It was the big dress rehearsal for Jordan’s dance class. She LOVES the chance to get all dolled up and the dress rehearsal was a chance for me to practice putting her hair in a bun. I’ve never done it before… and after I got tips from much more experienced bun-makers (which happens to be most of my female friends), I did a pretty good job today. Speaking of good job, Jordan did a pretty darn good job performing. Her real performance is Saturday, but I’m not allowed to shoot video or take pictures during the big show.

Oh, by the way… Doesn’t Jordan look 15 in this picture. Yikes.

Jordan and I had a chance to encourage other limb different families to attend Camp No Limits, reach out and find other families and maybe play golf to raise money for our favorite camp. The moment we were done with the segment (and Jordan pitched to break), Jordan asked me when she could go on television again. She really liked it.

You can learn more about the story we posted to my newsroom’s website and the golf tournaments, check out this link.

I had a quick meeting with my school case manager who is helping oversee Jordan’s 504 Plan. We went through what was set up at the start of the school year and had a chance to talk to Jordan’s Kindergarten teacher about what works and if there are any needed additions. What I learned during the meeting was we set up a pretty good plan. As I wrote before the school year started, my main goal was to make sure all of Jordan’s teachers think about possible challenges ahead of the lesson plan. I also learned that Jordan’s teacher discovered she could do a lot of thoughtfulness ahead of her lesson plans but it’s the little things that would catch her off guard. You know, like the little moments where her teacher talks about using two fingers and holds up each index finger. And my not-shy-at-all daughter calls her out: “You know I can’t do that!” And her teacher will ask Jordan to come up with a solution.

Because there’s always a solution.

And Jordan really always finds a solution. She really does. But there remain two things that are pretty tricky for Jordan: elements of the PE class and using the scissors quickly. Jordan is actually an excellent scissor user… but she isn’t fast at the task. So when you need to cut out a bunch of words from a sheet of paper to sort the words, Jordan loses time to work on the word sorting because she’s still cutting the words out. That’s when her teacher usually jumps in and helps her out. Jordan would never let her do all of it. But she does allow assistance. Our school caseworker decided we’re going to request a new OT assessment from the school district just in case we can use the district’s services. (I currently use a private OT who works with Jordan every other week.) We’re also going to see if the school district’s adaptive physical education manager can help assess Jordan’s needs during gym. I know she struggles with pushups. Her prosthetist is working on a pushup hand to help… but right now it’s not quite right. We’ll keep working on it. But maybe something like a yoga block could help. Maybe there are ideas I haven’t even thought of.

I feel like we’re in a good place. Jordan has a supportive school and teachers who want to remain open to give her an equal footing with her peers. I’m already looking forward to First Grade!

This was one of the craziest Mother’s Day weekends since my first Mother’s Day in 2002. That’s right… It’s so strange to think I’ve been a part of this mom world for ten years. Mother’s Day weekend 10 years ago seemed just as crazy. I graduated from grad school the day before Mother’s Day… Cameron was six weeks old. I was SO new at this mom thing. My mom and mother-in-law were first time grandparents.

That weekend, we juggled two very big celebrations… I had finished my graduate degree just weeks before Cameron was born. The ceremony was a big deal. We dressed him up in a handmade cap and a black t-shirt for a gown. We even made him a matching tassel. I carried him across the stage when I snagged that diploma.

It was so cool. Because the very next day was officially my first Mother’s Day. My parents were there to celebrate. It’s incredible to think how much I’ve grown in these last ten years.

I look like such a baby. Ten years of parenting really can age you. But it’s been worth every bit of extra gray hair and worry. I couldn’t have become the mom I am without the support of so many other mothers and fathers and friends and family. I’ll be honest. My mom and mother-in-law have been rocks as I travel through this mom world. I struggled with the right ways to celebrate my most important moms. For my mom, I sent flowers, a card and we had the COOLEST Mother’s Day conversation on FaceTime. It’s harder when I don’t have my mother-in-law with me to say thank you. I came up with a craft idea for the kids. They used foam flowers and combined them with pipe cleaners to create a couple of bouquets in her honor. We miss her a ton.

This weekend was crazy. Yesterday was my birthday and graduation for my students. We snuck in a baseball game in between ceremonies. My birthday also included a neighborhood block party and a quick trip to a dance party with friends. Today’s Mother’s Day was a chance for the kids, Randy, my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law to spend time together. Plus, Randy came up with a super fun way to celebrate my geekiness. I’m so lucky to have such a fun #family and I’m blessed to have a community of families to share our stories, pictures and love.

Jordan is officially a softball player and she loves it. She’s played three games in the last week and a half and is enjoying every moment. She’s working really hard at catching the ball with her glove and then throwing it. Sometimes she moves the glove under her arm to throw, other times she throws it to the ground. Either way, she looks really good when she throws:

To add to the fun, she’s on a team with some of her favorite neighbor friends and is making all kinds of other friends. She’s also figured out a way to hit the ball. It was a skill she was struggling with a bit last year. Check it out:

It’s fun. To add to the fun, one of our Camp No Limits friends started t-ball this year and his older brother plays coach pitch. Tonight, Jordan got to play with her friend and goof around after her game and her brother was playing. I LOVE how our kids have the camp connection and are so goofy together.

I am halfway through Jim Abbott’s new book, Imperfect; An Improbable Life. After each chapter recounts a part of his childhood, I’m taken aback by how uncomfortable he’s been throughout his life about his limb difference. Times are a little better when it comes to limb differences. Culturally, our school system is more accepting. Jordan is officially classified a “not disabled” in her school district. And I do believe that is correct. Abbott writes how he always felt out of place and didn’t fit in as he grew up in Flint, Michigan.

