Today we continued to keep it sort of low key, but I was pleased that Danny did not have much of a cough today. We did walk down to the stores near our house to pick up a gift that Dustin needed and a birthday present for our friend's birthday party tomorrow. There is a neat little store that carries a lot of home accessories, wrapping papers and cards called Tai Tai's Corner (Wife's Corner), so we stopped in there to pick up some things. When we got home we ate a quick lunch and got the boys down for a nap. I made cookies and a vege tray to bring to the barbecue. Danny has been really excited all day, as the barbecue is at his friend Alivia's house. They have become extremely close at school and from what their teacher has told me and Lindsay (Alivia's mom) they are inseparable during play time. I have been praying that the party will go well and that Danny will have a good time. I have been trying to prep him that it is a party and not a playdate, and other children will be present.
After naps, we pack up and head out to the barbecue. Danny is so excited as Alivia apparently tried to give him directions to her house and Danny wants to lead us there. (So cute as he takes charge of us all, by giving directions and telling us to hurry. Unfortunately, the directions lead to the school, so we have to redirect him a little). When we arrive, there are a few families there, and Lindsay brings Danny upstairs to where Alivia and her older brother Logan are playing. Slowly more and more people arrive and it is soon quite a fun barbecue filled with almost all Americans from either Joel's work (Lindsay's husband) or other families that they have met through the three years they have lived here. It was quite nice as I have met a great deal of the women, and it was great to connect their children and husbands to them.
Unfortunately, as I feared, Danny had a hard time at first with the fact that there were other children present and Alivia wanted to play with everyone. Both Dustin and I tried to encourage him to play along with Alivia and the other children. He spent most of the beginning of the party following her wherever she went. The lowest part, was when he came in crying to me, as he could not track her down and he interpreted this as her not wanting to play with him. It was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time as he sat in my lap just sobbing about it all. I was able to calm him down and we talked through again how this was not a playdate, but a party. It also helped him that first Alivia checked up on him through a window (she had been outside playing while this was going on) and then came in to see how he was doing. Finally, either Danny got more the concept that it was okay to play with Alivia and all the other children, or she gave him more focused attention, or maybe a combination of both. Yet, Danny had a great time the remainder of the party and did not keep coming up to us looking for Alivia.
Josh spent the party in absolute bliss, either playing outside with the slide, or pushing a cart around inside. There were also a lot of older children that we really sweet to the younger kids, and some doted on Josh, which made him happy and feeling a bit more grown up.
Overall, the barbecue was fantastic. Joel had barbecued a bunch of ribs, and chicken for the adults and cooked hot dogs for all the kids. Everyone helped out and brought sides to the party. Someone even brought authentic baked beans. So for a couple of hours in the backyard and inside our friend's home, we were all able to get together as fellow Americans and celebrate the holiday and one would never have thought we were in the middle of China.
We of course were hit with a dose of reality as we walked home and the traffic light was turned off. Normally in the US, everyone would treat this intersection as a four way stop. Yet, here in China, where even with the light you take your life into your own hands, no traffic light translates to a free for all. This of course was all happening in the dark. We thankfully made it across without incident, and walked the remainder of the way discussing what fun we had at our American barbecue in China.
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