35 Months Old!

Can you believe Jordan is only a month away from turning 3? It's mind boggling. In the last month she has turned even more into a strong, opinionated and highly verbal little girl. She is super proud of her new prosthetic. She didn't wear it much this week after we discovered a skin breakout that is healing very well (we'll start using cotton balls at the bottom of the gel sleeve). She had to bring the arm to visitors this week to show if off. While I was away this month, she talked all about what she was doing at school, dance and with her grandparents. We video chatted almost every day. That was really cool. Earlier this month we spent so much time together building her new arm. We're so happy with what she is able to use - three different hands! How cool is that?

With growing up comes big challenges. She and her brother are all about fighting for dominance. There's tattling and complaining. But that just comes with the territory. Other challenges: We're officially in the food fight zone. She doesn't want to eat anything except snacks. It will take a while to get past that. She's also turned up a notch on fighting to go to bed... I actually had to threaten the wrath of Santa last night. (If you actually go to bed, I'll tell Santa you're good. If you keep screaming and crying, I'll tell Santa that you aren't a good girl. Ack.)

Jordan's love for dance continues. She'll start dancing just about anywhere. She loves to sing and she tries really hard to know the words to songs. The down side to leaving her current preschool means she isn't performing in the Nutcracker this year. But she does have a winter recital with her dance school. Thank goodness for that!

This coming month means some big things for Jordan: A new school, a big trip to Florida and possibly a two-day trip to one of the happiest places on earth! (We're hoping Santa says we can go to Disney World... I guess we'll have to wait and see! ;-) )

Baseball and movies

Jordan had a very busy weekend. It started with a Friday night trip to the Cardinals. She had an amazing time especially when you consider the fact that she should have been in bed at the time the game started! She loved the hot dog, she loved seeing Fred Bird (she even had his picture on her t-shirt and that apparently was AWESOME), she loved being silly in our seats. It was great.

What wasn't great was the whole going home part -- we live about two hours away from Busch Stadium. The kids needed to sleep. Randy was exhausted and wanted to sleep. I wanted to sleep, but I drove instead. But the funniest part was how Jordan was so overtired that she couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she couldn't stop singing. She sang nonstop in audible and inaudible tunes. She sang about mom and dad and the cars and baseball (she calls it base-eh-ball). Jordan sang for 45 minutes nonstop. Randy was aggravated. Cameron slept through it. I just laughed quietly and tried not to interact with her so she'd wind down eventually. She did. Even better. Both kids slept until 9 in the morning! That was cool.

Today we took the family to WALL-E. The first 30 minutes or so has very limited dialogue. Jordan enjoyed it. She was dying through all of the previews... That was the best part. She kept asking "Where's WALL-E?" After the Pixar short she announced: "It's all done. WALL-E's coming!" Once the movie started, it held her attention pretty well. The popcorn helped. I swear, she would eat that food and nothing else if she could.

On the whole, a good weekend as we try to get back into the swing of things. On deck: Jordan has three occupational therapy meetings this week. She hasn't had her prosthetic on much lately, so the battle to wear it has gotten pretty rough. Right before our vacation, she had picked up a really nasty blister on the tip of her little arm. I'm hoping that was a fluke. I plan to really keep a close eye on her arm just in case.

Another cute thing, there's a picture on our refrigerator Randy took the day Jordan was born. It's been there since I printed it out when she was a week old. We put it up there so Cameron could notice Jordan's little arm. Well, now I just keep it there because it is a really sweet photo. But what's really interesting is how Jordan's looks at it. She takes it off the refrigerator, sits down and compares her arms to her baby version. She points to her little arm in the picture and then shows me her little arm. Then she points out her baby hand and shows me her hand. I just think it's interesting to see how she sees herself. It's important to me that she sees her difference and loves it, accepts it and is open about it.

Playing with video

My newsroom has new cameras and I wanted to figure out how to use them. So I took it home and shot some video. I edited it together and here's some of the results.

First - Video the proves Jordan will say that she loves anything. Even poopy.



She also loves me.

AND some morning playtime with songs and a little loving message to my Aunt Jan -- you can kind of her Jordan says "I love you Aunt Jan" and "Get well soon" before she plays peek-a-boo with the camera.

27 Months Old!

27 months old. It's pretty amazing. There's so much amazing happening these days. We're having full conversations. Jordan is trying as hard as she can to butt heads with me, but I'm trying to stand tall. Her talking took up another notch this month... She not only states fact and asks/demands things, she's holding her own in conversations. For some reason, I think it's stinking cute.

Her walking and stair use improved a lot this month as well. She's really holding her own. It's incredible.

What's most incredible is just how she's a little person. She bates her brother. Her brother bates her. It's difficult to listen through the noise and yelling, but it's an amazing process to watch. When the kids get along, it's pretty great. They ACTUALLY have conversations. They're short, but great.

