Spelling tests

Longji has scored a 100 on his last two spelling tests! Way to go little man!! We are so proud of him. Even though he is only tested on half of the words he is still doing fantastic! And if you ask me, his handwriting is pretty good too. I will post some pumpkin carving pictures later once I extract them from the flip video. Looking forward to our first costume event...I will have to keep everyone in suspense as to what he picked out for a costume!

Chinese School Picnic

Today was the Chinese School Picnic and we had a fantastic time! Longji loved it! We picked up my niece, Avry, and headed to the park this morning. Jordyn was able to go with us too. Both sets of grandparents also came so we had a big crowd. I am going to post a bunch of pictures and hopefully I can get a cute little video uploaded of Longji singing some kind of Chinese song on the microphone. We are definitely looking forward to the Asian Festival this next year. We are enjoying the time with Longji where we are learning and experiencing his culture together.

Baby in the belly...again

First, let me start by saying that I truly believe I have one of the cutest, most intelligent little boys on the planet. The other night at dinner, Longji made everyone at the table almost cry and laugh at the same time. Jordyn was over for dinner and as he was stalling to avoid pork chop consumption, he began to tell me that he wants me to eat him so he can be a baby in my belly and sleep for a while. I know it does sound a little strange, but I think I know where he is going with this...every once in a while he brings up a "baby in the belly" topic. Sometimes it leads to the China belly discussion we have had once or twice. I think he is really very happy here with us and I think he really wants to make sure he stays and in his mind becoming my "baby" makes things more concrete. I hope that makes sense to all of you. So of course this conversation brought tears to my eyes and then he went on to talk about staying short and not growing big. Why we asked? Longji said, "so I can stay little and play with all my toys." I think he really enjoys his room, his things and his family because we are all he wants to do things with and if he had a choice he would never leave the house.

Our appointment with Mara, our social worker, went really well on Tuesday. She is very pleased with his progress and it was a pleasure to have him meet her. She has played such an important role in bringing us together and I think she was just as pleased to meet him and witness how well he fits our family.

Today we watched my niece, Avry, play soccer. Longji loves her and he likes to sit and eat sunflower seeds and yell at her during the game. Afterwards, we headed to La Vernia to visit my 99 year old great grandmother...yes, I said 99!. I have another great grandmother who is 104 and lives in New York. The women in my family live for a very long time. Anyway, we headed to La Vernia to see her and take a five generation photo. She was so cute and she had many questions about Longji. She seemed very proud of us and was very pleased to meet him.

Tomorrow is the Chinese school picnic and with the weather behaving so well I am really looking forward to a nice day at the park. I hope all of the kids have a fantastic time and I am really hoping Longji will have the opportunity to talk in Mandarin with his teachers and possibly some of the older students. We keep telling our parents how graceful he sounds, but they still have not had the opportunity to hear it for themselves.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited our first pumpkin patch with Longji today. He was so delighted, he was adorable. He helped us pick out a good size pumpkin and then we let him pick out a smaller pumpkin and some stickers to put on it. He was so excited and we had a great time.




Later today I have to pick out and print some family photos for our social worker. She is coming by on Tuesday for our 6 month post-adoption visit. She is going to be so amazed at how much English this little man can speak in such a short amount of time. He continues to amaze us every day with how well he is transitioning.

John and I spent a little time together this morning seeing a movie, Like Dandelion Dust. Yeah, I cried through the whole thing. The average person would probably not be as impacted, but after our journey of adoption, the movie was very difficult to sit through...quietly that is. Very emotional film.

