As promised...  photos from the beach. 

 

Ah summer................

 

The tourist arrives at her hotel.  Can you picture her in 20 years with a little tiny dog on her hip - dressed in some fashionable outfit (her AND the dog).

 

That was the view from our hotel balcony.  We landed on a pretty cool hotel - a Quality Inn of all things but it had this little atrium with talking parrots, a decent little snack bar/restaurant, two pools and a playground.  It did also have a game room (number one request from the kids) but the majority of the machines were broken but other than that - a lucky pick given we booked the week before we left.

Hello.  Hello.  Hello.  Down in the atrium each morning, the kids would do their parrot impressions and the parrots would do their kid impressions and when I listened back to the video I took I really couldn't tell who was who.  Hello.  Hello.  Hello.

 

 

Smiles

 

Chance!

 

Three smiles.

 

We were up on the second floor - kids loved running up and down the stairs.  Nothing more magical than a hotel really.  Free fruit in the lobby.  Free ice cream the day our room key didn't work and I had to run up and down to the lobby 3 times when they tried to fix the magnetic strip. 

 

Goofs.

 

Believe it or not, this was our first family mini golf outing (not counting the time we left "Perils of the Lost Jungle" with two kids in tears after the door to the spooky spooky crypt closed automatically and scarred the kids for life).  The mere suggestion of mini-golf still causes Shaeleigh to panic so we had to carefully pick the course.

 

A good time was had by all. 

 

The boys loved the rides this year.  Chance, finally tall enough and with YiLin, he has someone to go with (Shaeleigh loves the carnival games - not a fan of the rides). 

 

The Speedway.

 

YiLin would take his hands off going around the spin.

 

Our final adventure?  Well....  our goldfish tank was empty and we ARE at the beach...

 

How cute is this guy?  We bought two little hermit crabs which were named Hermie and Spidey (due to his painted shell that had Spiderman on it).

When we got home we googled hermit crab care.  Good grief.  Complicated little buggers.  Did you know they can live 20 -30 YEARS!  So of course we had to go to the petstore and spend $50 on our $2 crabs because they are not going to live 20 - 30 years without "stuff."   Sadly, Spidey has already died.  We blamed the painted shell because apparently, even though every store in the beach sells them with painted shells, the paint is toxic. 

Today we went back to the petstore, picked out a bigger tank, some more "stuff" and two more hermit crabs.  We now have Spidey II, Sunset and Beach (aka:  Hermie).  The habitat is quite nice and we fully expect to send them to college with Shaeleigh.

School is well underway.  We are noticing clear differences in the two schools.  We are used to Shaeleigh (and soon Chance) bringing home notes about bringing cans of food in for this or that cause.  So when YiLin brought home a note with a picture of canned food I didn't think twice and just put it on the counter.  Later in the evening I picked it up to see what he needed to bring in.  I had to laugh - he was supposed to return the form if he wanted to bring free canned food HOME.  Different worlds.

Well - I am off to bed.  School day and all tomorrow....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of the summer beach photos coming soon.  Meanwhile.... 

 

Shaeleigh stands for the traditional mailbox back-to-school photo.  She is heading to 3rd grade and quite pleased with her rolling backpack as they are not allowed until the 3rd grade so it's a big bonus of being in 3rd grade.  She has never been a huge fan of summer camp so she seems happy to go back to school (although not happy to get homework on her first day back!). 

 

Chance heads to Kindergarten!!! He has been waiting for YEARS to have his lunch packed and be dropped off in the kiss and ride lane.  In fact, he was disappointed on the first day that I decided to park and walk them to the door rather than drop them off.  They both had a heavy load of school supplies though so he agreed to wait until day 2 for the kiss and ride.

He has been wearing his gym uniform all summer and wearing the uniform above to church each week (and getting mad when I wouldn't let him wear it to preK).  However, on day 2 of school he says, "What?!  I got to wear this again?"  and on day 3, as he struggled with his tie and belt, "Phew, this costume is complicated!" 

We are holding our breath a little with Chance and formal school.  He has a lot of energy and I'm not sure he is ready to be contained.  He's always really enjoyed daycare/preK as he is so social so hopefully Kindergarten doesn't squash his spirit with all the sitting still and such.

