Hello Birdie!

I have been trying to potty train a two year old for five days now. Some days it goes much better than others. One nice thing about Thailand is that NO ONE has carpeting so if your kid goes "wee" all over someone's (or your own) floor it's not a big deal, you just wipe it up and move on. And they start potty training really early here...like six months old (maybe even younger than that). Today has not been a great day for the potty and PJ. This morning as I was preparing our breakfast of scrambled eggs and leftover biscuits that I made last night (woo hoo, I am starting to cook here!), PJ walked into the kitchen and I promptly smelled a horrific odor coming from his cute little monster truck underpants. Yep, he had pooped in his underwear. So, as any good mother would do, I sent him straight into the bathroom. As I was taking off the poopy undies I heard a fluttering. This is not uncommon in our bathroom and so I didn't think anything about. The roof of our bathroom is made out of some sort of plasticky material so we hear birds all the time. I continued to clean PJ's behind when I realized the fluttering I was hearing was inside the room and not outside! A bird had somehow made it's way into our "hong naam"!!! Since Paul flew to Malaysia this very morning to do some visa stuff I was without my fearless other and better half to catch the bird. (And yes, I recall at least one other instance where we had a bird stuck in our house in Pennsylvania and Paul fearlessly caught it and released it back to it's natural habitat...that not being OUR house!) So, what to do? I needed to get the bird out of the bathroom in case I needed to use it before leaving for church. There's something freaky about being in a small space with a bird who is scared because all the sudden it isn't free. I decided to call on Phii Denaii. He is our landlord and we couldn't ask for a better man. So, I walked over to his house (he lives in the same compound) and asked for him. He came out and asked me if I wanted to go to the market...in Thai, and I said no, in Thai, but I started acting out what I did need him for. (I had made plans to go to the market with his wife before church as well). Then his lovely wife, Phii Lina, came to the door. Phii Lina is our house help as well as PJ's caretaker while we are in language school. Her English is pretty good, so thankfully, she translated. We walked back over to our house and there was no bird! I think Phii Denaii thought I had lost my mind but then he saw the hole at the top of our bathroom ceiling and said, I think, in Thai that he would patch the hole later. About 20 minutes later, the bird appeared again. I shut the bathroom door, checked a few minutes later and it was gone. I don't quite understand this bird...you'd think it would get the hint. I would have posted a picture but Paul has our camera.

Just a cultural note, you may be wondering what the Phii in Phii Denai and Phii Lina stands for. This is a very Thai way of showing someone who is older than you respect. It is a family term meaning older brother/sister. Even though they really aren't our brother/sister we still call them our Phii because it is like they are our brother/sister. This is true in Thai relationships as well. For example, at the language center all the teachers know who their Phii is (based on age) and they call each other accordingly. So, when a Thai person asks you your age, don't be offended, just know that they are trying to figure out if they should be showing you respect by calling you Phii or not!