I'm here... They're there

I'm in China and feeling like I've gotten my body adjusted to the 14 hour time difference in Shanghai. All it took was not sleeping for one night and sleeping a lot on my 14 hour flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Nutty stuff.

I'm happy to report I'm here and we were able to figure out how to get Skype's video chat function to work... So I got to see the kids before they went to bed. That was so awesome. The kids were giddy to see me and I have to admit, I was giddy seeing them.

I hope to have some pictures and possibly video later after we play tourist in an hour or two.

I'll leave with this silly screen capture of the kids:

Beautiful day

Jordan and her brother had a busy day as usual. We made a trip to church where the kids got to go to their choir practice. The choir leader says Jordan was really into it. She listened and even tried to sing along. I love that.

The day started out cool, but it was perfect for playing outside. The kids had a great tacklefest with their Dad. And they both took an increased liking to hanging out in Dudley's dog house.

Jordan also got a couple of cool new things at the toy store: a baseball glove and roller skates. I know. I know. They're both things that are a little too old for her. But I thought the roller skates would be a really cool experience and maybe help build a little less fear about rolling things. The baseball glove is from her recent interest in the game since her brother is playing a ton of t-ball games. She even tried to hit the ball off the tee tonight. It was super cute. Every time she got the ball off the tee, we cheered and she would run and run.

28 Months Old!

Another amazing month of growth, words and INDEPENDENCE.

My goodness, I grow 'em independent. So independent, it's why Jordan got moved into the 2 1/2 and 3 year old classroom. They knew she could hold her own... But unfortunately, her teachers will have a lot of "breaking" to do. Jordan has ruled the roost with her previous teachers. Now she has to listen and follow instructions more. Her class is bigger. The kids are a lot older (a number of the kids are already three years old). Many of the kids are potty trained. It's kind of overwhelming to see her around these kids who seem SO much older. So things are going to change for Miss Boo.

This past month Jordan has turned the "two year old thing" up a very large notch. I build my kids loud and strong. I can't complain about that. She also started to hold her own a little better with her brother. Those things I've never seen before -- little shoves, little taps and annoying brotherly things -- are now being verbalized (or tattled) by Jordan. "Mom! Cameron hurt me!" Her brother isn't getting away with anything anymore.

Her swimming teacher today said Jordan would probably do better in the non-parent involved swimming class where older kids are taught... Since the Mommy or Daddy vs. Jordan experience isn't going very well these days. She is just THAT independent. But we love her. And darn are we proud of her. She's talking, she is trying to do EVERYTHING on her own. She's turning into a strong-willed, confident little person and I couldn't be prouder. (Or more exhausted)

A party and goop

Yesterday was Cameron's big birthday - and Jordan had to learn what it's like to not be the center of attention. It's the first time when she had to watch someone else open presents. Someone else got balloons. Someone else had songs and cake. She tolerated it pretty well... Except for the beginning of present opening. She didn't like it at all. Eventually she was really happy with the wrapping paper. It's the little things.

At the same time, I started to notice Jordan's eyes were getting SUPER goopy. It was really gross and Jordan was complaining about her eye hurting. I knew that she wasn't going to be able to go to school today. I called the doctor and after a VERY uncooperative two year old experience, she was given eye drops to deal with conjunctivitis. No fun. They actually think she has a virus in her eye that's turning into a bacterial problem. Poor baby. She's doing great with the eye drops - she actually just stayed on the floor and let me put them in. I don't know if that will continue when she starts feeling better.

**UPDATE** She's already feeling better. I'm keeping her home with me today - but I know she'll be back to normal tomorrow and uninterested in these eye drops.

Getting brave

Jordan had a ball egging her brother on today... They ended up playing pretty well right before bed time. But the big moment was when Cameron jumped onto the little toy rocking horse that sits in the living room. Jordan has been wary of it... Until now.

With my help, she got on and had a BALL! She was obviously proud. Check out that smile in the picture. It wasn't long ago when I tried to get her on that horse and she was not going to risk it. She felt really unsafe. Tonight, when I was taking her upstairs, she kept calling "Horse! Horse!" thinking I'd change my mind and let her ride it one more time before bed.

Nope. I'm a sleep nazi.

Anyway. I'm happy to see her continuing to be brave. It's awesome.

I'm fried

The combination of election coverage and Randy not feeling well this week has left me running out of steam.

But a couple of neat things have happened this week:

Last night Jordan, Cam and I went to Cam's school for Music Night. First graders and Kindergarteners got to show off the cool stuff they do in music class. Since Randy was feeling sick, we danced and played music and just enjoyed being around the other families from school. Seriously, we have really great parents and kids that go to our school. I'm glad I took time off from the newsroom during Super Tuesday to enjoy music night.

Tonight I took both kids to a local swimming school. Cam has never been a great swimmer and I've had not-so-fun experiences at the local pool that does Red Cross classes. I'd heard good things about the local swim school and Jordan's therapists have recommended that we get her in swimming so she builds more strength in her left arm and shoulder. We started with a one-on-one class with the school owner to guage Jordan's needs while Cam took a group class. In the end, we're going to put Cam and Jordan in the same swimming class twice a week. The goal is to help Jordan gain balance and strength and get Cameron up to his age level in the pool. A two year old and a five year old in the same class? Well, we'll see how it goes.