 

And then there's YiLin (uniform free public school kid).  He loves school as well.  Goes off with a big smile and wave.  We are fighting Loudoun County as they denied giving him any services.  We had to officially contest the decision and request a review.  We've been working all summer on getting him to write his name - which he can.  He came home the first day with nothing but curlie-ques on the top of his papers so I sent a note to his teacher letting her know that he could indeed write his name but that she might need to let him know that it's expected.  Then I reminded him every morning and checked every afternoon.  If nothing else, he'll practice that each day.  How the school declared him ineligible for speech and language is absolutely beyond belief. 

 

And so the year begins.  You can see why we suspect that the younger Smith kids are not likely to take their studies and seriously as their big sister.

 

And yet... off they go!  Another school year begun.

 

 

 

oh geez.....   that blog hasn't been updated in months.... again!

 

Maybe no body noticed.....

 

 What am I going to tell people?  What if my people are mad?

 

 

Ah, who cares (bleep)....

 

 

 I've been busy.  I'm tired.

 

"Tired?  Did someone say, tired?"  BRING IN THE STAND-IN.....

 

Blog?  What's a blog?

 

 

 Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

We introduced YiLin to our Fourth of July tradition - The All American Classic "Lunchables Picnic".  Then we waited in the Ice Cream Truck line for about 25 minutes (but with the end in sight, no one got too impatient).  Then, Uncle Tommy found us!  THE COUSINS!  (you guys are always a big event).  Chance managed to back up into Shaeleigh's ice cream.  He didn't notice.  Shaeleigh giggled.  YiLin said, "YAH-Key!"  They all enjoyed the show and fell asleep on the way home.  The next day, I did my best but in the end, Chance went to school with a matted clump of dried ice cream covered hair.  He didn't notice.  Shaeleigh giggled.  YiLin siad, "YAH Key" and thus went July.

 

And so onward to August....

 

Shaeleigh's summer project has been to make a quilt.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.  She picked out the fabric.  I showed her how to measure it and then rip it (if you rip cotton fabric you actually get a straight line - much cleaner than cutting it and certainly easier).  She then laid the squares out to decide her pattern.

 

 I showed her how to put the squares together to be sewn (she's used the machine before).

 

 

 And then she sewed it together all by herself.  Next step is to add the batting and back - more photos to come.

 

 

 YiLin's summer project has been to learn how to write his name.  He'd rather be painting.  However, despite the groans and the "Oh man"s, he is actually very close to being able to do it.  He's been going to ELL (English Language Learners) summer school the past 4 weeks and everyday his papers come home with scribble scrabble in the "Name" area so it's clear he'd rather not make the effort.  BUT, he is also very clearly making the connection between letters and reading.  He enjoys books now and will "read" to me.   He is also going to speach/language therapy twice a week. He's definitely making progress but he is still very much at a preschool level.  He can be frustrating at times ("What are you doing?  What are you doing?  What are you doing?  500 times in a 15 minute period).  BUT, Compared to where he was 8 months ago - it's pretty amazing.  And he is such a funny kid - always a big smile.  He enjoys life.

 

My summer adventure....

 

A friend from Catholic U is directing Aristophanes "The Birds" at Georgia College and called to see if I would make her some puppets.

 

I totally trashed half the house making a flock of doves (10) and 5 other puppets including a Bread and Puppet style giant bird:

 

I wish I had a photo of the wings out but maybe I'll get one from the actual production.  I had the kids holding it up and shortly after this photo the bird took a nose dive into the plant on the left.  At least the beak landed in the soft dirt.

 

Shaeleigh looking a little leary.  

 

 

Birds don't scare me.

 

See, I am one with the bird.

 

And just to prove he can make a nice smile....   Chance getting ready for Kindergarten.  The uniform store didn't have shirts his size so we had to order them.  They also didn't sell pants any smaller than size 4 so he is wearing that belt on the last hole to keep them up.  He has been wanting to wear his wool pants since he got them (he's a little excited).  He's been wearing his Kindergarten shoes to school.  The shoes are actually Shaeleigh's old shoes which caused her to comment, "Chance is wearing my old shoes because you bought me BOY shoes MOM!"  hehehe.   I had to agree.  But honestly, they were girl's shoes - all black saddle shoes.  However, if I said that Chance would say, "I'm not wearing GIRL shoes."  

 

And speaking of Back to School...    let me segue into the big news of the summer:  www.Little-Corners.com

 

Kenn has ventured out onto his own and started a Petit Four shop.  

