The questioning has started

We noticed shortly after Jordan turned 4, he started having a lot of questions about anything and everything. Below are some of the recent ones that we've had to pause and think about how to answer them:

Jordan: Daddy, I want to see my Grandpa.
John: Your grandpa is in heaven now.
Jordan: When is he coming back?
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Jordan: Daddy, what's it like in your butt?
John: Dark and smelly
Jordan: Oh ok. Can I see your butt?
John: No you can't.
Jordan: I want to see my butt. (looks at it in the mirror) It has cracks!
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Jordan: Mommy, why do I live on the planet earth?
Lauren: Because earth is the only planet where people can live, at least that we know of.
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Jordan: Mommy I want to marry Chey right now.*
Mommy: What does it mean to marry?
Jordan: Happy

*This comment came from a story I told Jordan about what Chey told her mom, my good friend Lydia. Recently Chey told her mom that when she's 5, she's going to marry Jordan and all she has to do is go to marrying school.
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More to come!

Jesus and the Candy Cane

Last night during bath time, Jordan was acting out a story that he learned from preschool. The story goes like this:

Jesus had a candy cane.
He went to the ocean and found a whale.
The whale came up out of the water.
Jesus hit the whale with the candy cane
and said, "Don't go too fast!".
The end.

Preschooler Pain Management

This month we had to face the inevitable - the dreaded tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy procedure for Jordan. Our primary care doc made the recommendation almost a year ago to see an ENT specialist about Jordan's extra large tonsils and adenoids. He had sleep issues that were worrisome, snored like a sailor and always breathed through his mouth. As a result, he never got restful sleep at night, not to mention he would wake up gasping for air or worse, stop breathing altogether for several moments at night!

John and I drag our feet for several months on this until finally we were ready. The verdict came in, Dr. Ochi ("Dr. Ouchee" as Jordan likes to call him) made the recommendation to have it done as soon as possible. We did our research on the procedure but didn't focus on the after-care pain management. For those parents out there who are considering this procedure for their preschooler, be warned - this is considered major surgery. Jordan did very well for the procedure itself, he cooperated, remained calm, did was he was asked to do and when he woke up, he simply said "Where's my mom?"

After we came home for the hospital, Jordan managed to inhale a whole cheeseburger and fries. It went downhill from there, and it remained challenging for a good 7 days. The pain was unbearable, the only relief came after forcing down a dose of liquid vicodin which took an act of God to administer on a screaming preschooler. It got downright ugly at times, with many sleepness nights spent on the roll-away bed in Jordan's room. It is now day 8 post-surgery and we seem to have turned the corner finally.

Thank you to everyone who checked in on us when we were sleep deprived and living in a fog these last few days. Your well wishes, cards and tokens of love and concern are truly appreciated. We are so blessed to have such loving friends and family around during trying times like this.

Holidays 2008

Mele Kalikimaka!

Time seems to go faster as we get older. Jordan turned the big 3 in June and it was an opportunity to have a real summer party complete with water slide, wading pool, cake and ice cream. It was truly a madhouse but very fun and the kids had a blast. When it was all over, the house was still standing and no one got injured – thank goodness!

This year marked another milestone in Jordan's young life as he 'graduated' from the Mommy & Me class he's been attending since the age of 1. He entered St. Mark's Preschool summer session in July, attending 2days/week. It was tough emotionally in the beginning (and for Jordan too!) but after a few weeks he’s learned to really enjoy the class with his old friends and also made some new friends.

In April, John went on a work trip to San Francisco for a conference and it seemed like a good time to schedule a family vacation to the Bay Area. While John sat through day-long work sessions at the Moscone Center, Lauren and Jordan frolicked and laughed their way around SF with Uncle Henry. After the conference ended we all drove to Monterey, spent time in Big Sur and visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Grandma Lucy took a 2 month long trip to the Philippines to visit family and friends. We missed her a lot and are glad to have her back. Uncle Naz moved back to San Diego after several years of living in Miami and Jordan loves playing with him!

For our ninth anniversary we decided to revisit our honeymoon location, the island of Kauai. Jordan’s a real travel pro and took to the island lifestyle well. We hung out at the pool or the ocean and played in the waves while Daddy snorkeled. We spent 10 days between the Hilton and the Westin, both were beautiful properties with plenty to keep us busy. The best part was the daily $5 Mai Tai specials which were timed beautifully during Jordan's naps.

This year was an adventure at Halloween as we hosted our first dress-up party for about 20 preschoolers and grownups. Han Solo, Princess Leia and SuperWhy/Diego the Animal Rescuer had a blast as we went Trick or Treating in the neighborhood with our friends.

The rest of the year we managed to stay busy with our full time jobs while maximizing fun. Lauren traveled a few times this year to Wash DC and Alaska. On the weekends, we sneak in short trips to Disneyland or the airplane museums. Jordan is going through an airplane phase right now, and would be able to identify any airplane ever made and could tell you all about the Wright Brothers!

We are thankful and blessed to have our family and friends, and wish you all peace, love and laughter this holiday season.

John, Lauren and Jordan

Preschool Continued

We're deep into October and Jordan is really thriving in preschool. It started out tough for all of us in the summer session, but once we returned from Hawaii Jordan began to really settle in and get comfortable with his new teacher Ms. Dee and his classmates. Of course it helped that his buddies Jack & Tommy from Miss Rita's class joined him every Tuesday and Thursday. Jordan has done so well that we decided to extend his day to 3PM. He gets to rest/nap, play and spend more time with one of his favorite teachers, Ms. Molly. It is also fun for us to hear Jordan sing new songs or come up with interesting new quotes we've never heard before (this part may not be so fun in high school). We are also getting closer to Halloween. Originally Jordan was going to be SuperWhy but I think he has settled on Diego the Animal Rescuer. Stay tuned--the rest of this month is going to be fun!

Hank Easton and Steely Damned

Sunday night John and I went down to Anthology San Diego to catch show by The Steely Damned. It's been a long time since we last saw them, and they can still rock the house! It was quite an amazing lineup of local talent: Tripp Sprague on sax, Bob Tedde on lead vocals, and Ruby (from the Red Hots) on backup vocals, and the guys from Rockola. But by far the star of the show was Hank Easton who was smoking hot on the guitar! There were 12 people on the stage and they all jammed really well together. They played to a packed house on a Sunday night, and had everyone dancing by the end of the show. Hopefully they will get to play more often, even if it's on Sunday nights. If you like to listen to live music, check out Anthology - great venue for music and good food. Their burger was pretty darn good and try their orange ginger mojito!

Hank Easton does a pretty amazing medley of Steely Dan Guitar Solos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZs4pK-aBuE

Preschool is not Las Vegas

You've seen those commercials on TV - "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Well, it's a good thing preschool isn't Vegas because I love getting the daily notes and pictures from Jordan's preschool teacher. Call me a helicopter parent, but one of the cool things about Jordan's new preschool is that the teachers do so much to keep the parents in the loop. Every night they send out by email a brief description of what each child did during class that day as well as pictures and videos of the kids doing their activities at school.

Check out Ms. Molly's pictures and notes from first day of school, as well as the Rock Out ABC video from Jordan and Tommy.