Before I run off....

I'm in a hotel just hours away from when I need to hop on a plane towards Shanghai for work. It's very exciting. I doubt I'll be able to get access to this blog from blogger.com since China blocks many popular American web tools. But I might try to email updates. We'll see what happens.

I haven't updated one last big event for Jordan this past week. I took her to the occupational therapy clinic on campus to introduce her to the students there. She's visited the class once a year since she was 10 or 11 months old. I just tell the students what it's like to have a child born with a difference and explain the various things we're doing to make sure she stays on track. And she's really on track and I expect to keep her that way!!

The coolest little moment was when Jordan was hanging out with Lea Ann who directs the clinic. They were sharing some Teddy Grahams when Jordan held out her new hand to hold the snack. Lea Ann helped turn it enough for Jordan to actually hold it. It was a really cool moment. It's the little things. The little flexible hand is helpful but so darn simple -- But since it doesn't really restrict Jordan, she really uses it. I watched her chase a friend with TWO hands earlier this week. Today she was petting our big dog with TWO hands. The hand that opens and closes still feels restrictive to her. She doesn't hold her arm as heavy or dead as she did with the previous myoelectric arm, but she isn't really using it to the fullest potential. She's only had it for a week - With a little extra OT and effort, she's going to catch on to that one as well. We have yet to try the bike hand. Maybe she'll work on that when I'm away -- But hopefully she'll wait so I can be there for the moment she has full balance and stability riding a bike!! (can you tell I'm excited for that moment?)

Little changes

So I did two things today. First, you clearly got to this blog because you noticed that I changed the URL for this blog: bornjustright.blogspot.com
I decided that as my site gets more activity, I should transition out of a URL that includes our last name.

I also asked for special treatment for Jordan for the first time ever. Of course I've asked Jordan's care takers to try to pay attention to her therapeutic needs, but I've never demanded that. I'm just lucky to have teachers who love Jordan and who are willing to put in the extra effort. But as she starts walking and gets better at new skills, she's going to need a few helpful things. So I'm trying to plan ahead. When Jordan gets bigger and moves to the bigger kid room (around 18 or 19 months), she's going to start going down stairs. At her school, there is only a kid-height railing on the left side when you're going down. That isn't very helpful for a right-handed only child. So I asked the owner of Jordan's school to consider putting a kid-height railing on the other side. I realize this is a change that is solely for Jordan's needs. But I did talk about it with a couple of teachers and they think it would be helpful for all kids. I still felt a little funny asking.

The semester is wrapping up and my students are FLIPPING out. They have the majority of the class due by this Monday and the Monday after that. Many of them have waited until the last minute. It's ugly, it's unfortunate and I'm exhausted thinking about it. I also found out that I didn't get a provost's teaching award for the second year in a row. I'm disappointed because I put my heart and soul into my work. I'm also disappointed because we could have really used the money that came with the award. But I'll plug on, keep working hard.

Here's a little slideshow of Jordan's week-by-week pictures for the year so far.

Newsroom changes

Every semester I visit classes to talk about what I do, explain how they can be better journalists or advise students how they can do well in the newsroom where I work. A lot of these journalism students have a chance to sit in the newsroom and shadow different positions... And lately I've seen myself hanging out near these students and realize they don't know a ton about me. They don't have to. But every once and a while I go on and on talking about Jordan and Cameron when I realize they have no idea what I'm talking about. So when I start talking about therapy, they think I mean I'm going to a psychologist-type therapist. When I'm really talking about Jordan's physical or occupational therapist. Then when I start talking about arms and prosthetics, I just get funny looks.

A couple of days I pulled out a picture from my camera and was showing it off to someone and I offhanded said: "Here's a picture of the cutest one-armed baby in the world!" And this girl spun around and looked at me in horror. I just looked at her and said: "No really. She really is cute." Then I showed her the picture of Jordan.

I don't feel like I need to run around and tell people my entire life story, but my work life and home life mesh. Probably since Randy and I work together. But I talk about work and home all the time and I'm not in the mood to explain myself all the time... But I also don't want my world to be secret. I hope other parents with limb different kids can know that when they read Jordan's blog, that they aren't alone. I hope my students can learn that a child who is "different" isn't really that different... But there are challenges that they would have never known if I wasn't so open about it. I also think keeping a sense of humor about a missing limb keeps the "uncomfort zone" less uncomfortable.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm babbling about... Except that I hope I can be a public voice of a birth defect I really never knew existed. I was dancing around with Jordan this morning thinking how awesome she is. I wouldn't change a thing. But no one writes how-to guides about how to raise my kids... And they certainly don't tell you how to raise a self-confident, awesome, caring, limb different kid. And the only thing I can do is make sure as many people in Jordan's world know about it and are as comfortable about it as I am.