a 3 month catch up

here's a catch up post. Since July, all 3 have had birthdays, they've been introduced to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and now we're in the middle of winter. They do ask often when the snow will be gone...they want to ride bikes. Of course, in Alaska, the snow is never gone, haha. below, Mei-Mei and Zhong-Lin's birthday August 17

a great kid pic taken after church, super hero and all

We waited til literally the last moment to figure out school options for the fall, just waiting to see how things really would be with everybody at home after some months of adjustment. And let's just say that it was plenty loud and chaotic. We ended up with Zhong-Lin going to kindergarten half day, and Mei-Mei and Han-Han doing a little 2 day a week co-op preschool and that has been working for all parties, especially me. The school would have preferred for him to be there all day, but we really felt that this year, being part of a family that other half of the day would do us all good. Sam and Emma are doing many classes online at wacademy.org which they've enjoyed. Can't always get them the quiet they need, but we're working on better solutions! Thanksgiving dinner at Zhong-Lin's school

English acquisition has been different than what I expected. It felt slow in the beginning; we used our 25 Chinese phrases endlessly and google translate was our best friend. But after 2 or 3 months, when the itouch got dropped in the toilet, no more google translate and it has been good. Honestly, kids are amazing in how quickly they learn...and that is with simple interaction, no classes or special assistance. They rarely, if ever, ask what is meant and they're fearless at using language. We all speak more choppy..."no listen daddy, You no go swim" or whatever. Emma has mastered the shortcut speech.

a bear hunt in early fall

adjustments

Well, our first week has been eventful and mostly oriented around survival: figuring out what foods they will eat, how to get to bed, and how to keep people happy. Han-han was the only one who loved Max from the start...this video of them watching him eat through the glass back door speaks volumes. They were plenty confident from behind the door. dog! Mei-Yun screamed and ran from him for days, so thankfully, a few days ago, Tom did some dog therapy and cured her. Now that we're all more comfortable, we're working on kind and appropriate treatment of animals.

Food is another biggie. I knew two of the kids ate pretty well, so I decided that rice with every meal could be the base and just change the toppings. So, now it is congee for breakfast (cooked rice plus more water to make a soupy porridge) with toppings they can't resist: mushrooms, seaweed and dried pork.

Dinner, rice with a few cooked veggies and a bit of chicken or fish. It's working!! Today, everyone had seconds of the congee, and every meal we're figuring out another vegetable they like. It's been a great influence on us. Tonight, it was rice, salmon, cooked broccoli and kale. Fruit is like dessert, so I've had to hide the bananas. Usually we're at the park for lunch, so bread and various finger foods...I'm feeling good about our progress on food!!

Language acquisition has been different than I expected...yes, it has only been a week, but they pretty much can be counted on to say: "thank you, amen, and good dog"...and sometimes "more please". We high five them for good English, so we're probably establishing an unchangeable pattern that will embarrass us all in the future. They definitely understand more than they speak. One hilarious experience was them being in their car seats and hearing our Simple Chinese for Adoptive Families cd and being SO happy. They repeated all of the Chinese phrases just beaming with perfect pronunciation, so really, they're learning English while we learn Chinese!

more on siblings, sharing and parents later.