Mommy misses her kids

I have been working a lot. A lot.

When I walked into the house today, Jordan squealed with excitement. She scrambled up the stairs. She babbled to her heart's delight. She missed me.

I've been swamped at the beginning of a new semester - There has been a culmination of projects that need attention at the same time. Plus, my class more than doubled in size. I have so many people to train, fires to put out... I could go on and on.

But let me tell you about my girl.

She's now 25 months old. 25 months. Can you believe it?

In this past month, her ability to communicate has SKYROCKETED! She knows what she wants and often puts together the words that helps us know what she wants. She knows colors WHEN she wants to tell us the right color. She wants to sing the ABC's but doesn't always feel like she needs to say the right letters at the right time. She loves to play the piano and she loves to be in charge. She warmed up to her daddy this month. She gets upset if she wakes up late and he already went to work. She hugs and kisses him more. She leans on him for comforting sometimes. She's growing up.

She knows how to say her brother's name and she loves him on her own terms. She's very demanding of him and she always wants what he's doing. Lately she gets upset about her breakfast. No matter what, she'd rather eat what's in his bowl. Who cares if they have the exact same breakfast. She wants HIS.

We continue to talk about potty training. She is not comfortable with actually using the potty after our initial success. She is getting pretty good at pooping on the floor. (YUCK)

Jordan is starting to use her prosthetic a bit more. She uses it at dinner sometimes. She is using it to work with coloring and other art projects at school. She's really doing great with her occupational therapist... Mainly because we're doing therapy at school twice a week. I think I get in the way of therapy.

"Read a book" is a big deal in our house. Jordan is reading up a storm. She loves it when we read, she loves to read, she's copying her brother's enjoyment of a good story. Lately she's been telling me the things she sees on the pages. She really likes Elmo stories, nursery rhymes and baby animals. Her teacher tells me that Jordan is really good at school. She transitions incredibly well. The only thing she does that's challenging is she does stairs very slow. If I felt off balance, I'd do stair really carefully too. So if that's the only challenge in her class, I think Jordan is kicking butt. (But we already knew that)

I'm so proud of my girl. This coming month we're going to try swimming lessons to help build her shoulder strength. I'm considering equestrian therapy as well. I'm just looking for ways to help her continue to gain strength so she can continue to use her prosthetic in more useful ways. If she gets stronger, she'll be able to use it more.

Beyond therapy and talking... I'm just having fun. I look forward to getting past this work hump and spending more time with the kids. They are growing in so many amazing ways.

Special Daddy Moment

Jordan needed to cross the parking lot with her dad tonight. So her dad asked her to hold his hand... She immediately lifted up her LEFT hand.

LEFT.

So he held onto her prosthetic hand and walked to the car together.

Wow.

Wow.

So... Yesterday I had a moment to myself. I was able to take a really long shower. You know, the kind you take when you don't have any concerns. You know, the kind when you don't have to wonder if one of the kids is climbing on top of the kitchen table or drawing on the wall.

I was standing there thinking... I really have let work and kids take up my world lately. There is this one project that I really want to launch. I really, really want to, but I don't have the technical skill to do it and no money to find someone to do it for me. It stinks. Add in other responsibilities for work and the normal kid needs... I let myself go. The only positive side: no weight gain.

Go team.

Tonight the family called me while I was at work. I swear I heard Jordan say: "Come home." Poor baby. I need to slow down, do something fun and take a nap.

Word explosion

Jordan talks. She doesn't just talk, she has exploded with words. Everything she sees she days: "WHATSTHAT?" That's the fast version of asking "what's that?" If she knows what it is, she says, "yeah." If she didn't know what it was, she'll repeat the word.

In the last couple of days, she'll walk up to any of us in the house, drop a book on our lap and say: "READABOOK?" She's even asked Cam to read to her. We've spent the last six months encouraging Cam to read to her and Jordan would always say no. I'm thrilled that she's finding purpose in having Cameron around.

Anyway. The girl is obstinate. She is excited to communicate. We're thrilled with the communication. She really can speak her mind these days. She wants to do EVERYTHING on her own: "MY DO IT!" And man, you have to let her do it. I try to patiently wait for her to ask for help. She does ask for help. More often than not, she doesn't get that aggravated. She's much angrier if I don't let her try than if she does try and realizes she can't do it. That's the kind of spunk I hope she maintains forever.

Silly night

In between my non-stop attempts to launch a new website and taking care of the kids... Jordan got sick for a day and came back remarkably quickly 24 hours later. I'm not sure how you can wake up with a 102.7 fever and feel better by the next day. But heck, Jordan did. After work she and her brother had a fun evening being silly with me.

Quick update

I haven't been online much because I'm desperately trying to launch a new website for work. At the same time, I've tried to continue the potty training message to Jordan. Unfortunately, our success on the first day has not continued.

Jordan has peed on the floor, she's sprayed water from her potty baby doll's bottle all over the house... She's walked around the house without pants for hours at a time. But we haven't successfully used the potty since last Sunday.

I'm thinking that this is too much focus for a little girl who just turned two. I'm thinking about going back to normal life with diapers and forgetting about the trends I started this week (we had pants-free time each day). Jordan actually stood up from the potty today, pointed to her butt, said "I need diaper." Then she walked away and started chanting "diaper, diaper, diaper."

Yeah. I think I'll keep working on the potty thing some other time.

Let the potty training commence

I jumped into the potty training experience today. Jordan started talking about it after church today. She actually wanted to sit on the potty. So while she was napping, I bought a training potty that actually plays MUSIC when something hits the potty. So when Jordan peed into it TWO TIMES today, that potty played a little celebratory tunes.

My goodness, she was proud. So damned proud. She told her grandparents on the phone (with a bit of a mumble that included the word "potty"). When we praised her, Jordan would flash the biggest smile.

I'm not sure if this is just the first little step towards potty training interest or if we're really going to drop the use of diapers. I do know it's an intense process that will take amazing amounts of patience and attention.

Lucky girl

Jordan's grandma and grandpa left yesterday after spending some great time with the kids. I swear, even though I was away from the girl for only four days... She has grown up even more. She's talking, showing more 'tude. It's just amazing how she's sprouting rapidly into a little person.

Quite possibly the sweetest moment yesterday was when Jordan got to go to her new classroom for the first time. She was SO excited to go to school. But when we got to the doorway of her new room, she did NOT want to go inside. My parents were saying goodbye to her before I took them to the airport. They both gave her hugs... And then my dad and Jordan had an amazing little heart-to-heart moment. This picture says it all. Apparently my dad talked to her about how she could play with her friend Dylan and she should go have fun. It worked. She had a great day.

I'm so happy the kids had grandparent time without us around. My parents haven't had that many opportunities. I think it's special for them and for the kids.

By the way, Jordan is finally starting to figure out that hair bows are useful. I bought her a few yesterday and it seems that she's finally figuring it out: They keep her hair out of her face. It's pretty cute. I'm hoping this little turn towards useful hair tools will help us control the crazy hair until I get her bangs grown out.