the big three

Preschool is back in swing and our big three are in on the fun!  John is about 92% on target with potty training now (we started early Aug) and his big incentive for reaching that goal was that he could go to school with Isaiah and Marian.  He took off for the slide the moment the teacher opened the door at school, and this mama's boy, and- honest- really he is one, never shed a single Good-bye-I-love-you-mama tear.

We've gotten not a few inquisitive looks for why we have our 26 month old in preschool.  I know it seems just crazy to lots of folks- both foreigners and local Chinese.   But we are so grateful to have this small private preschool, close to our home, that flexs with us to allow our kids to attend mornings only.  As we see it, this is our kids' best shot at becoming solidly bilingual and that will be a huge help to them in all their childhood here and hopefully beyond.  (We can see this so clearly already in our big guy who translates oddball words for us occasionally!)

The best thing about this sweet school is that it's run by local believers that we pray for and really believe are attending to our kids' growth and learning well.  We're so thrilled that our kids are not only learning to play in Chinese but they are together to learn to pray and sing and make friends all in Chinese.  What a blessing for them!

And this is my last year to invest in studying a minority language here before I get to be more busy with homeschool so it is a gift for me to know that our big three are together, in such a great environment, for this time.

(Getting a decent shot of these three is hard... when will I ever get a framer of the four of them?!)

(Revision- Today has been a low point.  Maybe John is around 50% today!  What's this latest development of his constantly leaky front valve?!  We thought he was the Potty Training Miracle Child- He had 4 completely perfect days after about 30 hours of training... but then his record has gone downhill since.  Oh this time to serve my boy, to love him, wait, hold him, serve him.  Help me Jesus!)