Two China Dolls and a Prince: Our son said "I love you".......

to the INTERNET GUY!!!!!
Let me explain.....the kids got home from school and lo and behold the internet wasn't working. NingNing and our 7-year old didn't know what to do with themselves. It turned out to be the best thing, because he and Judi and Jazmin all spent the afternoon wrestling, playing, tickling, and rolling around on the floor together. Then the girls latched themselves each onto a leg and NingNing was trying to walk with 100 lbs on his legs! He was in rare form tonight, bouncing around, playing with everybody...even Mom got in on the tickle fest (side note....this boy is getting strong! Mom won't be his wrastle partner too often, lol!).
Then Dad comes home from hunting and says "I'm hungry!", whereupon NingNing says "Me, too!". After we ate, our internet guy came over to see what was wrong.....he got it fixed and as he was walking out the door, NingNing says "yay..I love you!". I shut the door and headed right for the boy! I said, "NingNing! The INTERNET guy? I love you? Seriously?!!? What about Mama??!!" He laughed, looked at me, and said "I LOVE YOU!" This kid is hysterical.

Now on to an amazing development....NingNing can read English! A few nights ago, I was typing into Google Translate and he began to read some of the words, so I kept going...but this gave me an idea.
The next night I got out some Dr. Suess books, "Go, Dogs, Go" and "Hop on Pop". I gave the first one to NingNing, then I logged onto Google Translate. My intention was to type the words on the pages, translating them and providing instant comprehension. However, as we began, NingNing amazed me by reading a good deal of the words on his own! I wound up only typing the harder words to help him along.
Tonight we did Go, Dogs, Go again AND Hop On Pop. He had us laughing so hard because he uses this squeaky, high-pitched voice to read the words and it. is. hysterical! The video is of him reading one page....that's all we could get him to sit still for because he was chuckling so much!

And in other happenings.....

This is what happens when two skinny boys wrestle..they get tangled!

James (our 15-year old) and a friend at their NHS induction ceremony...he is growing into a young man before our eyes.

Our sweet babies playing in the leaves at Grandpa and Grandma's house

NingNing enjoying a fire engine ride on Halloween

Jessica at her college visit

I missed blogging on a couple of interesting and fun events....Oct. 20 we got together with the two other families of NingNing's friends, Zane and Seth. We were at the park for 5 hours! But it was such fun, and now that I think back, it was around then and after a sleepover at Seth'[s house the next weekend, that we noticed a change in NingNing. We think we are finally seeing the "real" NingNing; there is a noticeable change in his demeanor. He smiles more, laughs with us, is talking MUCH more, in Chinese AND English, and really engaging with all of us more, especially Jr. They tease each other and wrestle and are establishing a good bond; he just seems so much more relaxed. It's hard to explain; I mean, we thought he was doing well before, but now we see just how much more at peace he seems.
Lately, we were talking about China....he was showing us some pictures of his classmates and he was describing some of his life before. The conversation led us to the point where I felt comfortable asking him why he chose to be adopted and leave China. He stopped and thought a moment and then said...."I just wanted a home...."....after I gathered myself, I told him he had one now.....forever....and we are so glad he made that choice.