SNOW, alot of it

A Knight's Tale Dance Scene

this is fairly off-topic to this blog. we were watching a show tonight by the cast of the Today show, recapping some of the highlights of this year and also some of the sorrowfuls. the last part of the show had to do with famous people that have passed away this year. one of our favorites was heath ledger and our family very much enjoyed the movie, The Knight's Tale. this is one of our favorite scenes from the movie, so i knew if i could find it, i would post it tonight, enjoy.....

Zhe shi wo nuer, wu keyi

more pictures sent from dani's china jiejie............

Listen up.................

i really like what this lady has to say......
i was challenged last spring to review again the biological aspects of autism. at that time, the thoughts of doing so were a bit overwhelming. this lady's books about her son, and autism, have continued to intrigue me since last winter. i finally ended up buying both through a interesting story, probably only to myself. i am so thankful that i did, because i believe we are about to embark on another adventure with john and take another leap forward on this journey through the world of autism, stay tuned..............

please let me in.........i am COLD!!!!!

BIG SNOWWWWW..........................

record 24 hour snow levels here!! the day was busy with shoveling and plowing and the snow just kept falling.
dani enjoyed "swimming" in the snow, and was a big helper as was everyone else in the family.

perfection doesn't exist but the quest for it makes you better----
---thierry henry

breathe a sigh of relief..............

yesterday marked the end of the first quarter of college for alex. (as some know, alex is a junior in high school, and attending the running start program, which allows juniors and seniors to take college classes if they pass an entrance test) i must say that our family didn't know what to do last night, without the usual night study session. lucky alex gets three weeks off, and than on the her second quarter of college. she didn't really like my idea of homestudies for the next couple of weeks......i wonder why.

Na zhang zhaopian shi ni de ma?

shi, zhe shi wo nuer...
Practicing some of the chinese i've learned but that is a different story.
these pictures of dani were sent this week from dani's china(foster) family...........and are of her when she was younger..........

It always seems impossible until its done.
Nelson Mandela

Qing gei wo kankan caidan..................

"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

this one is for brother, john....................

pictures and a favorite bedtime story............

ABC's, Dani, and chinese school...........

WOW!!!, how did we get to a three month mark of having dani in our lives? it's been a whirlwind, with lot's of lessons, getting used to having a lively five year old in the house. she is most amazing. yesterday, she and i were sitting in the kitchen, hanging out, and she said, "i love you". it was sort of mumbly, and my response was "what?", in which she said again, "i love you, i love you, i love you". i am without words to truly describe having this little girl in our lives. knowing she was born in china, and how does life work, that certain decisions and events are made, results in this special person now being our family?
john and dani are becoming...........well.........brother and sister. i had to stop them arguing in the high school today over my keys and who was the best person to open the car door. there are kind moments between them, as they play video games, or the protective attitude john has when we are out and about, and tonight, watching the presidential debate, with her tickling his head.
dani and alex, huge great BUDS!!! alex has been preoccupied with starting college this week, and dani has missed her, so this afternoon was a time to reconnect, going into the hopefully not so busy weekend.
dani is a mind sponge, and busy learning math, her abc's and actually doing some beginning reading. we had made the decision to do her studies at home, and this is going very well. her english keeps improving, and she wants to know about everything. her new word is "WHY"
chinese class tomorrow!!! and cross country for john. gotta go...............

chinese class

we have started dani in a chinese class taught in chinese on saturdays. she seems to like it, and i am glad to have some support for her chinese language. since she is in class, i also, have started the adult class offered at the same time. as i am sitting here tonight, i am aware that just about everything gone over in my class slipped in one ear and out the other. i am glad to be in class, however, and wonder how this adventure will go.................

is there an artist in the house...............?

dani loves to spend lot's of time writing in notebooks, or drawing. it is amazing that her attention span in these areas in extensive, and it is obvious her mind is busy at work. as we have started homeschooling dani, after deciding against putting her in kindergarten, she is happily learning numbers and letters at home. she loves her math the best, i think, and has been starting to learn some beginning phonics, and writing. she is very quick!
she has started chinese class on saturdays. she is being instructed in chinese, and we are wishing hard to support her chinese language. there is an adult class, also, at the same time, so i am going to be participating in that, and here we go on a new journey, seeing what can be accomplished keeping dani's chinese language.

oh happy day............the dentist visit..........

oh so happy to report that our dani has a beautiful cavity free smile, with lot's of room for big girl teeth when they come in!!!!!
dani was a charmer, and very good in the dentist chair. she sat patiently and quietly while her teeth were cleaned, and pictures taken. she was of course very inquisitive about all the dental equipment, and the computers that showed pictures of her teeth.
eye doc next on thursday..................

some of dani's favorite music favorites..........

dani has many favorites but these pictures have to do with some of her favorite music choices at this time. can you guess who these gentlemen are? dani's songs............"benny and the jets", and "fur elise"

Happy Birthday ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex, we love you, happy happy birthday, may you have the best one yet...........

