Sunday after school Jack asked if he could play with the play dough that Ms. Karen sent home with him. Those of you who know me know that I have no use for any activities that make a mess. But being in a new country, I have tried to turn over a new leaf. So mark this down in the books and save this picture. It is likely to be a one shot deal. 
As I revealed last week, Millie has started potty training herself. But what happened on Sunday evening was truly classic. The kids wanted to call Grammie and Pop, so we did. During the conversation Millie announced she had to pee. So I took the iPad and followed her to the bathroom. Normally I feel the bathroom is a private place, but since these are her first encounters I feel it's fine to share them with family. Now Millie usually pees a couple of time before she decides she is done. Millie has never pooped, although I have tried to coax her to do so, on the potty. But Sunday night she decided was the night. She headed to the toilet while I was showing Grammie and Pop their bedroom. When she came into the room and announced 'I pooped!' And bent over....clearly she was telling the truth. Sadly, she had not left the evidence in the toilet but had dropped it on the floor in the hallway. I bent over and said, 'Ooo, Millie, it's a turd!' She just laughed and laughed. Ah the pleasures of potty training. A few minutes later I was putting her diaper and jammies back on and she said, 'Mama, where's my turtle?' I said, 'Millie, I didn't say 'turtle' I said 'turd''. Gross story, but totally cracked me up. Monday Stuart went to rugby training while I dreamed of the kids having an early evening. It seems that every time I have something to do and Stuart is in charge, the kids rash super early. However, this is not the case with me. That little Millie was dozing on the sofa when I got home from school. I woke her up with M&Ms because she does not got to bed before 9 pm on days she has a nap. I thought I caught her in time to prevent the late bedtime. Turns out that was not the case. I think it is something I do to encourage Jack and Millie to stay up and not want to go to sleep. At any rate, finally at 8 pm both kids were asleep and I sat down at the computer to book some fun activities to do with my parents. We now have a safari booked and a trip to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Tuesday we woke up and Stuart had the flu so he stayed home from school. I had a headache but thought it would subside. Over here, not going to school is more trouble than it is worth sometimes. In order to not get docked you have to have a doctor's note. So every time you are out you have to go to the doctor. Because I thought I just had a headache I went to school. As the day progressed my headache turned into a migraine and I ended up leaving during my prep, which happens to be the last period of the day on Tuesdays. On my way out of school I get a call from Stuart and he tells me Jack's school has called and Jack is in the nurse's office complaining of a headache. Seems we were all feeling poorly. I went to collect Jack and then Millie. As we were driving home Jack asked me if I had to go back to school. I told him I didn't and that because we were all sick we were going to just go home and rest. Millie head 'we are all sick' and asked,'Am I sick too?' Seriously? She doesn't seem to miss any conversation.
Once we were home, all received medicine and here was what Stuart and the kids did for a bit (Millie didn't last there long considering she wasn't really sick).
Happily, no one barfed in the night. However, Millie was yelling 'Mama' at 1:40 am and I found her at the door of the living room. I tried to put her back to bed but ended up just putting her in our bed until my alarm went off at 5 am. I have Jack another dose of Motrin when Millie had her episode. His fever never did really subside. When I woke him up Wednesday morning he insisted he was fine to go to school.
I kept hearing him talk and it sounded as if his throat was closing up. I continued to probe and finally asked him to open his mouth. He did and here is what I saw. Ick! When it all finally came out, he admitted he did have a sore throat but wanted to go to school so he didn't miss gymnastics. Oh my!
Stuart got to school, signed in and left. I had to drive kids to school so just loaded Jack in the car, and after dropping off everyone, got to my school to deliver Jack to Stuart, who was waiting to take him to the doctor. This balancing act is when I miss family support the most, obviously.
Stuart said the doctor told him Jack had tonsillitis and that if he got it chronically over the next few months then they might consider taking them out. We were told that his tonsils were exceptionally large. However, I think tonsils are something you grow into, right? Who knows. Hopefully this is our only fight with his tonsils.
By Wednesday evening he was back to his normal self, agrivating his sister and joking around, sometimes disrespectfully. Not sure how I feel about him feeling better:)
Thursday Stuart was dared to 'off road' by his school and he got stuck in the sand. Well done! One of the students at his school, I'm assuming an older one, helped him navigate out. Oh, as well as one of his fellow teachers, a Jeep and a tow rope. Maybe the 4 wheel drive Kia is not the best 'off roading' vehicle after all.
My second class on Thursday only had 10 students in it. I'm not sure what virus hit that group, but those 10 students were more noisy than the 23 that are normally there. We played games and spent some time on the playground. We have two more weeks and then a break. We will see how the numbers start to dwindle. We have the big state testing the last week before break so we are pretty sure students will all be in attendance that week, but this next week? Who knows?
Thursday evening we went to the Rugby Club for a birthday party and then we stayed for Jack's end of the season rugby celebration. The kids were back to normal, whatever that may look like. The only difference at the Rugby Club was that it rained. Rain here is like snow in southern Texas, it just doesn't happen very often so people get excited about it.
Friday morning we got up and went to church. We have had so many Friday activities with rugby lately that we haven't been to church for a while. Millie was in rare form and during the singing part she wandered up close to the minister. I'm surprised he didn't just pick her up while she was there. There may be a total of 50 people in the whole congregation so if he would have done that no one would have thought anything about it.
We had lunch at the mall and then headed to Dubai. There is a place called Global Village just outside of Dubai that is set up for about four months out of the year. Countries from all over the world are represented and sell their wares. There are rides for the kids and food vendors from many countries as well. Weather wise, it was a great day to go. Although there were some sprinkles here and there, it wasn't hot and thus a nice day.
Prior to our visit to the Global Village we went to a Park and Shop. This is a market that has brands of food you can get in the United States but not always find in the grocery stores in Al Ain. In fact, I may have already said this is a post way back but when we first arrived here people told us if we saw something at a grocery store that we wanted, we should buy it because it may not be there the next time. This is certainly not an exaggeration. I found applesauce pots, the little individual ones, when we first arrived here. Bought them once, haven't seen them again. The same is true for my beloved creamer, you know the Nestles flavored? One shopping trip the hazelnut will be there, the next time there will be nothing. Frustrating! And it makes me laugh that this is my biggest stresser in life right now.
We ended up being so excited that we spent silly money and are not exactly sure what we bought. It was a fun one-time experience. We discussed that there is really not anything that we miss and can't live without, besides good Mexican food.
We got back late, and fortunately I remembered to put the kids' jammies in the car because then we could just put them in bed once we got back.
Saturday morning we were going to go to the grocery store. But being unmotivated, we decided to stay at home. We also thought about going to have a BBQ at Zakher Lake, but it was windy and Zakher Lake is surrounded by sand dunes, so we decided against that as well. In the end we invited Cathy and her girls over for dinner and had a lovely evening.
Two more weeks of school and then a break. We can hardly wait!
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