 

So with a house full of Petit Fours, bird puppets and kids....  it's been an interesting summer

I'll try to return before September, meanwhile....

 

I got some cleaning up to do....  

(note:  Kenn took this photo as proof to himself that I really could use a broom).

So many celebrations!

 

Shaeleigh got married! 

(Come on... it hasn't been THAT long between posts.)

 

Shaeleigh did receive First Communion.  She and her classmates looked lovely.

 

"Hey, you over there!"

 

 

Who me?

 

Shaeleigh does get her share of "tough love" 

 

I'll have to retake these photos on Shaeleigh's wedding day.

 

Save me from all this love!

 

Shortly after Shaeleigh wedding First Communion, Chance graduated from college Pre-K.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty smart.

 

My name?  Did you call my name?

 

 

Enogh of the suits!  Let the summer begin!

 

And so as summer began, softball/t-ball/mixed ball came to an end.

 

The Pink Panthers made it to the Championship but lost to the Gators in a very close game.  Some of the girls took the loss pretty hard but Shaeleigh was pretty thrilled to get a big ol' medal.  The team was pretty much split in half at the end.  Half crying over the loss and half beaming over their medals.  I'm hoping Shaeleigh decides to play again in the fall - she learned quite a bit and I think she enjoyed being on a team (although she headed to at least half the games and practices telling me she didn't want to, I think she enjoyed it more than not).  She has a good arm and is a pretty good fielder.  She lack confidence at the plate but I think she'll get there and at least for now, doesn't take it too hard when she strikes out.

 

Chance enjoyed his final game as well.  He was thrilled to get a big trophy.  He'll be back next fall for sure. 

YiLin had his last game Sunday but I didn't have my camera (bad mom).

 

Well, at least it was fun.  We tried "felting" again but it was only slightly more successful than last time.  I have a bag of felting wool (looks like colored cotton fluff) and you're supposed to just dunk it in hot soapy water and squeeze and roll and voila turn it into little felt beads.  We get to the voila part and always end up with soft, often falling apart balls.  Oh well.  As I said, it was fun.

 

And so........   we head off into another summer. 

Enjoy!

 

 

Baseball season has been launched at the Smitheroni house.  Well, actually...  you can't say "baseball" without someone correcting you.  Shaeleigh plays softball with a pitching machine and Chance plays t-ball.  YiLin plays a hybrid.  But let's be clear - no one plays "baseball."

Sadly, just about all of Shaeleigh's games and Chance's games are at exactly the same day and time.  Since I signed up to be an assistant coach on Shaeleigh's team, Kenn has Chance's games and I've got Shaeleigh's.  Luckily, YiLin plays on a different day. 

 

 

Shaeleigh's team is the Pink Panthers.  They are currently 3-2.  She got her first (and second) hit on Saturday which pretty much made her weekend.  She's a pretty good fielder and has a good arm.  She played catcher for a few innings on Saturday as well which was not her favorite.  The gear pretty much consumes her.  Everytime a ball got past her she'd have to lumber over to get it - looking like she could barely move.  Coach Bruce starting shouting, "game speed Shaeleigh, game speed."  HAHAHA - I could hear her mumbling, "Well, I can't really move in this stuff.  I can't see through this mask.  Where's the ball?  I can't bend over.  Is this innning over yet?"

I'll have to get a few action shots of her before the season is over.

 

Chance plays for the Spiders.  They started their season later so he's only had one game. 

 

Here he is, "sitting on his bucket" as his coach says.  Kenn reports that Chance has a lot of enthusiasm.  Coach Mike drew lines in the dirt to keep him from poaching.  This seems to be a key difference in the sexes.  The girls are yappin' and yappin' and playing in the dirt and when the ball is hit they just keep on yappin' and ball will roll by 2 or 3 of them before anyone notices.  The boys are yappin' and yappin' and playing in the dirt but when the ball is hit there's a free for all as they all run and chase after the ball in a swarm. 

 

Chance, ready for the ball.

 

How cute is that?

 

Little boy.  Big bat.

So while we are on Chance...  I think we will have to rename him to, "The boy who will not stop talking."  I think most of the time we must tune 50% of his noises out because it's never so apparent that he talks so much as it is when we go to church.  Whenever the rest of the church is quiet, there's Chance's voice always going.  Usually saying something embarassing.