I instantly think about Jordan. I don’t see her shy away from anything other than learning to ride a bike with two wheels. In social settings, she’s able to move past the questions and stares better than any person I’ve met. This weekend she had two girls in a baseball field above her pelting her with questions. They weren’t being malicious, they were just curious. By the end of the conversation, the kids were all playing together and Jordan was bossing the girls around. She’s bold. She’s strong.

Then two things happened over the weekend that made me want to write this post. First, I got an email from Jordan’s Kindergarten teacher. I had sent her a note with concern about Friday’s Grandparent’s Day. When she replied, she let me know Jordan did pretty well at school. She also told me about a cool moment that had happened earlier in the week. She wrote how impressed Jordan was with her “whatever” attitude when kids ask her questions. One kid walked up to her and said, “I bet you wish you had two arms like me.” The teacher said she was ready to jump into “That’s how she was born” mode but Jordan just smiled and said:

“No. Actually it’s kinda fun like this!“

That’s so awesome.

Not long after that email, a Born Just Right friend on Facebook asked how I managed to get Jordan to like her little arm. She discovered her two-year-old hiding his little arm in public. I thought about it and I’ve never seen Jordan hide her arm. It could be because her arm is so short. But it could also be because I’ve introduced her to as many possible limb different kids since she was tiny. She has had experiences and meetings in ways that would have never happened without such a fun arm.

I keep fretting about the future and how Jordan may lose hope and confidence… but she is holding strong. I keep going deeper and deeper in Abbott’s book and I’m so thrilled to hear the perspective of a limb difference from a person with a limb difference. Since Jordan is young, I don’t feel like it’s right to ask her too many deep questions about how she feels about her limb difference when she seems So. Dang. Comfortable. I’ll ask when she’s older. For now, I think she’s feel more comfortable in her skin than Abbott did at her age. And for that I’m thankful.

I sent Jordan to school with a collection of her favorite pictures of her Grandma. It’s Grandparents Day at her school. They hold this big event every year and it’s always a big deal to my kids. This would have been Jordan’s first year celebrating it. She’s been jealous of the event the last four years her brother has celebrated it with Grandma and Poppy. I can’t explain how she was looking forward to today last year. But things change rapidly when you least expect it. This year, Poppy couldn’t attend and we lost Grandma last month. So the kids are raw. Today is a massive bandaid getting ripped off their sore. And even harder, this is going to be a difficult day each year at school. Cameron only has one more year of elementary school. But Jordan has a long way to go.

Last night Jordan hit the realization of how today will be difficult and ended up crying a lot at bed time. It was rough. For her brother, I encouraged him to write down happy memories to get through the day.

Happy memories are such a blessing.

I was traveling most of yesterday when friends started sending me links to a sweet little six-year-old who was born without her hands who won a writing contest. I just knew it had to do with Nick Maxim. You may remember me talking about him last year when he won a hand writing contest and the company was so impressed, they started a new scholarship in his honor. Nick also happens to be the inspiration who led to the start of Camp No Limits.

Well… They really did and the first recipients for print and cursive writing are Pennsylvania first grader Annie Clark and Ohio fifth grader Remiel Colwill. Annie was born without hands and Remiel has a visual impairment. You can read about Annie in the Pittsburgh Gazette. (There’s a really cool picture.) If you Google her name, you’ll see so many people talking about her. That’s so exciting and it’s so great to see another family talking about how a limb different child can do it all. She has limb different siblings who her parents also adopted! We need Annie and her family to attend Camp No Limits in Maine so she can meet Nick! Or we should have her family attend the Missouri camp so Jordan can hang out with her. (I can have my personal wishes, right?)

If you want to learn how your child can participate in this contest, visit this website.

Each year there’s a process as we get closer to Jordan’s big dance recital. There’s the fall when the class gets to know each other and learns a holiday dance to perform on a small stage. Then the spring is focused on the big recital in May. Jordan’s class this year knows their dance pretty well (Jordan needs to practice more at home) even though we’re a month away from the big show.

This week Jordan got to try on her costume and dance in it for the first time. The difference was when the outfit was handed out, I wasn’t in the building. During the first half hour of her class, I’m in a nearby building while Cameron takes a guitar lesson. When we got to dance, Jordan was already dancing with her class in her fancy outfit. I felt kind of guilty I wasn’t there to help her get the outfit on. So I asked some of the moms who helped get her dressed. It turns out when all of the other kids were getting help, Jordan politely declined the offers for help. She got the outfit on all by herself. The only thing she needed help with was putting on the hair bow. I love how able and independent she is. Enjoy a preview of the dance Jordan will practice and get better at… What I’m impressed with is how she was trying really hard to smile the whole time.

Jordan breaks into spurts of sadness when it hits her that her grandma isn’t with us anymore. The realization hits me each time I work online and stumble into a link she liked or a comment she left. I wish I had emailed her more, asked her to write more things. I wish I had emails and messages to give to the kids. I miss her.

We all missed her this weekend for the Easter holiday. We had a chance to return to the cemetery where my father-in-law had a beautiful gravestone made in her honor. It was a brief visit to bring flowers and admire her resting space. Jordan helped place the flowers and wanted to take her picture with the gravestone… But she was very careful to not step on the dirt that still shows where her grandma’s coffin was buried. She didn’t “want to step on Grandma.” Those little things are heartbreaking.

It’s hard to celebrate while you are in mourning… but having the kids around helps. Even better, I’m glad they gave their Poppy a reason to smile. This is so hard. But watching the kids dress up in their sweet outfits, handing out hugs and having fun competitively searching for eggs was very smile-worthy.