North Carolina For Some Cousin Lovin'

As our plane landed in NJ from NC this past Friday I realized Jordan was on her 26th flight.  She has more mileage on her than a used car!  Of course to me each flight, whether it's the 9th flight or the 26th flight brings on the same level of panic and panic packing that comes along when you're traveling w/a child.

My diaper bag, when flying, is like a larger swollen retaining water version of itself b/c I have it stuffed w/so many snacks, books, toys, the DVD player, too many DVDs, diapers, wipes, change of clothes, drinks and of course a back-up pacifier!  All for that just-in-case-we-are-stuck-in-the-airport situation.

Who needs airline food?  I can provide each passenger w/Graduates dried fruit snacks, cookies, gold fish, pretzels, string cheese, fruit, fruit roll-ups, Cheerios, milk and water.  It's the same amount of stuff whether we're flying an hour to NC or 3-4 hours to some island.

Don't worry about your hands getting dirty.  I have enough wipes in my swollen bag to wipe down the outside of the plane if need be.

No pillows to be had on the plane?  No worries, just prop a few of my 17 unused diapers together and you have yourself a pillow!

I can have story time on the plane for those passengers who wish to attend.

I can show many different movies depending on the mood of the passengers:  I find Winnie The Pooh to be calming and sweet.  Blues Clues if you're looking for a mystery movie.  And Word World if you're interested in comedy.

And no matter how many times we fly and how much stuff I bring Jordan usually only requires either a DVD and some gold fish or she just falls asleep on one of us and I'm left wondering who is going to eat all the snacks I've brought.

Onto our trip:  we spent a week in NC w/Bubby, Pop-Pop, Aunt Christy & Max.  It was the best week!  Jordan and Max can not get enough of each other and spend a good part of the day hugging one another.  Jordan thinks Max is the funniest guy on the planet and I found out that Max thinks the word 'penis' is the funniest thing he's ever heard in his entire life!  I can out of the blue look at him and say "Hey Max.......penis" and he literally falls to the ground in a fit of laughter.  I was going to try a few other body parts to see if I'd get the same reaction but I knew that would get me 'the look' from my sister which is the exact 'look' my mom used to give me when I was in trouble so I opted to stick w/'penis'.

While we were in NC Jordan decided she was missing too much Max time by napping so on Thursday she decided to nap for 20 minutes and then stay up until 8pm.  I was on alert all day waiting for the tired meltdown which never came.  She could not have been happier or funnier than that day.  

Jordan has said her first sentence!!  It's the only one but I love it.  She says, "I DID IT" when she opens something or lifts something heavy or unsticks something.  It is so super cool to hear her put those three words together.  

She now sits down w/her books and pretends to read.  I watch her pointing to the letters and saying them out loud.  Of course every letter is either 'A' or 'E' but it's a start.  

I am constantly quizzing her on the names of everyone in our lives.  The computer has a continuos slideshow of family/friends pictures.  She stumped me on a name the other day until I realized she was saying her own name which to her sounds like 'Jordan' but when she's saying it, it comes out as 'Jo-Jo'!!  How friggin cute is that?

'Jo-Jo' locked Mima out of the house the other day!  It was really funny.  Somehow overnight Jordan is now able to reach the door knobs but she can't turn them to open the door.  However, she can turn the lock inside the door knob on the door leading out to the garage which is what happened the other day.  Mima went out to get something from her car, Jordan went over to the door and locked it and then came back to play w/me and a few minutes later we hear this angry banging at the door.  When I open the door to let Mima in she is totally accusing me of locking her out on purpose and how "it's really not that funny" as I'm cracking up trying to explain that it wasn't me who did it.  And that's when I realized I am so screwed in my life from here on out b/c even before Jordan entered our world I was always in trouble for one thing or another when it came to Mima.  Now, I'm totally fried, cooked, toast.  Because from here on out anything Jordan does to Mima I'm the one who's going to take the fall.  Maybe we really should get a dog so I can just sleep in the dog house b/c that's where I seem to be 90% of the time!!