We took our first road trip today. It was something of a half-day trip to Lyon, which is about an hour away. Another ISE family invited us to go along on their trip to the aquarium there.
The trip involves a jaunt down a toll road. As we approached the payment booth, I said oh, I have change. When we travel through West Virginia, it’s $1.25 at each stop. Not quite that way here. 9 euros and some change. That’s a pricey road trip to go an hour from home. And I say that even though we are trying not to make real note of price differences at the stores, and to just accept them as part of life here and buy what we need.
Our first stop in Lyon was at the Pizza Hut. Now, this wouldn’t have been my first stop. I’m not a Pizza Hut fan at home and at our new home in France there is a positively excellent pizza truck at the bottom of the mountain that I’d much prefer to order from. (more on pizza truck eating in another entry) That said, the Pizza Hut food was better than Pizza Hut at home.
We ate there partially because across the street there is a Toys R Us. Another place I wouldn’t have gone, just because I am not a fan of taking Kaitlyn to a toy store. (I want that and that and that and that and that….) It was your run of the mill Toys R Us with a bathroom that was positively impossible to find. So impossible, I never did find it. We broke down and bought Kaitlyn a few things there, including a doll house. I bought her a French mail carrier to go with it, that was just so cute! She seems to really like it, which is really good.
Then it was on to the aquarium, which we got to with only a little bit of trouble thanks to Bonnie (the gps). Kaitlyn loved the aquarium.. ok that is a fabrication. She was as enthralled with it as she was with the aquarium in Maui, which is to say pretty much not at all. She did get to touch a starfish, which she thought was very cool. I touched it too, but not too much. It was bumpy. But it was a starfish how do I know if I was touching it’s toe or it’s eyeball? I don’t. I didn’t want to take any chances and touch too long.
The mini-travel was good but the real triumph of the day was with the whole I poopied in my underwear matter. The counselor who advises the ISE families told me I’m going about this all wrong. I cannot get mad, this is just how Kaitlyn is dealing with all the changes she is going through. She needs reassuring that we love her and that she is ok. She said we need to just clean Kaitlyn up and move on, like it’s fairly ordinary to poopy in your underwear and not a big deal whatsoever. Last night we told Kaitlyn we had been wrong and we gave back the doggie I’d taken away and told her not to worry about it at all. All evening she would announce I have to poopy in the potty! and she tried… oh she tried… over and over. Ultimately, she still didn’t make it. But what an astounding difference just to see her make the effort! And it feels better to be handling it this way. Although it is still a smelly problem. Good thing I bought some air freshener!