In Jordan's ongoing quest to get better at dressing herself... She's running around the house without clothes on a lot more often. Her brother never did this... So it's kind of funny to be sitting around in the house and suddenly notice a tiny, skinny little person walking by.
I've noticed some tiny but amazing things about Jordan lately. First, she's certain she can do anything... And I mean ANYTHING. Most of the time she's right. She can put her pants on and off all by herself. She can take off all of her own clothes. She climbs stairs of any size. She can even get down off the front stoop of our house which is just a little too high for anyone to use. She can get down these days without tumbling. I'm not sure exactly when she mastered that skill. I just noticed it.
That's just one of many little things that show me how she's making huge changes in her physical surroundings. I'm so darn proud and amazed by it all.
This weekend we stayed up late and took naps late to enjoy a fun music festival in town. To cap it off for the kids, they got to meet and listen to Farmer Jason. I knew him as Jason of Jason and the Scorchers. But now he's more popular as a children's singer. We had fun dancing and laughing and sweating in the early Fall sun.
Here's a moment when she started dancing:
Dancing to Farmer Jason from NerdyMom on Vimeo.
When I was pregnant with Jordan, I was ADAMANT that I keep my little baby daughter away from the color pink. I hated the color. I didn't want to force my child into some kind of gender assigned color coordination. It was wrong. My child was going to wear green and yellow and heck, BLUE but you were not going to put her in pink.
Until she was born.
Oh my. When she was born, some of her clothes didn't fit right because of her little arm. Her little arm would pop out of those stretchy necklines... And I worried about her getting cold. So we bought outfits with zippers up to the neck instead. My mom bought pink... And I suddenly melted. My little girl looked so DANG cute in pink.
Now when I go through her pictures, there are very few without pink. Every time I take her into work, my news director makes fun of me. It's true. Jordan has so much pink. I completely folded. I relented. I accepted a little piece of girliness when Jordan was born. Now I'm pretty accepting. I still wouldn't wear pink all the time for myself. But Miss Jordan looks good.
By the way, Jordan got to return to school today. Her brother isn't AS sick as yesterday, but I'm staying home with him today to make sure he gets better.
I'm trying to get my brain around the concept that Jordan will be my only child in daycare. She's going to move up to the "other side" of the building in a month or two. That alone is more proof that my "baby" is growing up. Logically, I know she's a toddler. I know she has strong opinions, many words and fits pretty well in 18 month old clothing. Those are all signs about how big she is.
I actually stood in line to get into a clothing resale shop tonight to buy a few 2T outfits for the fall and winter. I figured filling a $5 bag full of resale clothes couldn't hurt. I passed up an outfit because it looked too tall. Complete denial of my child's continuing growth.
Is that a bad thing?
Other signs of growth. Jordan is trying really hard to climb stuff. Without her arm on, she tries to get up the ladder that gets you to the top of our treehouse/swingset in the backyard. She likes going down our tall and fast slide (with me guiding her down a bit slower).
Something bad happened to Jordan's prosthetic arm. It doesn't work at all and the on/off switch is kind of pushed into the arm. I'm pretty bummed since I was able to get new straps to help hold it up better onto her arm. I was hoping that would help trigger the hand to open and close more. Alas. Not yet.
Jordan got to hang out with all of us this weekend... Along with Grandma Lee! As a part of her visit, Jordan started using more words again: "hi," "dada," "bubba," "dudley," "dog," "duck," and "night night."
Big fat sweet moment: I was rocking her in my arms just before I put her down into her crib. I told her night night and she waves her hand and said: "night night."
I melted. It was so perfect.
Things are warming up again. I bought her a jacket that's too big for her -- but easier to fit her prosthetic... And easier to roll it up for her little arm when she isn't wearing her robot arm.
I'm wrapping presents tonight. I was tired of doing that so I thought I'd drop a few thoughts about Jordan's life. I know Jordan isn't really one to complain... I mean her first teeth showed up with no change in her personality. But I keep thinking about teeth when I'm around her because her upper gum line is SO swollen. I wonder when all of her teeth will decide to pop through. Her front teeth not only have caused swelling, but there are now two lumps where they'll eventually show up. The funny thing is how she's not waking up in the middle of the night to complain. As usual, she's not drooling. She's kind of cranky when she doesn't get her way, but that just comes with the age.
What am I babbling about? I don't know. I guess I'm giving fair warning for some announcement about how all of her remaining teeth arrived in one week. Mind you, she only has two teeth at this point.
Another issue to think about. The pants Jordan wore today were almost black on her bottom. She scooted on my recently swept floor, the newsroom AND the damp ground in our backyard (it was a really warm day). I don't know what to do except just buy cheap pants because if she continues to scoot, there's nothing I can do but wash in hot water and deal.
We went to the mall today. Dumb I know, but I had to get gifts for a few more people. I strolled around with Cam and Jordan and we actually had a pretty good time in the crowds. Cam was great and Jordan kept it together with the help of a few diversions from her tickle-monster brother (he likes to tickle her face and she thinks it's SOOO FUNNY). When I go out in public with Jordan now I don't look for stares I'm happy to present her and I offer no excuses or reasons because Jordan is who Jordan is. She was cooed over in so many stores. It's the sparkling smile... and swollen gums. Anyway, I caught a couple of stares from kids here and there, they were slight and not offending in any way. But it was funny to notice a few and not take offense, not worry about it... it's just the way things are. I'm SO glad I'm cool taking Jordan anywhere. I'm not patting my back, I just feel like it's still an accomplishment to have grown so much in the last year with my little girl. I'm so much less self-conscious about my life, my family... We are who we are. And if you want to get to know us, go right ahead!! We don't bite.
I'm still looking for the shirt: "You stare because I'm different. I stare because you're all alike."