The bad news:
The prosthetic is broken again. The motor is acting strange again. It clicks and opens and closes without any reason. It SUCKS. I'm really bummed that we're going to have to go without the arm again... Just when Jordan was starting to use it more.

I'm tired. I might actually go to bed early tonight. It was nice to have an excuse to take a shower after the swim class. It was nice to be in a pool even though Jordan cried almost the whole time.

Oh -- And the class kind of felt like when I took the dogs to puppy training school. The teacher was spending more time teaching me how to talk and help Jordan in the pool than actually teaching Jordan. It was funny.

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.

Thanksgiving feast

We had a pretty darn great Thanksgiving. Jordan got to enjoy a feast thanks to the hard work of her uncle's boyfriend, Erik, who created a heck of a meal. Her Uncle Jon helped with awesome mashed potatoes and her dad to made his famous family corn bread dressing. All in all, we ate well. Jordan was mostly interested in eating more turkey (or as she yelled "Moh two-kee!"). It was fun to see all of my pots and pans and stove and oven put to the test by an expert. I was worried I didn't have the right stuff, but Erik made due.

Thanks Erik!! It was a great meal.

Cam and Jordan are playing a little more with each other. Jordan is really willing to copy anything her brother does -- Other than jump. She hasn't really figured out how to jump yet.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving... I want to make sure everyone knows I'm so thankful for my family and friends. I'm very thankful for the little network of friends I've developed online.

Learning about leaves

The kids came out today while we tried to get the decorating started for the holidays -- It's warm and we wanted to decorate in the warmth if we could and we'd turn the lights on AFTER Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, half of the lights we put up didn't work. (GRRRR) So I guess we'll have to return to the decorating in the cold weather. At least we tried.

Anyway. We tried to clear away a bunch of leaves and piled them at the bottom of the front yard. Cam was SO excited and he showed Jordan the ropes on how to play in the leaves. It was adorable. So adorable that I had to run into the house, grab a video camera and shoot a bit of it. And that's what this video is all about. (Note how Jordan is screaming about the leaf blower at the start of the video. She got over it.)

Cam's such a good big brother. Jordan's a lucky kid.

What an adventure

So we spent the day with all kinds of families of kids with limb differences... My favorite quote of the day from Cam: "There's all kinds of kids here with little arms!" Probably since we didn't make a big deal about today's event except that we told him we were going to something that was going to be REALLY FUN.

And it was REALLY FUN.

We took part in the Helping Hands Summer Outing. We got to spend the day eating, making crafts, playing in a bounce house (well, Cam did), swimming, winning things in a raffle (we got a bocce ball/horseshoe set that weighs a TON), getting toys and even getting anything we want from an ice cream truck!! Jordan passed out on me while we lined up for the last treat of the day, but I really think both kids had a good time.

What I think was the coolest part was having the kids hang out with other kids like Jordan. It was also interesting to talk to the few parents with younger kids (I'd have to say most kids were in elementary school with the limb differences) was finding out the various different challenges they've all dealt with. Jordan's low muscle tone isn't what one kids has... But he's had a lot of speech issues. Other kids had a tough time walking like Jordan. But all of the kids are happy and that was what was most important. It was nice to just walk up to people and know they understand the extra challenges and successes we have in our lives. I also met a few families I've met online. That's pretty exciting to meet people face to face!

Today's great day is just one of many since we've been on our long trek across the country. The kids have been really good on the trip. I'll admit, they've sustained through many, many DVDs. Jordan's favorite is a wild animals DVD with Elmo. What's great is Cam laughs along with it. Sweet stuff.

Before we got to Massachusetts, we spent time in Pennsylvania. Jordan got to meet new friends and also learned to love time with baby dolls. She was wrapping a doll up in a blanked and placing it in a "bed." She was also feeing it with a bottle and giving it a pacifier. ADORABLE. There's a lot of girl in my girl! She's hugging and loving the dolls I packed more since her time in PA. Sweet stuff.

Jordn also got to meet a family friend who she took a quick liking to (and that doesn't happen every day). My Uncle Steve just won her heart. She let him take her outside and read books to her. It was just great to watch. We get to go back to his house tomorrow after an exciting day with a Major League Soccer team. Fun! I wish I could be on vacation more often. I'm really enjoying the family time... Although I have gotten a bit stressed periodically -- But I think that's just in my character.

Having all kinds of fun in PA

I had no idea we could find a 5 year old who is SO much like my boy. Cam had a ton of fun playing with a new friend. We are enjoying a day off from travel and hanging out with new friends.

Our adventure has begun

Cam and I went to the Lion King lqst night. It was an amazing show. Cam did a really good job, enjoyed the show and usually asked questions quietly. It's all he's talking about today... Along with asking what state are we in. Not quite "are we there yet" but close.

So big

I swear Jordan is trying to say "brother." Today we watched her big brother pedaling his new bike all by himself. Big day. We watched him ride up and down a nearby parking lot. She just waved and tried to say "brother." Very cool stuff.

After he rode the bike, she wanted to check it out too. She was lucky to get instruction on how to ride a bike from her now-expert big brother.