I share a lot about our family… so I wanted to share this. Jordan’s Grandma isn’t feeling very good… So she needs prayers and love in whatever form you can think of. We love her very much and hope she feels better very soon.

This week was the yearly chance for Jordan and I to meet with her pediatrician and see how much she’s grown in the last year.  It’s a chance to us to check in while Jordan is healthy and can just show off her helper arm and talk about all the great skills she’s gained in the last year. We’ve been very lucky (knock on wood) with her health. Sure, she’s picked up some gross bugs, but we rarely have to visit her doctor. Even nicer, our pediatrician is always happy to consult us about her prosthetic or orthotic needs from email since she knows us so well. (Jordan’s seen the same doctor since she was born.) Jordan also had fun goofing around the exam table.

This year Jordan was 41.9 pounds and 47 inches tall. That put her in the 30th percentile in weight and the 80th percentile in height. (A statistical occurrence I wouldn’t mind having!) Jordan’s skills of shoe tying and coat zipping impressed her doctor (since kids with two hands her age don’t all have those skills).

Along with her well-child check up this week, Jordan had an occupational therapy session. I’m actually out of town but Jordan’s OT sent me a VERY excited message. Jordan did an amazing job working with her helper arm tying her shoes, zipping, buttoning and snapping. She also built a tower of blocks (19 blocks to be exact) with her helper arm. I’m super proud. I think I can also thank Jordan’s teacher for her growing skills in using her new arm. Each morning, I put Jordan’s arm on before she eats breakfast and goes to school. Most days, Jordan takes her arm off almost the moment she walks into her classroom door. Last week, Jordan’s Kindergarten teacher challenged Jordan to keep her arm on until lunch. Surprisingly, Jordan took on the challenge and continues to wear it more during the school day. She’s finding all kinds of fun things to do with her arm and she’s having a blast showing me the tiny things she’s thought up to do… Like flying like a bird:

It really seems like the only thing I talk about is swimming but I have a little story that I think is worth sharing.

Our community has a really cool indoor pool. When the kids were younger, we were members of the community recreation center that includes the cool pool. I moved to a different gym and stopped taking the kids there. I actually started avoiding that pool like the plague because it was one of the few locations in town were I had a really consistent time dealing with obnoxious questions about Jordan’s limb difference. I’m totally cool with questions. I don’t like people who follow me around with my child just to stare and they don’t leave after I’ve asked them to either play with my child or leave. Staring and following isn’t cool. That happened all the time when Jordan was younger.

Today was an early release day for the kids and their after school program scheduled a trip to this indoor community pool. I was okay with it but I also expected Jordan to come back with stories of annoying kids (or possibly adults. It’s happened.)

I asked her if she had fun. I didn’t even prompt her to see if there were annoyances. That’s when she said:

“I had fun! Everyone left me alone. I never had to say ‘WHAT!’”

Apparently saying “WHAT” is what Jordan says if a child walks up to her and just stares. I didn’t know that. But she told me today that people who don’t ask questions and stare with leave her feeling exasperated. Today’s trip to the pool made her feel just like any other kid. I’ve never talked to her before about this perspective and heard her experiences come out without prompting. She told me she felt good and didn’t feel like anyone was looking at her. Then she laughed and mentioned how she’d never look around to check.

She had no “whats” today and got to feel like any other kid… Because that’s what she is!

And our conversation tonight opened me up to a very mature side of my little six year old. Her perspective of being in the public is a level of awareness I know I didn’t have at her age.

Jordan went back to dance class Wednesday… it’s the first class since we missed her big holiday recital because we were in Chicago last month building her newest helper arm. When Jordan got to class today, her teacher told me the dancers all couldn’t stop asking about Jordan’s arm. Near the end of class, she came out of class and asked if she could show off her arm.

I ran out to the car, snagged it and put her chilly arm on so she could show it off. The kids asked great questions, Jordan let them touch her new arm and she was very proud.

After class, Jordan took her arm off and started getting her coat on. One of the little girls was showing off Jordan’s arm to her mom when the mom looked over to see Jordan zipping up her coat all by herself.

“Well, she’s determined,” the mom said.

Heck yeah she’s determined. She’s the picture of determination.

Our snow has melted… But before it did, Jordan spent as much time out in the cold stuff as possible. I actually had to bribe her with hot chocolate to come inside.

I caught a few moments of her outside… she wanted to build a snowman, but we didn’t really have that much snow. But I did convince her to make a little arm snow angel:

When Jordan was born six years ago, her brother was almost four years old and his friends had a lot of questions. One of the easiest ways to explain Jordan’s limb difference to kids was, “Remember Nemo and his lucky fin? Well, Jordan has a little arm just like his fin.”

These days, that explanation doesn’t always make sense to kids. A lot of little kids have NEVER seen the movie! I know that seems shocking, but it isn’t in Disney’s DVD rotation right now and there are kids falling outside the Nemo loop. So it was thrilling to hear this announcement:

Thank you Disney for bringing Nemo back this Fall and giving us a chance to celebrate limb differences again with the help of a very cute and brave clown fish.