Some recent examples:

• I tell him to stop talking.  He responds with, "Mommy, your breath is stinky."  I smile and kiss him on the top of the head to which he shouts, "MOM!  Now you're getting the stink on my hair!"
• A woman walks past after communion and he says, "WOW, that lady smelled GOOD!  Did you smell her?  She smelt GOOD!"  (and yes, he's standing an pointing her out."
• There's have been multiple, "This is SO boring!" and "Was that the last song?" which is always nice for your kid to say loudly during the lull.
• And then there was Easter Sunday when the priest was getting enthusiastic with the delivery of his homily and Chance looks up and shouts, "What's he getting all mad about?" 

 

 Our little angel.

 

YiLin has been watching his siblings closely and has mastered the art of looking ready.

 

 

He is playing in a league for kids 6 years through high school with various disabilities.  We weren't sure how that was going to work out but he had his first game last weekend and it seems to be a good fit.  He definitely understands the basics (hit the ball, run to the base, field the ball and throw it first or at least in the direction everyone is pointing) but with this league he can also change positions every batter pitch and no one is going to care.  The coach pitches to the kids.  Some of the older kids get regular overhand pitch.  Most get an underhand toss.  And after about 15 pitches or so, they will bring out a t-ball stand.  I liked that they always started out giving the kids a chance to hit a real pitch.  YiLin ended up with the t-ball stand his first two times at bat but actually hit a pitch his third time up.

 

YiLin running to third.  Both Kenn and I have noticed how much his running and general coordination has improved.  He used to trip and stumble so much.  Now he's getting pretty fast and bends his arms when he runs.  He rarely squats down because he's out of breath like he used to on short walks.  He's really gaining ground.

 

Look!  I made it to third!!!

 

 

Thinking about the steal.

 

A kid free photo.  I took this in our backyard one morning last week.  It was so beautifully foggy.

 

Aw... speaking of beautiful.  Brotherly love.

 

Okay guys, that's enough of the love.  There's a reason they sell boy's suits for under $20.

 

Happy Easter!

 

How about a smile boys?  This isn't Vogue.

 

That's better.

 

In China it's tradition to pose with the peace sign.

 

But YiLin is already catching on.  Here in the Smitheroni house, we pose with Moose antlers (or something).  Remember this guy:

 

 The pose that's sweeping the nation.

 

And with a final sad note....

 

We lost our dear sweet Pea-Eye.  We never knew exactly how old he was but was not a young fella.  Never the brightest bulb on the porch but he could chase a tennis ball until he reached the point of exhaustion and always seemed to have a smile on his face.  He was cheeful to the end.  We miss you buddy.  The house seems so strange without a dog to trip over.

 

 

Fear not Earthlings, the Autobots have landed and will save us from the Evil Decepticons....

 

 

I am Optimus Prime....  

 

I, Optimus, and Septimus Prime, my friend, will save you Earthling Girl.

 

Or maybe we will tickle you.

 

Yeah, we're not going to save you.  we're just going to tickle you.

 

Our work here is done.  

 

 

Happy Spring!  A tad early this year but no one is complaining.  For the first year, we have Chance signed up for T-ball and Shaeleigh signed up for softball.  Shaeleigh had her first practice last week and is not yet sold on the whole thing.  I've offered to be an assistant coach in hopes that will help her feel comfortable with the idea.  She did come away from practice happy but the week off in between has given her time to foster her reservations.  We'll see.  

 

She did enjoy the science fair again this year.  She made a "fake leg" to use to kick a soccer ball and measure the impact of air pressure.  She was disappointed that the K-2 graders did not get judged for ribbons.  Last year she won 2nd place and this year she was hoping to get another ribbon for her collection.  She loves herself a ribbon.

 

But, she did seem to enjoy the fair.  She was a hit with the 3rd graders who used the foot to kick themselves (or so we are told).  

 

 

This goofball came with me to the science fair (Kenn took Chance to gymnastics) and as you can see by the arm on the left, big sister kept him well under control.  

 

Speaking of gymastics, Chance is ready for the rings (although his class doesn't do rings).  

 

He's really pretty strong.  He can hold himself up for a pretty long time - it's crazy.  He can also flip all the way over.  

 

Yeah, it's true.  Dad hit me with a frisbee.  See my left eye?  