Adam Longji Update

Adam Longji is doing so well! We still can't believe he has only been with us for less than five months. It feels like he has been a part of our family for much longer. It has been a while since I posted last...sorry. We have been terribly busy with school (it's football season), but Longji has been adjusting well to Chinese school on the weekends. He counted to 30 in Mandarin today for his grandparents. He still is very hesitant to speak in Mandarin in front of John and me, but he is speaking at Chinese school to his teacher which is what we wanted. He has since had two visits to the doctor for immunizations, three each time. He gets so stressed out and I always feel terrible about it. He goes back on November 1st for another set of three. We do treat him to the toy section at Walmart and a nice Chinese dinner when we have these appointments. It doesn't take the pain away, but I think it eases it a little. Attached are pictures of Jordyn and her friend, Angela, with Longji before their first homecoming dance at the high school. John had a football game so Longji and I were in charge of getting the girls to the dance. They looked so pretty and Longji was loving the attention from the girls. The other pictures are us just being silly with some stickers and John and Longji playing football in the front yard. He has come a long way since he first came home. He refused to step on to the grass and now he runs around on it without complaining. Our Chinese school picnic is coming up so I will try to post pictures as soon as we take them. Still can't believe the holidays are right around the corner. This will definitely be a season to celebrate and remember.

New Haircut and Grandparents Breakfast

Yes, that is a new haircut Longji is sporting (you can see the bald spot at his hairline); however, we did not pay for it. There seems to be a rising star in the field of cosmetology in his classroom. He does not know her name, but he can tell me where she sits in his class. Of course nobody will admit to it...He is still a cutie!

On a better note, he had his first official Grandparents Breakfast today and it seemed to be a delightful event for all parties involved. We got good reports from the grandparents and Longji told John and me that he liked eating with them today at school. He wants to eat with them or Mama and Baba every day.

Longji has reached his 100 checks this week for doing chores and helping out around the house. When he gets to 100 (which usually takes about four weeks) he gets to pick out a toy. It is hilarious watching him look at every toy in such detail to find the perfect one. When I think about it, he did not have six years of going to places like Walmart, Target or Toys-R-Us to pick out toys. He has a lot of kid-stuff to make up for, so we try not to rush such major decisions.

Chinese school is going well. He seems to like it, but he still won't talk to John and I or teach us anything in Mandarin. In time we think he will be more comfortable with it.

Principal's Office, China Belly and Texas Storms

We have been crazy busy here in the Laymon household since school started a few weeks ago. I wanted to jump online quickly tonight to post a few updates. Overall, I would say Longji is doing very well; however, we have had a few incidences at school with him being a little too aggressive...supposedly. Oh, and one visit to the principal's office. Apparently, another little boy hit Longji in the face with a lunch bag and Longji retaliated with a kung fu kick! Probably not the best decision on his part, but at the same time, you can't blame a six year old boy for reacting in such a way. You certainly can't expect to send a six year old from China (only home 3 1/2 months) to the principal's office for a mid afternoon lecture...he has no clue! So John and I have taken an active role in explaining these social situations with Longji by acting out different scenarios. We haven't received any e-mails from the teacher lately so we think this is working a bit.

The other night, the little man decided to bring up mamas and their bellies. He lifted his shirt and pointed to his belly button and said something about a baby in the belly. He then moved to my chair and placed his head on my lap mumbling something about being in Mama's belly (my belly). I, of course, could not respond so John quickly stepped in and gave him an easy, understandable explanation which ended with "My from China belly?" Meanwhile, Jordyn is giving me the eye to see if I am going to break down and cry. I am sure this is not the end of the "China belly" conversation...

I will end on the great Texas storm we had last night. Yes, the one that kept all of us up very late and into the morning. Jackson whined all night and we found one scared little man sitting in his bed, eyes wide open and whining alone in his room. I just knew he would eventually make his way into our room and then it dawned on me, he may be too scared to leave his bed. Sure enough, he was. John rescued him and brought him back to our room. Yes, we let him stay for the rest of the night and a miserable night it was. It was well worth it though. He gives the best hugs and is the cutest little sleepy-head I have ever known. I kind of enjoyed our night together in the bed. He is a squirmy worm and I couldn't do it every night, but I figure I have six years to make up for so I can give up a night's sleep for his comfort.

He is such a blessing...