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.

Drumroll please.....

No allergies!

Jordan's doctor emailed me and let me know that after the girl's blood was tested for many, many allergens it appears that she doesn't have any allergies. We can go back to feeding her normally again.

But that still leaves the question: What is going on?

Another good piece of news -- The poop factor isn't as gross at the point. Hopefully we can keep it this way and hope this was just some strange phase... Put it into our past.

Who knows.

Maybe popcorn is the answer

I watched an amazing thing happen yesterday. My daughter gorged on popcorn. She's didn't just eat a lot... She ate so much that I had to leave the movie to refill the popcorn tub. We took the family to see Ratatouille. It's a really sweet movie... But I don't really think it's the kind of movie that would have engaged Jordan that much. It has a real story line, there isn't that much super-silly stuff in it. It's just a really great story. Fantastic animation. And apparently, AWESOME popcorn.

So after Jordan ate and ate and ate... This morning, the diaper was the most normal I've seen in more than a month. A month! So apparently she needed an obsessive amount of fiber to help clear things up.

I don't really want to jinx things... But I was going to write how it looks like her intestinal issues were improving. After the popcorn incident, I think I'm comfortable to say that she might be okay. I'm still skeptical about returning to dairy products. I'll put that in the wait-and-see category for when her blood test comes back.

Anyway. Along with going to a movie, Jordan got to go to a pool party where she started getting comfortable in the pool with me. She also got to test out her new bike chariot. It will be a fun addition to our outdoor time during our vacation. I did learn that her bike helmet wasn't put on tight enough. Woops. Lesson learned.

Ick

The girl's intestinal issues aren't improving.

GROSS.

So we're going to start allergies tests on Thursday to figure out what's going on. We're close to a month of icky poops.

I have no experience in this kind of ongoing health problem. I'd like to say it's just teeth, but I don't know!

Here is a slideshow of our big zoo trip over the weekend:

As usual, if you can't see these pictures, you're welcome to join in on the fun at Flickr.

It may be the fourth of July tomorrow, but Jordan's PT is kindly coming over to help fit lifts for her newest non-sandal shoes. I'm still pretty bummed she can't wear her favorite shoes. Maybe I'll sneak them on our vacation so she can wear them a couple of times.

We're working in the newsroom tomorrow... Not a full day, so hopefully we'll have a fun holiday at some point in the day. We're thinking about calling it a "hol" or "iday" since it won't be a full holiday.

Dang it

My girl
Originally uploaded by NerdyMom

So I had kind of hoped Jordan had a parasite so we had an answer to her health issues. No luck. Her kind doctor emailed the results to me tonight as I asked for more ideas on how to stop these ickies. Her diaper messes got worse today. It's just exhausting and stinky. I can only hope that this is because of her teeth and it will end when those final six pop through. She is 18 months. They should be here any day now! Shouldn't they?

Along with that, I think she's growing out of her prosthetic. She got it 8 months ago and it doesn't seem to fit right. Her arm looks a little folded when you take it out of it. I'm going to try and get a picture of that "fold" so the prosthetic company can see the challenge. They may be able to grind out some more space for the prosthetic so Jordan can feel more comfortable.

Along with that, I talked to Jordan's physical therapist today... And the sweet sandals that Jordan loves... aren't helping Jordan's legs. Apparently they're bowing out because Jordan still isn't walking with her feet flat. So she needs lifts... And it's hard to get a lift to work with sandals. Poor baby. So I have to get leather shoes that fit... and if we can get the state program to pay for it, we could get a plastic mold for Jordan's feet in the sandals. For now, I'm going to have to find size 5 leather shoes. I just bought her canvas, but I was told leather is the best way to truly hold her feet in place. Dang it. Nothing is easy. I know we should count our blessings. She's incredible and we're lucky to just deal with these kind of challenges. But dang it. Why can't my little girl who LOVES shoes just wear the shoes she loves? I know it's a bigger deal to me than to her. But the little things like that... It just sucks.

But she's walking. She's walking A LOT. And she has no fear. And I am so damned proud of her.

Ahhhh. The weekend.

Thank goodness it's the weekend! It's been a long one for some reason.

Miss Jordan's grandparents are here to spend some time with us. Thank goodness they were here -- I needed to get Jordan into the doctor since her gross and unexplainable diaper issues continue to wreak havoc on her bottom and clothing. I was able to get time with our doctor... But it was only 50 minutes before I needed to be at a graduate student's project dissertation. My in-laws were kind enough to wait and wait and wait to see the doctor (since I had to leave before she came into our exam room). But lucky me (and I'll try not to get graphic)... I get to scoop poop into various container so they can be sure she doesn't have a parasite. Nice, huh? Everything about Jordan is totally okay... Actually great. She's 23 pounds, 3 ounces!! I just wish we could figure out why her intestines aren't doing their job properly (and we're heading into our third week of this issue).

We did enjoy some time at another t-ball game. She also enjoyed a dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants. It doesn't have a kiddie menu, so I ordered catfish and garlic mashed potatoes. I figured I'd just share. Official discovery: She LOVES garlic mashed potatoes. She grabbed a spoon and just dug in. It was awesome.

We really enjoyed another t-ball game once Cameron calmed down (he didn't get a nap and was VERY cranky). Jordan was walking all over the place, laughing, drinking water and playing with anything and everything. I really like how the entire crowd is used to Jordan and even laughed about how she was suctioning a water bottle cap onto her little arm. You can see her playing with it in that picture. She really will play with anything with the little arm... That's when I had to take the potatoes away at dinner: She took a spoonful and started smearing it into her arm. Messy. But it must have created an amazing feeling. I can't wait to have the chance to ask her what things feel like on the base of her arm compared to her hand. That will be fascinating.