 

Are you talking about the frisbee incident again?  It was an ACCIDENT. 

 

 

And last weekend we celebrated YiLin's Baptism!  He did so well.  We weren't sure how he was going to react as it's tough to know what he understands.  The day before Shaeleigh and I showed him lots of pictures of baptisms and used Google Translator to explain what was going to happen.  We knew he understood something when he went to the sink and started pouring water over his own head.  hahaha.

 

He was clearly nervous once the baptism started but he went right up to the font and when the Deacon asked him to take his glasses off he did.  That was exciting for us - his receptive language is really coming along.  He almost started crying after the water but Chance gave him a hug and he ended up just fine.  

Taking photos before hand wasn't the smartest idea - it was muddy and we totally ruined the bottom of his white pants - but, what can you do.  Must have photos and you can't count on the clothes staying on after the Baptism!

 

Of course, we didn't get any normal photos.  Good grief.

 

Yeah, those are my kids.

 

Chance!

 

But speaking of faces....  YiLin drew this one.  That was pretty amazing.  

 

And then he drew this.  That was even MORE amazing.  He still mostly "Scribble Scrabbles" as Ms. Pompeii (Chance and Shaeleigh's former PreK teacher) would say.  But if you sit with him and tell him to draw a face, and eyes, and arms, etc.  he does pretty well.  That's a long way from what he was doing 4 months ago.

And that's the news of the week.  Toodles.

 

That was then....

 

 

And this is now!

Chance turned 5 years old today!  I can't say he's lost his baby fat because, cheeks aside, he never had any.  I can say that he is growing - most of his clothes are too short and I actually think that I looked at him yesterday and DIDN'T see his ribs.

 

 

In fact, big news of the week - after weighing in at a solid 33 pounds, we told him that he could get a new carseat.  "When can I sit in a seat with a cup holder?" is the constant lament I hear from the back.

 

 

Always up to something, this guy. It's written all over his face.

 

 

Handsome devil.

 

 

Morning face.

 

 

And he's doing awesome at his gymnastics class.  Every morning he asks, "Is it gymastics class today?"

 

 

And in case you are wondering, he's wearing a Power Ranger costume - no relation to his gymnastics class. 

 

 

Shaeleigh asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He said, "No crafts. I don't like crafts. Only you and YiLin like crafts. I like toys." 

 

 

But sometimes crafts are like toys.

 

 

Mickey Mouse

Happy Birthday Chancie Pants!  We love you.

 

Happy Valentine's Day! YiLin made that! Pretty impressive if you ask me, all things considered. Shaeleigh and YiLin had a week of Valentine's crafts. Took their time folding and stuffing their teeny tiny valentines for school and then making a number of little pink and red crafty items. Chance.... He's full of love, but not for valentine making.

Big news of the week: Yesterday, as Chance and YiLin and I were sitting at the table doing some drawing, YiLin said, "abble sauce-ah peas-ah" (applesauce please). Two words together and said without any context - I hadn't asked him if he wanted a snack or anything, he just asked for it. "abble sauce-ah peas-ah"

Kenn took the boys to get haircuts yesterday. I tried to capture some before/after shots. Bunch of turkeys:

Notice how Shaeleigh doesn't change her face - regardless of what her brothers are doing.

Shaeleigh busy with her valentines.

Ironman makes a guest appearance.

YiLin hard at work.

Showing off his final projects. "Wode, wode, wode" he says (mine, mine, mine).

Happy V-Day. Won't you be wode?

All the China, China, China around here has caused poor Chance to comment, "Vietnam isn't cool like China." 

It started when we had been looking at the photos from China and there were some photos of these circus performers.  He wanted to be assured that Vietnam had circuses too.  We took out the photos from our adoption trip to Vietnam and I pointed out the water puppet show.  Water puppets don't rank against people doing handstands on chairs.  Luckily we had lots and lots of photos of the motorcycles in Vietnam and the country was able to redeem itself a bit.

Over the weekend we went to the mall where they were having a big Chinese New Year's celebration.  He asks, "Is this Vietnam?"  Hahaha.  No. 

