Jordan

These past 3 months have been a time of adjustment for Aiden, but they have also been a time of major adjustment for Jordan.  Bringing an instant toddler into the home is very difficult on a sensitive little 3 1/2 year old.  Before Aiden, Jordan was used to a fairly quiet home where he was surrounded by adults.   His little world has been totally shaken now that Aiden is home.  Aiden can be a lot of fun but he is also very loud, aggressive, and extremely possessive of anything he has his hands on.  Jordan is not a loud kid by nature, so I think that Aiden's loud screaming and rough play has been really hard on him.  I've seen a lot of behaviors from Jordan that I never saw before.  He has a lot more meltdowns and is way more hesitant to share with other kids than he used to be.  Luke and I have said that we think Jordan has cried more in the last 3 months than he cried in the previous 2 1/2 years.  That's probably an exaggeration, but not by much.

Despite all these difficulties, Jordan surprises me with how kind he can be to his little brother.  The other day Aiden was struggling to carry a truck down the steps and I couldn't help him because I was carrying laundry down.  Jordan said, "I can help him!" and quick ran up the steps and carried the truck down for him.  The other day Aiden was being a stinker about putting on his shoes and kept running away when I would try to put them on.   Jordan noticed this and offered to put Aiden's shoes on for me.  It was so cute watching him kneel down and fasten Aiden's shoes.  Then today Aiden was playing with a garbage truck and was constantly pulling a piece of it apart and then whining for me to put it back together.  After a few times of that I was sick of it and didn't want to keep putting the truck back together.  Jordan said, "I can do it for him!" and patiently put it back together for him.  Jordan must have started to get sick of it as well though because a few minutes later I heard him say, "Okay, Aiden.  I am only going to put this together one more time because then I want to go and play."  Aiden seemed to understand because he didn't pull it apart again after that.

Jordan continues to delight us with all of the interesting things that he says.  Whenever he says something cute, I always think I'm going to write it down, but I always forget.  This is one conversation I remember that I want to make sure I write down.  The other day my parents brought over a toy kitchen set they bought for the boys.  Jordan just loves that kitchen set.  He plays with it all the time.  At bedtime that night I was saying a prayer and when I was finished Jordan asked, "Does God build things for us?"  I didn't know what to say so I just said yes.  Then Jordan asked me to thank God for his new kitchen set.  After I did Jordan said, "Did God say you're welcome?"  When I explained that we can't hear God he asked where God lived.  I said that God lives everywhere and that if you want him to, he will even live in your heart.  Jordan looked at me very seriously and said, "How could he get into my heart?  Would he come in through my toes?"  I couldn't contain my laughter after that comment and Jordan looked at me with such a bewildered look like he wondered what was so funny. 

Everyone in the family is trying to adjust to Aiden in their own way.  Each day continues to present new challenges with him, but we have seen a lot of progress in the past 3 months.  My biggest goals for him now are that his tantrums and whining start to diminish, he starts to be able to communicate more in English, and my biggest wish is that he will sleep more consistently through the night.  Hopefully 3 months from now we will be able to look back and see even more progress that he has made!