunday, her and J went to the library and hit up a pho place near there.  Sadly, it was faux pho and both said it was disappointing and not authentic in the least.  Bummer for them.  The good news part of the day was getting library books…. As seeing a kitty and having a chocolate muffin.  So, bright sides, right?!?!

Last night, speak of books, J and I finished watching something and J was readying herself for bed and we saw Kiddo’s light still on.  Since it was 21:30 (9:30pm) we figured that she was face down on a book sleeping again.  Nope, she was wide awake and reading past her bedtime.  We got her situated and shut down for the night and retucked and loved and she was off to dreamland.  What did I do to get a kid that stays up late reading?  Talk about winning the Kid Jackpot!

Let’s go, Kiddo…. The weather is cold, but that just means more fluffs and layers before we explore.  Also, in about 7 weeks, we can get all the authentic pho we want, as we’ll be in Vietnam for a few days.  Maybe we can even find some Bun Cha and Goi Cuon.  Lord knows, there will be some Vietnamese coffees and yes… you can have a few spoonfuls of the foam and yums.