-all life is an experiment. the more experiments you make the better....
--ralph waldo emerson----

dessert by jeff...............

as our family is exploring healthier food choices and experimenting with a new crockpot, here's what jeff came up for dessert. must have gone over ok, as it is long gone today..............

Grrr-Double Grrrr...........

dani found one of john's old halloween costumes, and proceeded to be dragon for the day. imagine one small dragon walking the hallways of our high school, flanked by one mom, and two teenagers. a bit of conspicuous family living, for those reading that have gone through the adoption process and had to take the conspicuous family training.
meanwhile, john has renewed interest in the above blue silk pocket that he played in when he was probably dani's age, when he and i lived the son-rise days. could it be because dani discovered the fun possibilities of playing with it?
john and dani's developing brother and little sister relationship continues to fascinate, intrigue, and makes me laugh. they are so funny together. dani loves to tease endlessly john, and as he is trying to figure this out, has assumed a protective and big brother attitude.

boston teenagers in wuhan, china

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/specials/083008orphanage/
our family was honored to meet these gals and have lunch with jenna when we were in wuhan adopting dani. check out this video.............

what's in your backyard?

john and i came home the other afternoon after cross country practice. i was getting groceries out of the car when i heard john yell, "SNAKE, there's a SNAKE!" alex came running outside, the dogs were barking, dani's peering from the door. mass bedlam in the front yard. we all thought it was a rattler, from the noise it was making, but counldn't see any rattles. it was only a bull snake, however, and jeff reminded us all of steve, the crocadile hunter, as he successfully removed the snake from the yard............

saturday music choice.............

-if you haven't before, start having dreams, have lot's of them. have great dreams, have small dreams---
-----james b stewart

taking it easy.....................

--so many of our dreams at first seem impossible, than they seem improbable and than when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable
-christopher reeve-

saturday at a car show

a different event for this family, spending the afternoon at the fairgrounds with the hotrod.
we ran into a fellow china traveler that was in guangzhou with his wife adopting their new little daughter the same time as our family. it was fun to visit with him and find out how she is doing............

Beijing2008-Fuwa

august night moon

shin guards and soccer shoes

last week alex and i escorted dani on her first field trip to the indoor soccer center for a shopping exursion in new foot apparel. we borrowed a ball so dani could try out the indoor soccer field which she thought was way cool.....
later in the week, we had a night at the park trying out dani's new shin guards and soccer shoes. i am fairly convinced she is striker material........
meanwhile, john was chilling in a tree.........

hectic good times..............

home from a night class of tae kwan do for john. he did well and is learning new stuff. i couldn't get dani to budge out of the place, she is engrossed in this new experience, and in the way that we communicate these days, a mixture of words, and hand gestures, she indicates that one has to be five to participate in tae kwan do, (because that is what i have told her), and that she, dani, is five, and wants to do tae kwan do. (big smile on her face!) she is quick to chastise me when i do not bow before walking out the door and is disciplined to do so herself.
dani is starting to volunteer words in chinese for us to learn. as usual, some of the words seem to be dubious, but the growing trend is a dual communication system.
we have had four days with zero button pushing from dani directed towards myself, and this time has been verrrrrry nice. i think alot of that again is increased understanding of what we both want.
this child can talk and talk............and talk some more. i can see a glimpse of the coming future of non-stop question asking. her new one this past several days is "what are you doing?"
trouble-shooting happenings are the "potty problem". dani seems to have issue on making it to the toilet, today, went well, but a late night BIG SPLASH just occured with a major clean-up session. i've explored the emotional and physical components and the big changes that dani has had in her life. any insight from moms out there in the same boat, would love to hear from you. i just put a night light in the bathroom, hope that helps for the night OOPS, and still working on the day-times.
this mom is tuckered out, so to all, a goodnight!

more cool music................

cool music.............

late, hot, summer night...............