So last night we got Vietnamese food in celebration of Tet (Vietnam's Lunar New Year celebration).  But of course Chance mostly lives on air so when we asked if he liked it, no one was surprised when he said, "no."  Shaeleigh ate three plates of rice and a lemon slice (declared it delicious).  Chance got mad that Shaeleigh got the Vietnamese lemon.  And YiLin, of course, enjoyed it all, including the spicy chicken which he ate with one hand waving in front of his mouth and twelve glasses of water but he kept on eating it anyway.  "Hao chi.  Hao chi"  (good food, good food). 

 

 

Lion Dance at the mall.

 

 

Chance the fashion model.

 

 

 

The boys watching the show.  They enjoyed it.  Watched the different dance acts for over an hour. 

Sadly, church is not nearly as entertaining for them.  I would like to recommend a few dance numbers during mass to keep the kids' behavior in check but suspect I'll have trouble selling that to some folks.  Last Sunday we had our first complete church disaster ("put your coats on, we're leaving").  I thought my head was going to explode.  But what can you do?  We left half way through.  I brought them back home.  Everyone took an hour to collect themselves and then I brought them all back for the 10:30 mass and everyone did much better.  I'd like to say they learned something but why fool myself.

But on to better moments....  

 

The cousins gave Shaeleigh a Shrinky Dink oven for her birthday. And so we've been Shrinking a lot of Dinks.

 

We had to supplement the official Shrinky Dink oven with the toaster oven due to the abundance of master pieces. The boys loved to watch them curl up and shrink. They don't give quite as much love and care to the coloring and creating part but when it's time to curl and shrink there's not an empty stool in the house.

 

 

Someone at work gave the boys these most excellent Power Ranger outfits. Hahaha. 

And finally, if you are free on Sunday or Wednesday, you may be interested in joining in Shaeleigh's new "Merstery Club."

 

 

If nothing else, you should come to the "scils lab" (skills lab)

 

 

I look forward to learning about #6 myself.  Fun times indeed.

 

 

But Dictator Shaeleigh is not without her rules.

We all attended her first meeting on Sunday and we did a pretty good job of following her rules. She had us go on a treasure hunt in the backyard. She had hidden five scrolls (tied up with red ribbon) and follow the clues from scroll to scroll. We did well until the final scroll as once we found it, she disappeared. We figured we shouldn't open it without her there so we waited a bit and then went inside to find her. Unfortunately, once we did open it, we discovered it said, "Wait outside until I get the surprise ready."  Oops. Guess we didn't, "wait wail I explen the rules of what I am doing." 

But, luckily she was also finished getting ready with the surprise - a dance party in the family room - and a good time was had by all.

So I'm out of pictures but I'll add some news. 

YiLin is still enjoying going to school everyday.  We were invited to attend an assessment session with about 6 different teachers and specialists. They mostly reported that he is a happy kid, who loves to be "helpful" and enjoys following the other kids. He is now taking ELL (early language learners) 2 hours a day.  He is definitely understanding more English (get dressed, your shoes are on the wrong feet, etc) but still only says a handful of words. He has added, "ice cream" which proved that he is indeed a Smith.  The school is keeping him in 1st grade and we are scheduled to all meet again in March sometime.

I've returned back to work and have successfully mastered the triple drop-off (three kids, three schools).  Kenn is managing the triple pick-up.  We've only completely messed up one day.  We had a small bit of ice and were wondering why Shaeleigh had a 2 hour delay but the public school didn't have a closure listed.  So I go to drop YiLin off at the usual time only to discover that they had a teacher work day.  The school calendar had listed it something like, "optional floating student holiday," so I guess that didn't register as, "day off."  What if I don't want to take the option?  As much as we complain about the 30 phone calls, letters and emails we get from Shaeleigh's school about every little thing, I have come to appreciate the communication.  

Cheers! 

 

 

 

 

Lunar New Year is early this year (January 23) - Year of the Dragon - So I figured I'd better get my greeting out now so I won't be late with my "Happy New Year" twice.  I'm late for 2012 but I'm right on track for 4710.

Much has happened since I last posted.  Shaeleigh turned 8.  YiLin turned 7, had his "extra" front tooth extracted, and started 1st grade.  Big victory there.  We were concerned that the first day was going to be a disaster.  When I had taken him to the school to get registration paperwork he made it clear that he didn't want to go to school.  I even had our Chinese teacher, Mindy, talk to him about it but all he did was yell (in Chinese) about not wanted to go to school and that he wasn't smart.  The only glimmer of hope was that there was something of a smile on his face.