I bought Jordan another coat. It isn’t something I planned in our budget… It’s just another one of those things that come up when you have a little arm.

I try to plan ahead. I buy things during January for the next year because winter stuff is so much cheaper. Last year I snagged a really cute Disney coat and even had Jordan’s name embroidered on it. It turned out to be the worst coat I’ve ever bought for her. It’s too puffy to roll the sleeves… And the sleeve is a little too skinny to easily fit her helper arm through it. Jordan spent most of the cold season complaining about the coat. (By the way, it’s such a cute coat.)

So I bought a new one yesterday. It isn’t as puffy and it has Velcro straps at the end of the sleeves. It rolls up so much easier and it met Jordan’s approval.

Zipper-wise? She’s pretty good at getting zippers up on some coats. The new one wasn’t too hard on the first try. But I’m encouraging her to unzip her coat like it’s a pullover. That way she doesn’t have to fully zip and unzip her coat. She’s a bit skeptical about this “easier” coat process… But it helps remove some of the stress of zipping when you’re in a time crunch.

It’s a clothing readjustment… Not a big deal, but these are the kind of things that our family has to do from time to time. We spend a little more money to change a coat or add in an extra activity to stay strong and healthy… It doesn’t seem like much, but I know these are the little things no one thinks about. We readjust from time to time while we figure out what Jordan needs. I learned a lesson this year: Pay better attention to the sleeves of a coat before I buy it. And from now on, I’ll probably buy the coat in person and roll up the sleeve instead of buying it online. (Yes, I realize we could alter the coat, but the sleeve length changes between when she wears a coat with or without her helper arm.)

I’m pretty sure we’ll never be able to recreate the amazing that came from 2011. Jordan’s year started at Disney World and ended happily with a post-birthday party high at home. What happened in the middle was amazing.

First, this website has grown along with our community on Facebook. It’s really an incredible gift to be able to talk to so many families.

Second, the trips we took this year are hands down the most awesome trips.

Third, the people we met in person and online are awesome. Our family had a chance to spend time with so many people… From our family to new friends we consider family to a non-stop growing number of Born Just Right families. Everywhere we go, there’s a chance to meet new friends.

SO… I couldn’t boil the year down into a simple blog post. The best I could do was go through my many, many photos and share them. (Also, don’t forget the beautiful photo collection of Jordan during her last month of preschool and our family photo shoot.)

(By the way, if you missed it, here’s Jordan’s happy new year wishes!)

What a cool way to end the year. The kids and I enjoyed the very warm weather by going for a run at our elementary school’s track and played on the playground. Jordan showed off how she plays during recess. She’s quite the daredevil. She also told me that when she falls down, she says something silly so no one will run up to her and check to see if she’s okay. I thought that was interesting.

As we head into 2012, Jordan put together a quick end of the year message for you! Thanks again to each and every one of your for being awesome!

Here are the blog hop rules:

Birthdays are awesome. I love them. That’s why I tend to make a big production out of them. Jordan’s been lucky to spend three out of six of her birthdays at Disney World. Each time she’s had a chance to dress up like a princess and celebrate. But until yesterday, she’d never had a traditional birthday party at our house. She had never held a birthday fundraiser before. We’ve never brought our online and in-person world together on one day before. The result? An awesome day… And we raised:
 $2,355! Jordan had a blast at her party. We are both amazed and touched by the outpouring of  support you gave to Camp No Limits. Our fundraiser was an attempt to raise enough money for two more kids to attend camp next summer and you helped us raise enough for SIX. That’s huge. I know a six-year-old who is very excited and exhausted from an awesome day.

Our Winter the Dolphin party was super fun. The kids started the party watching the Dolphin Tale movie. They ate a ton of popcorn and pretzels (and ocean jello) and I even let them drink fruit punch in little cups with a straw. (Allowing kids to drink in my living room is rare!) They didn’t stay in the room through the entire movie. I offered the kids other non-movie watching activities in case they felt the need for distractions.

They watched most of it. But the thrill of playing in Jordan’s room to wear princess dressed, making dolphin necklaces and coloring dolphin pages were too much fun.

The cake was also a huge success. Our favorite cake decorator made one with a really cool depiction of Winter:
I have a thing where I hide the cake from the birthday kid so they don’t see it until we sing happy birthday. I had posted a picture of the cake on Facebook ahead of time and one of the kids at the party saw the picture before Jordan. It was kind of funny to hear one girl announce she knew about the cake before Jordan did.
After gift opening and a bit more playing in Jordan’s room, the party was complete. Jordan had a blast and her eight friends were fabulous.

Even more fabulous? You! Thank you for supporting Camp No Limits and helping Jordan feel incredibly proud of the accomplishment of raising so much money for our favorite non-profit. Camp is so special to us and the amazing number of people who pitched in to let us know it’s special to them too is just incredible.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.