Schooltime!

NingNing begins full school days this week!  Last week, on Thursday, our school called; they had a plan for NingNing!  Our school has alternate days of classes, 4 "blocks" a day.  For the 1st and 4th blocks he is mainstreamed, and receives ELL instruction during 2nd and 3rd blocks, or 3 hours.  The school worked hard to get this in place quickly as I have to return to work soon, so that is a huge relief for us.

NingNing continues to make strides.  With his program beginning at school, the other kids getting into the "meat" of school, and after-school activities starting, things are revving up.  I also go back to work fulltime at the end of September, so JR will be taking over the morning duties.  We are having some problems getting the boys up for school, so last week, we moved bedtime for them back to 9pm.  Neither boy was very happy about that, but it's a done deal until they begin to get up on time.
NingNing tends to wait until James gets up (and James is NOT a morning person) and I realized today that perhaps he has no sense of WHEN he needs to be up!  So tonight I am going to set their alarm clock up and let NingNing know that when it goes off, it's time to be UP!  With 5 kids to get ready for school, we can't have two lying in bed until 15" before the bus comes.

As time goes by, it's apparent that NingNing and our youngest, Judi, have bonded amazingly well.  While still teasing her like a brother will, he is very concerned when there is something wrong or she is upset.  She gets nasal congestion everytime the weather changes and he told us on Google Translate that she was sick, so we had to explain that she has medicine for that and will be ok.  Then last night, she was upset about a friend at school and he sat on her bed consoling her.  They are usually never far apart.

With the rest of us, the touchy-feely stuff is about where I'd expect it to be.  We kiss our kids goodnight, but so far it's a no-go with NingNing.  We make it a point for everyone to say goodnight to each other and I'll say "I love my boys!" as we turn off their light.  NingNing'll sit next to us on the couch and has no qualms about being squashed together there or in the car or the occasional shoulder hug or casual touch.  The rest will come in time and we are thrilled with the progress he's made.

The one area I'd like to improve on is NingNing's desire to do physical things.  We know they weren't used to a lot in Chengdu, so we try to get the kids outside when we can.  Saturday, I had the girls and NingNing take a walk with me, just to get out of the house for a bit.  Then Sunday, after church, Jr, James, and NingNing went out on our deck and he was introduced to target shooting.  I think he really enjoyed himself and looked very interesting with goggles and earmuffs on!  Then we went off to Grandpa's where we have discovered he can ride a bike!  He did that for quite awhile and just hung out with the kids watching "ICarly".  He really seemed to open up Sunday and smiled and laughed more than I've ever seen him do up to now.

Everybody likes their electronics!

Brothers

NingNing started it and this is how it ended!

Setting up the "targets"

Dad and NingNing

Hangin' out

Tonight we are going to the library to try out the "ESL cafe" they offer for free, to see if it would be a good supplement to school.  NingNing also indicated he wants to take piano lessons, so we're working on finding a teacher with an opening.