He likes to yell at Jordan. He tells her he doesn’t like her arm. She thinks it’s annoying.

On the whole, kids are awesome at her school. Kids who aren’t awesome are soundly ignored by Jordan. She has an incredible ability to tune out annoying kids and questions. Often when a kid rudely asks her what’s “wrong” with her, she keeps moving and doesn’t give the child an answer. Our school’s principal has watched her breeze past a rude kid. It just doesn’t phase her at this point in her life. She doesn’t feel like she has to answer every question. You know what, she doesn’t have to. It’s totally up to her and it seems like she’s really fine with choosing when she talks and doesn’t talk about her difference. She remains confident and very social at school.

But there’s this annoyance and the little boy is annoying enough for her to mention it to me. Funny thing about Jordan is she wasn’t even complaining.

So we have hatched up a plan that made Jordan roll in laughter… and hopefully it won’t cause any trouble. If the little boy comes up to her and starts yelling, Jordan is going to start telling him how she can’t hear him.

“What? I can’t hear you? Are you talking to me?”

She thinks this is very, very funny.

We jumped into our first full week of school and it seems like Jordan is getting into the flow very comfortably. She does this to me. We head into a huge transition and she just flows into it. Her teacher says things are going well… Most kids are very understanding of Jordan’s difference. Her biggest problems on the playground lately has just been her strong-willed personality butting up against strong-willed boys who try to boss her around. All-in-all things are going really well. Earlier in the week, the school sent out a letter I wrote for Randy and I to all of the parents of Kindergarten kids. That’s every parent, not just the parents of kids in Jordan’s class. I had written it from the guidance of a letter that was pre-written from a Litte Fins club member in Minnesota. We modified ours and told a few things about this site and Jordan’s characteristics. What stinks is the version that was used mention’s Jordan’s little RIGHT arm… when it’s her little LEFT arm. Whoops. Well… the message was probably more important that the specific arm. I have rewritten the letter so anyone can rewrite it for their family’s needs. I feel terrible for swiping it from another parent who made it available… but I honestly can’t find the original link where I downloaded the letter. If anyone knows where I found it, please leave a comment and I’ll update this post. In the meantime, here’s a look at the letter. If you click on the link to this letter, you can choose to download it in a .docx or .txt format so you can rewrite it and use it at your school! Thanks to Born Just Right reader Melissa for requesting this letter so she can use it too! Generic Version Letter

By the way – if you’d like to see some of the other ways we prepared for Kindergarten, check out this post.

She did it! Jordan had her first day of Kindergarten and we all lived to tell the tale. Okay – that’s probably over stating it, but I had hoped the first day of school would go well. Jordan and her teacher worked together to help her classmates understand her limb difference.

So here’s how it went…. Let’s start back with the day before the first day of school. We have a family tradition that I started when Cameron was heading into Kindergarten. We go to a nearby indoor play area and take photo booth pictures together. This year was Jordan’s chance to take the pictures for the first time.

We played, we went out to dinner for a special meal and we had to have our favorite local ice cream before the night was done. We were exhausted, happy and very excited about the new school year.
So, I decided to interview Jordan about what she thought about Kindergarten:

Fast forward to the morning and both kids woke up ready to go! I got to start work a little late so I could walk to school with the kids and take their official back to school pictures:

I picked the kids after school and had to take them to work since I had to attend a speaking engagement. So before I left, I caught this post-Kindergarten interview:

I got an email from Jordan’s teacher letting me know that at the beginning of the day, none of the kids noticed Jordan’s difference until after she took her helper arm off. There were so many questions that the teacher read Jordan’s book to the class and let her pass around her arms and hands. Jordan told me she thought it was fun.

This morning, she was ready to do it again. I think (fingers crossed) we got things started in a good way. Now we just have to power through 12 more years of public school and at least four years of college. No pressure!

We’re ready… Or at least we’re in the mindset to get this Kindergarten experience rolling. We took Jordan to her Kindergarten welcome last night. She had a chance to play on the playground, see old and new friends, eat ice cream and meet her new teacher.

I had a chance to email her teacher a couple of weeks ago to give her a copy of Jordan’s book to bind and discuss the use of Jordan’s many arms and hands. Almost immediately, new friends were asking Jordan about her arm. We had the traditional “I was born with two hands” and “I wish I had one hand” comments. Jordan pulled out her arms and shared how they worked with a couple of girls who were in the room.

Jordan was acting a bit goofy, but it was great to see her show off her helper arms with pride. She bounced between her elbow princess arm to her activity arm. We showed her teacher all the different hands. I’ve decided that we won’t bring her hook hand even though it was made for hanging on monkey bars… It’s just too hook-like and dangerous. I might trust her with it at school when she’s a little bigger. For now, hanging on bars will be something we do with Mom around.

I’ve written a letter for all of the Kindergarten teachers to share with the students… I hope that will also help prevent a little bit of the pointing and staring. I’m also willing to come into class and help present Jordan’s book if we need to. I’ll do whatever it takes to help the entire school see Jordan, recognize her differences and move on to more important manners like making friends and learning!

