I have commented a few times about how Jordan is showing true rebellious colors these days. But I haven’t really written it down. It’s exhausting. A portion of that strong rebellion allows her to push through challenges and do things that no one could have imagined. She won’t let me help her put toothpaste on her toothbrush. She will try and try and try to get that shirt on. (And sometimes she does) That same self-confidence and stubborn attitude also makes it very hard to get her to listen and be respectful at times. Jordan will do what Jordan wants to do. It’s very difficult to try and get her to apologize for being rude or do anything without it being on her own terms. I seem to recall saying something like this with Cameron… She’s lucky she’s so cute or else I don’t know what I’d do.

I haven’t gotten a picture yet… But her stubborn face is adorably rude. I’m not sure what to do about it except hope for this phase to move on and we’ll be able to show her the basics of kindness and respect somewhere along the way. (There is TONS of kindness in her — but it’s only on her own terms)

Another interesting development for Jordan is how she is desperate to hang out with friends in the neighborhood. Her brother is allowed to hang out with friends at nearby houses… And one of those houses has a set of twin girls who Jordan loves and adores. And since her brother can hang out with friends, she wants to be just like him. Jordan is asking to play with her friends more often. And if she can’t hang out with her friends, she wants to join in on playing with Cameron and his friends. Today she did just that and Cameron actually welcomed her into the fun while he was playing outside. I was really impressed. I seem to recall getting SUPER annoyed every time my little brother wanted to hang out with my friends. It makes me think that my son may be a nicer older sibling than I was… Or that Jordan is lucky and joining in on her brother’s fun is a novelty that she should enjoy while she can.

Since Jordan was very small, Randy and I have talked about how cool she’ll be when she gets her iArm – a prosthetic that will contain her iPhone, a small knife (for protection of course), a USB drive and all kinds of technically helpful tools. It will be SO cool. So when I found out about this, I nearly fell out of my chair.
Check it out! A guy named Jerry Jalava lost his finger so he replaced it with a sillicone finger that includes a 2 Gig USB drive! Ahh! I love it. Here’s a story about it and here’s his Flickr pictures.

I think that’s pretty cool. The funny thing is I tend to talk about all of these cool technologies that will enhance Jordan’s life with a prosthetic — and when she wears hers, she defaults to the most simple version. She’d much rather wear her “bouncy arm.” The passive hand that has a little flex to it. No thrills, no frills. But knowing Jordan, when there’s a frill to a prosthetic that thrills her, she’ll make a switch to something more exciting.

Miss Jordan has had some great highs and lows these days… First, she’s had to put up with me traveling a ton. The whole family has. I appreciate how they’ve dealt with it. In between all of that travel, Jordan continued to dance and started equestrian therapy. She LOVES it. To add to the fun, one of the volunteers works at her school so she can talk about horses whenever she wants.

During the therapy, there are three volunteers working with Jordan and the horse. So far she has worked with a horse named Thunder during two therapy sessions. Thunder is the biggest horse and it’s so cute to see this tiny little Jordan on such a large horse. One volunteer leads the horse and there are volunteers at each leg to make sure Jordan doesn’t fall. So far, Jordan has shown how she is able to sit very straight and maintain a pretty good amount of balance on her own. Hopefully that correct balance can help her with such loose hips!!

With all of this excitement, she did hit a major low while I was out of town: A serious stomach virus. It was really bad. Cameron has never been sick this long. Poor Jordan was unable to eat many foods for almost nine days! What made it worse was how Randy got the virus about 36 hours after Jordan started getting sick. I felt really bad being so far away and unable to help. Luckily our friend Aurora was able to jump in and help.

Jordan wasn’t 100 percent before we went to Kentucky to be with family… But by now all Jordan can talk about is food. She wants to snack and eat and eat and eat snacks all of the time. She lost a bit more than a pound… And for a little thing like Jordan, a pound is pretty serious! I’m sure she’ll get a little closer to 30 pounds again soon. (She has yet to hit that weight)

Another interesting development in the world while I was away: Jordan is getting more and more obstinate. I love her and DANG she’s cute… but when she gives me a stubborn face and tells me no, it means we have some serious work to do! She’s making up for the very easy “terrible twos” by handing me a VERY tricky three.

There have been so many things going on in Jordan’s world and I will try very hard to catch up… But first I just wanted to say good bye to Mama Dot. She passed away last week and was Jordan’s great-grandma. This is Jordan’s first loss and obviously she doesn’t quite understand. We explained our loss to Jordan as best we could – I reminded her of when her classroom fish passed away. I thought it might help her understand. During visitation Jordan started calling the visitation room the “Jesus Room” because she heard people talking about how Mama Dot was with him in heaven. It all confused her.

No matter what – she was very loved by Mama Dot. And Jordan loved her. There was never a moment when Jordan would miss giving her a hug and a kiss. She would always make sure she could tell Mama Dot how much she loved her on the phone and she always kept Mama Dot in her prayers. This picture was taken over the Thanksgiving holiday last year — and it’s just so sweet. I wish I had dozens of pictures like this one.

Sad that Mommy is leaving.

Being sweet

Doing a goofy dance.

I’m about to go out of town again… This time to Austin, TX for the big South by Southwest Interactive festival. I’m excited to attend, but Jordan and Cameron are pretty bummed. I was only home for three days. But we packed in a lot of mommy and kid time. Jordan is doing well. She’s showing more independence at school. That means she gets in trouble from time to time, but on the whole she’s have a blast and the teachers and kids are enjoying her company.

The biggest event is tomorrow – She’s heading to dance class and taking her first equestrian class! I hope Randy will take a few pictures. I’ll try to get them online once I get home. She’s asked if she’s going to ride a horse every single day since we visited the equestrian therapists two weeks ago. I can’t wait to hear how it goes.

I’m out of town – attending a super nerdy conference in Washington, DC called DrupalCon. And while I’m here… Jordan is at home with her dad and brother.

And she doesn’t like it one bit.

I swear the majority of our conversations on the phone are like this:

Me: Hi Boo! How are you?

J: When are you coming home (whiny voice)?

Me: I’ll see you Monday morning.

J: I want you to come home.

Me: (Ignoring her) What did you do at school?

J: I played. Come home. Right. Now.

Me: I can’t do that. But I’ll see you when I get home… it will happen soon.

J: But I want you home NOW (whiny level turns up a new notch)

Seriously. Randy tried as hard as he could to redirect Jordan’s attentions while we talked but it just didn’t work. The one thing I noticed though: Jordan’s verbal jumped up a notch AGAIN. Every time I leave she is more understandable and clear. She’s such a person and time away from me clearly requires her to verbalize clearer. I miss the kids a ton – but it’s great to be able to delve into my nerdy world from time to time. The good news: Things warmed up at home and the kids are enjoying the swingset in the backyard. Jordan returned to the sandbox and Cameron is enjoying the treehouse. I’m sad to miss the fun but I’m glad they have warmth to get outside and feel less trapped in the house. Now if only I could shake this mommy guilt every time I talk to them, I could really enjoy this nerd fest here in DC!

Jordan and Cameron’s grandparents were in town this weekend… And that means the boys got a great haircut (and I even helped out with the process. Someday I might be as good as my father-in-law… or at least get close). Anyway. With the guys looking good, I figured it was a good time to get the girl a new look. She was a trooper and let the stylist do a lot of trimming to create a pretty sweet look. She’s pretty darn proud of it.