Other awesome things Jordan is doing: Singing and singing and singing. Her favorite songs can pop up at any moment. She'll sometimes sing with the piano. Often I'll find her singing to a doll or an animal when she's playing alone. Lately, I've also found her showing stuffed animals and dolls how to go potty. She isn't doing it yet, but there are many very knowledgable dolls in our household.

This is a amazing age and I'm so proud of everything she can do. I look forward to finding ways to help her prosthetic function better and looking for ways to help get her ankle structure proper. Seriously, I want to get this girl into sandals!! Those ankles have to get fixed before I have my shoe wish!

Every day I am amazed

Miss Independence continues to wow me. She knows what she wants and she's all about ordering me and anyone else around. This weekend she was pretty close to me after I missed most of Saturday due to a work meeting. Today was a perfect example about how Jordan is growing.

While her brother was playing at a friend's house, she and I spent some time outside. It wasn't warm, but you can feel Spring trying SO hard to emerge. I sat down when Jordan walked up and said: "Hold my hand." Then she pulled me all around the backyard. She wanted me to play in the house tent, she wanted me to watch her run... Whatever it was, she made sure I knew it.

A tricky side of this independence thing is the lack of sidewalks in our neighborhood. Jordan doesn't want to hold my hand so we've compromised. She knows she MUST stay on the curb or else she MUST hold my hand. But that hand holding must be instigated by her or she puts up a fuss. It's SO two-year-old. Oh and when she requires me to hold her hand, I MUST hold her hand with my left hand. She will not allow me to cross over and hold her hand with my right hand. She'll say: "No. This hand." So particular.

I know I keep writing about it, but the way Jordan has taken to the stairs is still awesome to me. She's also starting to really put together the ABC's song, Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle and of course, Elmo's Song. Every time I try to get video of her singing, she stops. I have to figure out a sneaky way to catch it.

"I love you"

I always sing a lullaby to my kids at night. Each one has their own special lullaby. It really took me a while to get Jordan's just right -- But recently I think the lyrics are ready:

Go to sleep and good night
My sweet little Jordan
You are my baby
My little baby
And I love you head to toe
Sleep all night
And you might
Have a wonderful dream now
Sweet little girl
Best in the world
May your dreams make you happy

Silly I know

Then I hum the song one more time and rub Jordan's belly.

Tonight after my little song and hum and belly rub, Jordan whispered: "I love you."

Dang. She melts my heart.

23 Months Old!

I have been sooo swamped at work that I haven't been able to keep up with the amazing development Jordan's made in the last week. She's a big girl. She's a TALKING girl. Right now, she's obsessed with nouns. She's constantly pointing words out everywhere. It's awesome.

After taking Cameron to school, Jordan and I had some time alone before her Parents as Teacher's teacher came to visit and do her 24-month-old developmental testing (since Jordan's birthday is over the holidays, we couldn't hold it in December). I tried to shoot video of Jordan before that meeting and she wouldn't have it. So I placed it on the table and just started rolling without her knowledge. And suddenly, something amazing happened. My girl broke out into song:

I'll be honest. That video is SO freaking cute I can't handle it. It makes my heart melt with glee and pride and just obsessive amounts of love for this little girl. I feel it deeply for both kids. Somehow, this video is pure love. It could be because she's singing "I love you."

Tonight, Jordan did another amazing thing. She took her sock and shoe off in the car. She would NOT let me put it back on. I had to carry her into the house (it's way too cold for a barefoot baby). She promptly sat on the floor, worked that sock onto her foot and then got her shoe back on. Then she stood up, put her arms in the air and declared: "Ta Da!" She did it! ALL BY HERSELF! I was so proud, I rushed over to her, gave her a HUGE hug. She felt so dang proud! What was really funny was Cam's reaction: "I do that all the time."

I love Fall!

It was surprisingly warm today so I packed the kids up and headed out to our local state park for a hike. The leaves are past their peak, so the hills were just COVERED with beautiful colors. I usually plop the kids into a leaf pile in our front yard, but that also requires a lot of raking. So I figured I might try for a cute picture or ten during the hike. I was right. Jordan LOVES the outdoors and leaves are no different then playing in sand or dirt or rocks. She was very happy.

We had fun. At one point, I had Jordan singing a hiking song, Cam was singing a different hiking song and I was just enjoying the complete silliness of it all.

Speaking of music. Apparently Daddy isn't allowed to sing. Cam went through a similar stage. But Jordan yells "NO DADDY!" when he starts singing. So I've got her trained to say: "Stop please" and then he stops. During this afternoon's hike, I was not allowed to sing. She is very demanding!

OH! And in the last couple of days, Jordan is finally saying "Cameron." She still won't say her name, but at least she is working on saying her brother's name.