Another Reunion

Jordan is crawling on all fours! He figured it out and he's definitely in a big rush to go. He doesn't know where he's going yet, but he needs to get there quickly. Also, if you look closely you can see the bottom two teeth. I can tell you from experience you have to be careful sticking a finger in there. Anyway, the rest of this post is about what happened to Jordan rather than how he's doing. Stop reading if you aren't interested.

This past Saturday was the NICU reunion. We went to go visit all of the people who we thought we would never forget. It turns out that we forgot almost all the names, and about half of the faces. The reunion was for any kid who has ever stayed there which meant there were some toddlers at the reunion. That means the DJ was playing nursery rhymes and kid songs. If going to kids parties means 3 hours of Jimmy Cracked Corn and Itsy Bitsy Spider, then we will have very few parties until I'm old enough to dislike the rap he'll listen to in 10 years.

That's the thing about Jordan. He won't cry when he meets strangers. I love that about him. He's met both sides of the family this summer and didn't even whine. However, he doesn't smile either. He just studies people. He didn't mind the clown, but he clearly didn't care either. People try so hard to make him smile, but they can't do it.

These previous two pictures are from our neighbors. In the nicu we met other parents. We never got to get a good look at their kids though. You can't really walk up to someone else's crib and examine their kid in the nicu. No rules, that's just rude. Anyway, these people lived up in Jacksonville so we haven't really kept in touch, but it's nice to see the kids are doing well. I regret we didn't see all of our neighbors.

These pictures are the nurses who we came to know well. They were absolutely thrilled to see how well Jordan is doing. They kept saying he looks great and how surprised they were. I don't know why. He spent 4 months doing better than they expected of him.

This is the doctor who saved my son's life. We got a little upset with her at the end, but a lot of that was the emotion of the time. I would have spent evey penny I had and then some to see this picture 12 months ago. Thanks Doc.

One of the advantages of living in Florida is that every 4 years, people ask for your vote. Many of the people reading this blog live in states where people don't ask for your vote. I refer to them as 'lesser states'. In fact the republican party has said that those of you in NY are not in real america but rather some fake version I suppose. Anyway, this was a rally for the democratic candidate Barack Obama. You can see him clearly just a quarter mile beyond that tree. The park had a capacity of 10,000 people, but about double that showed up. We were able to get close enough to hear the loudspeakers. The campaign estimated 20,000 showed up, but they didn't mention that the rally was held 2 blocks from a basketball arena that would have allowed everyone to actually see him. I can't complain too much because it was free, but I didn't get any closer than seeing the road his bus drove on. I just thought it was important to bring my kid to see the candidate. He was so excited he wet his pants.

Lessons Learned

They say that in life you should learn something new everyday. So I would like to go over some of the things I learned this week.

1. Grandma's cooking is always the best cooking you will ever have. Grandma gave Jordan some of that baby toast they sell in the supermarket. He loved it. He chewed, smiled, all that good stuff. I figured this was great. He and I could sit down later and share a slice of toast together and have one of those Hallmark moments. 2 days later the high chair still smells like vomit.
2. It is easy to get Jordan to sleep if you are willing to make the sacrifice. This little boy will spend all day long in bed eating and sleeping, as long as he has company. If you don't get in bed with him he will stay up all day long and fight his nap as long as he can.
3. When you have the heart of a toddler, it doesn't matter how cool you look as long as you get the job done. He has perfected his little army crawl. He uses arms, legs, feet, face. Whatever it takes to get the ball in front of you.
4. Biting starts to hurt when you get bitten with teeth rather than gums. That leads me to the next thing.
5. When you don't know the definition, 'No' is a fun game to play with daddy. This little boy loves to make me say No. I don't really discipline him yet (too young in my opinion), but when he grabs the electrical cord, I separate him, look him in the face and say no. I'm trying to teach him the meaning of the word. He just loves the reaction. I might as well be tickling his feet.
6. No more baths in the sink. He can easily fit in the sink and I find it easier to work with him there, but he can't keep his hands off of the faucet. He has to play with the faucet which means a cold drip on the head, or a hot torrent down his back. Either way, I can't let him play with the tap.
7. Playing with Jordan for 30 minutes will solve any problem. No matter what happened at work with your boss. No matter what bills are due today. No matter what you just fought about with the mama Ali. Just sit Jordan on the floor without any toys and sit down next to him and 30 minutes later you have had a great day. I can't wait to see what I learn next week.

Take a close look. Do you see anything?

His first time on a swing. We had trouble getting him to smile and look at us at the same time.

It isn't pretty, but it worked. He got from point A to point B, but it isn't a true crawl. He pushes forward with his feet and doesn't let his knees do any of the work. He actually looks like he is trying to climb a ladder. It doesn't look right, but it does look adorable. He is going to be so pissed when I show this to his prom date.

Did you see anything new in the top picture? Look closely. Just kidding, it's there, but you can't see it. However if you stick a finger in his mouth you can feel it. The bottom two front teeth have just barely cut through. They are so small that he can't do a thing with them yet, but I did feel them and you can hear them when he drinks out of a glass. He's still pretty bad at that.

Our little boy is about to stop being a little boy soon. He loves to climb his parents whenever he can. For some reason he prefers me but I think it's because I wear sleeves more than mommy (tank tops), and I spend a lot of time wrestling with him. If you are careful with him he does enjoy being tackled. He also enjoys floor time. We can't call it tummy time anymore because he doesn't stay on the tummy when awake. He spends a lot of time putting things in his mouth, using his other hand to put the same thing in his mouth, and scooting after the dogs. At his pace he never catches them, but little buys love little dogs and he won't stop trying. I haven't gotten a picture of that yet, but I will soon.