Sounds Familiar...

Rob here.
It's been a busy season, and I haven't devoted any time to writing blog posts lately. April, on the other hand, is trying to hijack this space and convert it into a full-fledged mommy blog. Don't get me wrong, she's got some great stuff here (as many thankful jiaozi eaters will attest). But I feel like I should at least put a few words in :)
Fortunately, I prepared a few lists back in December, planning to post one every few days. I got as far as one. Here's list number two. I give you:

Things I Say to My Kids that I Can Also Imagine God Saying to Me:
-When will you realize that when you don’t listen to me, you get hurt?
-I’ll be back very soon.
-You have no idea how much I love you.
-It's OK to cry, you don't even need a reason.
-I'm disciplining you because I want to help you become a much better person.
-Do you really think I don’t know what you’re doing?
-Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.
-I'm not going to stop you, but I know this is going to end poorly!
-I like it when you try to be just like me.
-This is one of those times you need to sit and listen to me.
-You have grown so much!
-My instructions were very clear, and I know you heard me. What happened?
-You can't do everything I can do, and that's OK.
-I know this hurts, but it’s going to make you feel better, I promise.
-Stop whining.
-Be nice to your brother (or sister).

Things Strangers Give Our Kids

One of the things we love about our life here is that strangers often give things to our kids. Now in our home country, that would be cause for concern; but here it's pretty normal. One American friend of ours asked an older East Asian woman why she insisted on giving hard candy to her very young daughter. The East Asian woman explained, "I know you need to take it away from her, but she's so precious and it's all I have to give to her." I think that's so awesome, even if the protective Daddy in me wants to grab some of these things and throw them in a lake before my child gets hurt (as I once witnessed another American friend of mine do). So here is a list of some of the things that strangers have given our children:

Beaded Necklaces- 2 of them, both given to Trey. Cosi claimed them rather quickly
Bags of candy
Hair clips
Genuine rabbit fur hat- "Don't worry, rabbit fur is a less expensive fur"
Gloves - Security guards at the airport give her rubber gloves and she likes to chew on them (which isn't very safe).
Spicy Pork Jerky- I just hope they didn't see Cosi spit it out after one taste.
Oranges- Probably Cosi's favorite gift
Unidentifiable Food Items- Which Cosi sometimes eats anyway
Scarf- Cosi is actually building up a nice scarf collection
Umbrella- I try not to take that as a judgment on my preparedness as a parent
Expensive items from the store shelf- to keep them from crying in the store, but also to try to get us to buy them
Their children’s toys- Generous parents, angry kids.
Their phones and cameras- Cosi is bold in asking for these, and most people are surprisingly generous in letting her borrow them.
Money (from a beggar!)- Cosi thought he was offering to let he take from his hat, he said keep it, we didn't let her. I'm pretty sure he was a swindler, though.
Lotion- a few kind women in the airport let Cosi go through their purses and use whatever she pulled out, this made our airport experience much more enjoyable...
Seaweed- In line at the grocery store, Cosi was happy to take it, less than happy to eat it.
Doughnut- Someone on the metro let her pick one out of a dozen. Mommy steered her toward a chocolate one.
Dark Chocolate- A very generous man on the train gave Cosi a whole box of dark chocolate, most of which ended up with Mommy and Daddy :)
Safety Pins- One each for Cosi and Trey, given to them by the fitting room attendant while April was trying on clothes. I had to discretely swipe them back and hide them in my pockets. Trey really wanted to chew on them and Cosi had recently learned the words "stab!" and "poke!"

So I still don't know whether we're expected to politely refuse or return things, or whether they are really meant as gifts. We try to refuse, but once you offer a kid something, it's hard for the parent to say no. In the meantime, we'll enjoy sharing the candy and be on the lookout for safety pins.