I didn’t think it was possible… and to be honest, I’m being much more emotional about this than I expected. But Miss Jordan is wrapping up preschool today. We took pictures and even shot a little video as we walked into class today. We have a little tradition right before I go to work that started when she was really young… One of her old teachers, Laura, came up with the idea so Jordan would see saying goodbye as something that’s fun and not sad.

I don’t plan on pushing the preschool away… That probably wouldn’t stop me from feeling sad. I’m leaving a note with the parents so we can stay in touch. I don’t want to walk away from a whole collection of children and families who openly accept Jordan as a friend with no questions asked!!

Here are a few school pictures: (By the way, this is the place where I worked with a photographer to create a day-in-the-life photo collection)

When Jordan was born, one of the first things I worried about was her self confidence. It was a nervous concern that nagged at me a lot when she was a newborn. As she grew, it was quite obvious that Jordan is naturally confident and very focused on doing things on her own. She demanded independence.

I’ve stepped back and watched her grow. She has a monster personality. I try to capture that in my photos but the way she is at school is awesome and I’m never able to really capture her school moments. This is her last month and I wanted some pictures that tell her story. I really wanted pictures that would capture that confidence and ability. I want images I can show her on a bad day… I hate thinking about those days. But I’m going to be realistic. If Jordan gets down, I want to pull out some pictures to prove to her that there’s a very confident person inside of her.

Enter Rebecca Allen.

I met Rebecca through a former student and current friend. The moment I met with Rebecca, I knew we needed to work on this project together. She is launching a documentary photography business while I’m looking for ways to better tell the lessons I’ve learned as Jordan’s Mom. So Rebecca spent four hours in Jordan’s school. She was there for occupational therapy time with her helper arm and playtime without the helper arm. Scroll though the images to see a story of a day in the life of Jordan at school. I am especially in awe of a picture of Jordan putting on a friend’s shoe after nap time.

I showed Jordan the photos this afternoon. She loved it, wished all of the photos were in color and groaned out loud when the photo timeline ended.

I’m two weeks and a day away from signing Jordan up for Kindergarten. She has attended the same school for almost two and a half years. She hasn’t even changed classrooms in that time. She’s an incredibly flexible kid but I’m nervous about making sure she is prepared and ready to be in a new environment.

Sure, she is in new environments all the time. We travel. She attends a large soccer program. We go to the gym (different ones with different play rooms). We go out shopping and playing and meet new kids all the time. Plus, she goes to her new school all the time since her brother is currently a third grader. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be sure she’s supported. That doesn’t mean I am 100% sure she won’t get taunted or laughed at or who knows what.

I have prepared Jordan to be strong. She’s an incredible kid who can hold her own. But who knows how she’s react in Kindergarten?

So before the school year ends this year, I plan to work with our county resource program’s case manager and the school principal to set up a 504 plan. These are a little different from IEP’s. An Individualized Education Plan is set up for kids who have trouble with learning. Jordan’s been tested and analyzed and declared “not disabled” in the school system. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need some portions of the education program altered a bit. I plan to come to the class and share her helper arms and hands with her class, read a book and answer questions. I’d like to ask the school to look at lessons plans 24 hours in advance to see if there are two handed activities and if the teacher can’t find a solution, have them check in with me just in case I can offer other ideas. I just don’t want Jordan to feel left out if there’s an activity that she can’t do. I’d like to have an alternate already planned. I’ve talked to older kids who have been ignored and left out during PE and other activities. I want to avoid those experiences if I can in any way.

So, I asked my fans on Facebook if they have additional 504 ideas. I’d love to hear from you here as well if you can!

I had a chance to chat with Jordan’s lead teacher at school… I don’t get a chance to have quiet one-on-one time with her often. The classroom is FULL of assistant teachers and kids. And right now the classroom is down a part-time employee so that leads to a very overwhelmed lead teacher. So I completely relished in the opportunity to chat with her.

I was curious about Jordan’s progress with reading. I see signs here and there, but I haven’t pushed it very hard. Her brother was a hard core reader by now… but I’m trying not to obsess or compare. Every child is different. What surprised me was how Jordan’s teacher reacted to my questions. She told me Jordan had to work on a different skill before we focus on reading. The first thing she needs to be able to do is LISTEN.

Apparently Miss Jordan sits down to lesson time with her friends and is so busy talking that she finally quiets down just when the lesson is wrapping up. She’s missing some great opportunities to learn because she’s a social monster. Her teacher tells me that is isn’t a problem… YET. I guess we have a bit of time to work on this before Kindergarten.

In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of quiet time to work on letter sounds and words. Our book time before bed is officially my time to work on word sounds and encourage Jordan to use those sounds and deduction to identify words. Tonight she did a fabulous job figuring out the words “alligator” and “jaguar” while we read a Curious George ABC book. She’s willing to buy into this reading process when she slows down… but I make high speed children. I take full blame for that tendency.

Jordan had a chance to perform holiday music with her classmates yesterday. Her school held an after-school family choral performance (on a pre-school adorable level) and potluck dinner. So cool.
Here’s one of their songs:

I love this school. The kids are so creative and have so much fun. I feel very lucky to have made the move a year ago.

A simple tracing looks so darn cool when it’s Jordan. This is Jordan with a pony tail… Her teacher traced her and Jordan added the brown decorations. I dig the spiky hair: