White men can't jump, but small Chinese boys can!!!

Perhaps not everyone remembers the reference, but there was a movie called "White men can't jump."  That may or may not be true, but I do know that after about a year of practicing, a small Chinese boy in this house finally can!

Here he is taking off:



I promise, he did get lift off...about an inch, but he got air!  Here he is channeling Michael Jordan with the tongue action...



Hey, we do not despise small beginnings around here! This was a major victory.  Sometimes living with a child with holoprocencephaly is like living in the movie "Groundhog Day."  You can work on something, with all the crying and complaining (from him, I just feel like crying), for hours and achieve victory, only to have the skill all but lost the next day.  Thankfully, he seems to get better each day with the jumping which is very encouraging. 

So...the move to the new house.  It's well, it's going in itty bitty stages.  What we found once we really spent time in the house, is that we had to rework our ideas of how to use the space we had.  We realized that we had to construct two bedrooms upstairs in what was a huge loft area.  That takes time, and waiting...the story of our lives!

Here is the first decent load to go over:



And just because you  can't get enough cute kids in boxes pictures...



Here is the nice picture I posted on Facebook of getting the keys to the house:



And here is the picture I took about an hour earlier.  Kimi is throwing a royal fit because she did not want to hold a key, which she is not holding at the time the picture is being taken.  Still, logic does not dictate when the drama queen is holding court, hence the lovely look on her face.



When I was taking the picture, I noticed that Monkey boy had a roll of scotch tape in his hand.  I was quite curious about why he had it.



Until I "caught him in the act."  He said, "You didn't see this crack here Mom.  I fixed it."



I know this may come as a surprise, but that kids gives the yummiest hugs. He categorizes them: the stick hug, the cozy hug, the sweetie hug, the warm hug are the most popular.  My favorite is the sweetie hug. Here it is in action:



This picture is of MB with the first word he sounded out and spelled on his own. When I posted this on FB, my sister commented that the word above it is "ooo."  Not quite as sophisticated.



On a different topic, I have been asked if any of my kids are lefties like me.  Here is Kimi being both handed (and yes, she really can write with both hands).



I'll let LB have the last photo slots on this post.  He has survived a year now being a member of this crazy family!



A short note on our current adoption process: China went through a computer system change recently that has resulted in significant delays, especially in processing Letters of Approval to families adopting concurrently (yep, that's us).  At one time, we were sure we would be traveling in the summer, now it looks much more likely that we will be going in the fall.  On the bright side, maybe it won't be sweltering in the fall.  Maybe?????