And so last Tuesday I packed up his lunch and filled his backpack with school supplies and off we went, bright and early.  We walked down to his classroom and met his teacher and lo and behold, although he seemed apprehensive (as did his teacher), he waved goodbye without a tear.  We jumped all day whenever the phone rang but the school did not call.  When I picked him up he had the biggest smile on his face and a birthday crown on his head.  In true YiLin style, he proceeded to upzipped his backpack in the middle of the hall (pay no attention to all the kids trying to walk by) so that he could show me his papers and a book of birthday greetings that his new classmates made him.  He was so proud.  And so it's continued.  He seems to enjoy it thus far.  And everyday he unzips his backpack to show me his papers and to show that he's eaten his whole lunch.  We're working on getting to the van first - so far we are outside of the building but not quite as close as the van. 

What is he doing all day?  That we're not sure.  His teacher seems largely surprised at his behavior and lack of understanding (despite my lengthy "heads up" note).  She asked to wait a few weeks before a teacher conference.  She seems patient however and did comment that, "He has a big heart.  And he likes to clean."  Hahaha.  Yes, yes he does.  He did also start ELL (early language learners) this week for 2 hours a day.  His teacher called and talked to us a bit about that.  We will meet with her down the road as well - after she gets to know YiLin a bit.

As far as we can tell, he doesn't have/was never taught the basics.  Things that most kids get from infancy through pre-K.  At home we are working on tracing - I had to ask Mindy to help explain tracing to him and enlist Shaeleigh and Chance to demonstrate.  Took multiple attempts but now he at leasts understands to goal.  That said, tracing lines just isn't very interesting to him.  He's not good at it and I'm sure it's boring.  And so he loses interest and doesn't want to sit through more than a handful of pages.  He doesn't seem able to make the leap to more interesting learning activities though so I'm going to stick with this for a bit.  Now that all the kids are back in school I'm going to try to get YiLin to "do homework" when Shaeleigh does hers.  This, however, is why I am not sure 1st grade is a good fit for him. 

Anyway, he has still come a long way with other behaviors.  His manners at the table continue to improve.  He has had fewer giant meltdowns and all in all he is still getting along very well with his siblings.  That's actually the best.  It's loud around here but it's been amazing to see Shaeleigh and Chance just encorporate him right into their games.  His delays do not extend at all into the area of running about playing superhero.  Yes, he is right on track there.

 

Shaeleigh didn't seem at all concerned about "sharing" her birthday with YiLin.  She decorated her/their own cake again this year.  This time she stepped up to helping on carving the pieces.  She decided on a Tiger (since YiLin likes Tigers) but made it a Moshling Tiger (since she is all about the Moshlings).

 

Piping on the legs.

 

Finished cake.  This is Jeepers, the Moshling. 

 

Chance honed in on the photo at the last minute.  He's a ham.

 

We didn't finish making our gingerbread trees before Christmas so we just did them afterwards.

 

We only had two trees but they did a good job taking turns with the different jobs.  At any given time, I only had 1 boy focused so it was mostly Shaeleigh and me plus whichever boy wasn't dancing about and eating icing.

 

A masterpiece

 

Grandma gave Shaeleigh a mini art set for her birthday.  We had an entire evening of drawing teeny tiny pictures.  Those little pencils cramp your hands right up.  Shaeleigh has continued but I am mostly in retirement and on frame making duty.

 

Blowing out the candles.  Oh, I should note that YiLin surprised us as he had apparently been taught to sing "Happy Birthday" in English.  "Happy Bwahdee do you.  Happy Bwahdee do you...."  He does like to sing.

 

This is the hat his teacher gave him.  "He wouldn't take it off," she said when I picked him up.  Sure enough, he wore it all day and wanted to wear it the next day too.  It's the little things.

 

We gave YiLin playdough for his birthday.  He didn't "get" playdough in China but with Shaeleigh and Chance playing with him, he played for over an hour.  Who doesn't like the dough!

And there we have it.  We have signed Chance up for gymnastics.  He starts tomorrow.  He can pretty much do a cartwheel and is a regular monkey with his jumping about.  I am hoping there are a few boys in his class and that they start off with at least some big ticket activities (trampoline, foam pit, rings) so that he doesn't get bored.  Balance beam walking will only contain him for so long.

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!