it's late, on a hot, summer night. all is quiet, as everyone is fast asleep. another whirlwind day in the life of this household, with soccer, catching up on math lessons, (math in the summer, hopefully the last year for alex), tae kwan do, and a before bed, mario kart match between john and dani.
this is the first week that dani has observed john participating in tae kwan do. it is clearly evident that this has quirked her interest. she seems to understand our conversation that one has to be five to start tae kwan do, and lo and behold, she is five. she is a child that will try anything!
dani and i visited the soccer office today to sign her up for soccer, another thing she is excited about and talks often of. or in our case, the talk consists of some english, and lot's of body language.
she is learning new words daily and it is fun to watch. as she learns the english, i am starting to find it easier to ask dani for the words in mandarin, and she seems more agreeable to share. what i had experienced with her is a playful evasiveness, or a lack of understanding perhaps, that i was interested in knowing a word in mandarin. when asked, she would spout off with words that i am fairly certain are probably not appropriate, gathering from the amount of laughter coming out of her.
dani is definitly a handful, and is keeping life hopping. she is cheerful, happy and outgoing, with an unpredictable nature to throw in an occasional tantrum, preferably at the most inconvenient moment. the root of the tantrums lie two ways, i believe. one is a lack of understanding, language wise, as to what is going on in the moment, or what's going to happen. the other is strong will, of which she has plenty, and she does have the gift of "poking the bear".
the last interesting topic is the relationship that is developing between john and dani. i have noticed that they are playing together at times, lot's of imaginative play. dani is loving teasing john, probably a good thing again, not knowing what she is saying to him. i also see that john is starting to be observant in watching over dani when we have been out and about. life changing moments at hand.........

-wisdom begins in wonder....
-socrates-

cousins, soccer, and magic

back-to-back soccer tournaments for alex, as she guestplays this weekend for a different soccer team than the previous two days in seattle. my brother, his wife, and two boys are visiting from hawaii and came to watch the game. izzy, my younger nephew is five, and incredibly engaging. he and dani hit is off right away, and i was tempted to ask my brother if i could borrow him for the rest of the summer so dani would have a playmate.

seattle soccer plus one............

...home tonight, after two days of soccer in seattle. we stayed at (zhou zhou tod), and (ie-ya ping's.) thank you guys! dani had a blast at their house, especially liking "big bella", the dog. i am proud of her, as she travelled well, only a few upsets, and very much thrived in the soccer atmosphere. she even was blessed with getting hit in the head with a soccer ball, a must for all my kids!!
dani loved and had many conversations with people, yelling "hello, i'm fine" to everyone with a huge smile. she picked up "good job" from parents cheering the soccer team and "i know" because that's what i say to her every time, (a hundred times) a day that she let's us know that she is hungry.
she helped alex warm-up before soccer games (see pictures), and than charmed the soccer audience by climbing all over the bleachers, thankfully not falling off, and flashing big movie star smiles at everyone.
alex had two good soccer days, played well and had fun!! great weather, awesome soccer, good summer fun.............
we missed john's tae kwan do bo dan belt test. i hear he did well, and am so PROUD of him!!!! way to go JOHN............

art..........from the gallery

some things to know about dani. never forget something to do for her when out and about and don't forget to pack a snack, OR TWO, with water. she is calming down a bit on having to be like everyone else and carry a backpack or bag. her's of course, is the biggest and heaviest of all. packed with color crayons, paper, extra clothes, and NUMEROUS books, anything she can get her hands on. i had to finally say no to some of the books that she was carrying around that were from the bookcase, various books about different therapies, braingym, massage and such, just because of wear and tear.
her favorite book of mine has become "happiness is a choice" by barry neil kaufman, from john's son-rise program days. she likes to "READ". today i decided to buy her an old "dick and jane and spot" book. it's hardbound, looks official, and is a beginner reader. for those of you that might have been raised in the 70's, you would probably remember learning to read with the dick and jane books. i will admit, i do.
thank god for crayons, and more crayons. they were our saving grace in china, and continue to be a tremendous asset. i think between all of us and our joint art sessions with dani, we have filled five pads of paper since china. each creation tends to be a shared project, as if whatever is being drawn catches our dani's eye, she is sure to add something special to it. coloring with crayola's has been a welcome respite from sliding down the slide for the 50th time, and climbing the monkey bars at age 42, though i am proud to say i'm hanging in there. crayons also have created a quiet space, and a time to bond with dani, and a great way to model new language.
an extra thought. dani sure likes to point out mcdonalds, i don't know if this was somewhere she was able to go when she lived in china with her foster family, i know we haven't been there with her, except twice in china. or maybe this is another red thread that only i would understand and get a chuckle out of...........