Happenings for NingNing

NingNing's last 3 days have been eventful.  I alerted him in China that we were a busy family :).  Saturday was haircut day.  NingNing has shown no signs of grieving, but when we talked about hair, he put up huge resistance.  We finally convinced him to accept just a "small" haircut.  When we watched James get his buzz cut, you'd have thought he was going to pass out right there!  But he survived and at least he can see now! Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma's (Wai Po and Wai Gong) to celebrate our August birthdays; Jessica's, Jr's and NingNing's of course.  NingNing actually picked the cake he wanted and then  we opened a can of chocolate frosting for him to try; he liked it!  So marble cake with chocolate frosting went on the "like" list.  On the "don't like" list are milk, eggs, cheese, Cheezits (is that possible??),  syrup, ice cream, spaghetti noodles (too bland).....
We gave him a small carved chess set I had bought in China, and the grandparents gave him a card with $10.  He opened it and said "Wawww", which apparently means "wow!"  When we got home, we asked him what he thought on Google Translate, and he said "he liked".  He also got a chance to meet my cousin (bao jie) and her boyfriend.

Sunday was church; I had bought silk shirts for the boys and had hoped they would wear them; both my boys looked so handsome!  NingNing won't believe he is nice-looking; always putting himself down, avoiding pictures if he can.  Even though I know he couldn't possibly understand a lot, he really seemed to pay attention when the sermon was going on.  For lunch, we met with a Caucasian friend who speaks Chinese.  He came out, said Ni Hao to NingNing and proceeded to converse in Chinese; NingNing's eyes got huge and he was speechless for a minute, then he joined in.

The conversation turned to sports and NingNing said he wasn't sure about doing basketball because he really wanted to concentrate on his English and doing well in school.  I thought it would be really good for socialization, but we won't push it if he really doesn't want to.

Handsome Son #1

Beautiful Little Ladies!

Handsome Son #2


Now.....school.  Today was the red letter day.  NingNing was tested for English proficiency, which demonstrated Level 1, which we knew.  Then a lady came in and evaluated him some using Google Translate; that took about an hour.  We then had to return at 1:30 to discuss what the school had decided to do.  There was an interpreter who helped us "talk" a little more in depth; found out he is doing ok, and there wasn't anything different he wanted or needed from us.  The translator said his name was "cute" and  I thought he would melt right through the floor; first time I saw him blush, lol!
Basically, it was decided that for this week, NingNing will go halfdays starting tomorrow, and will be "buddied" with another 8th grader.  They told him through the translator he's expected to do nothing but observe, watch, listen, and absorb English; they are absolutely doing their best to ensure his transition to our school goes as smooth as possible.
I had the translator (a senior Chinese student at UCM) ask NingNing how he felt about tomorrow and he said he wanted me to be there.  I was so thrilled that he is already bonding to the extent that he wants Mom nearby; so he will ride the bus with his siblings and I will follow behind and hang out in the library until time to go home.  He seemed happier knowing I would be close.

Later, our oldest, Jessica, had a softball game.  She's a senior, so we're trying to go to as many games as possible.  She got two great hits, and a couple RBIs.  NingNing enjoyed it, but started yawning, so we headed home once we knew the outcome (we lost) and got all 5 kids in bed by 9:15!  That's pretty much a miracle for us.