Flying the Friendly Skies

On our recent trip back home to Austin, Jordan made a few new friends. Jordan is a very out going little girl, as anyone who's met her well knows. I dread what this inhibition will lead to when she's a teenager. Anyway, on the leg of the flight from El Paso to Austin, the plane was full. A college kid, about 20 or so, sat next to Jordan. Jordan immediately started to chat her up. It went something like this:

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Hi, my name is Christie."

"I really like your shirt. And I like your nail polish."

"Thanks!"

me: smiling, somewhat apologetically. "She's going to talk your ear off."

Jordan: "What's your room like? What color is it?" (Jo has to know the color of EVERYTHING)

"My room is messy! It has brown and green..."

Jordan is obviously not impressed by this color scheme. Meanwhile, I'm getting her DVD player set up to distract her and give this girl some peace. The girl has gotten out some sort of smart phone, and if Jo sees it, she'll pester her about it for the rest of the flight. I talked to the girl some, she was really sweet and thought Jordan was cute and didn't seem to mind the 20 questions routine (I've forgotten most of their conversation).

So, flash forward 2 weeks later, and we're sitting in the Austin airport. Jordan takes a seat next to an older married couple also flying home to the ABQ. The lady turns to Jordan, tells her she's cute, asks her her name, how old she is, etc. Jordan loves this, and then digs through her backpack to produce a Dr. Suess book (that's not short) and asks the woman to read it to her. The woman does so happily. Jordan asks her about her nail polish, and then tries to strip off her own shoes and socks to show of her toe polish, which is mostly worn off. We stopped her. Then another woman sitting across from us tells Jordan what a pretty girl she is, and Jordan coyly smiles, and flashes three fingers at the woman, who, by the way, has not asked her how old she is. On the flight from Dallas to ABQ, we sit next to a man who Jordan instantly starts talking to and wants to see all the pictures on his phone. Thankfully, his phone did not run apps, so Jordan didn't attempt to commandeer it. He was really nice, and had a daughter of his own, who he said was also really outgoing with strangers. Hmmpff.

Jacob did his part, too, making gooey baby faces at people on the plane, and sleeping sweetly on me despite a two hour delay on the way home. And bless him, he waited until we were home to have a HUGE diaper blow out in his infant carrier. It was a great travel experience with the kids, and I honestly believe their presence on the planes brightened some peoples' day.

New Experiences

This will be a photo-free blog entry. You'll thank me.

We're back in Austin, a few days into our visit, and having a wonderful time. The kids are having fun, I'm having fun, all is well. We've been trying to visit some of our favorite places since we've been here. Today, we (me, Nana, Karen, the kids) drove to the Dripping Springs park that Nana and Pa always took Jordan to when she spent her days with them. Last time we were here, Jordan was in diapers.

We're at the park for maybe five minutes, and Jordan makes the dreaded announcement: "I have to go poo-poo". Crap. We walk over to the bathrooms attached to the public pool, and of course they're locked. Karen suggests driving to McDonalds. I hate leaving a place I just got to, I really really hate going into a place just to use their bathroom, and Jordan's ability to hold a potty urge is iffy. We don't test it. And we DON'T do port-a-potties or latrines. Better to just poop your pants in my book....

I am armed with a whole package of wet wipes, however. Wet wipes are to mothers what duct tape is to the rest of the population. So, since we're alone at the park (we look around to be absolutely sure), we go behind a tree, drop drawers, and poop on the gravel. This kid won't poop on half the public toilets we encounter at restaurants and shops (remember the hairy potty at Grand Canyon?), but she pooped on gravel. The MINUTE she starts to poop, a car pulls up. I clean her up, make a wet wipe glove of sorts, pick up the evidence, bury the offending gravel, put the trash in the trash bin, and go on with playtime at the park. Is this horrifying? Red-necked? I'm not sure, but I'm strangely proud of Jordan for doing what she had to do where she had to do it.

BTW, it seems that this blog has an unusual number of poop-related entries....

Last Day of School

Since we're getting ready to leave for Austin, today was Jordan's last day of her first year at preschool. I cannot believe the school year is already over for us. It's really quite sad.

Jacob and I went to school today, too, just to hang out and be there for Jordan on her last day. They had worship today, so I got to see what that was all about, and then it was their "field trip" to the mail box a few blocks down to mail letters to their mommies. Since we're missing the end-of-year program, the class sang their songs for us. At the end of the day, Jordan requested that she sing a song to her class. What a hoot! She made it up as she sang along, just like she does sometimes at bedtime, and the teachers could recognize bits and pieces of several songs she's learned at school. They made a comment about her "coming out of her shell", so I'm assuming this was a unique occurrence. After, Jordan complained to me that none of the other kids sang along. Then everyone gave her hugs and kisses good-bye. What a great way to end the school day and year!!

We'll dearly miss Jordan's first teachers. There's really something special about your first year at school, and I'm so thankful this year was such a positive experience for her.