Even in a house that is over-run by toys...

...Jordan will still want to play with whatever it is I am doing/he is not supposed to have/he just learned he can reach and Mom doesn't know it yet. In trying to snap some pictures of him the other night, he grabbed the camera case and put it right on. As you can tell by the lack of toys around him, he had no choice...I mean what else was there for him to play with?

His latest and greatest discovery? Daddy's plants. Not only can he now reach them, he can reach them well enough to inflict serious destruction. If we only had 1 or 2 plants I'm sure I could relocate them to higher ground. But what happens when even the higher ground at your house is covered with plants? Duane has quite the green thumb, and I can honestly say that every available inch of display space in my house is home to a very beautiful and unique plant. I love it and it's wonderful, but as Jordan gets taller and his reach is getting longer I am at a loss as to what my options are. Obviously he is aware he is not supposed to touch the plants (or hit them, pull on them, knock them over and dump a pot full of soil into the carpet) but he has some of his dad's mischievious streak in him. The second I am on the phone or trying to cook, etc. he heads right for the plants. Ideally I should be treating this as some sort of ethereal parenting opportunity, but that might have to wait until Duane gets home. Until then if you come to my house and I have plants sitting in odd places you'll know why. And if you haven't read this and ask "Why do you have a pineapple plant sitting on top of a box sitting on top of a ....." I will just politely refer you to this blog post ;-)

Like I said, he only goes for what he knows he shouldn't have when I am otherwise occupied, which isn't often these days. I have been lucky enough to be able to spend almost all of my evening time just playing with him. The house may not be as clean right now, but oh well. It can always get cleaned, and Jordan won't be 18 months old forever.

So....yeah, um we're not getting much done

So needless to say, updating the blog obviously isn't happening on an everyday basis as I thought it might. Partly because we've been keeping in touch with Duane via web-cam a lot, and partly because Jordan started walking (like really walking) the day that Duane left for China.

Yep, the DAY he left. I couldn't be more excited, but sad that Duane wasn't here at the same time. Jordan had been standing and taking a few steps for quite a while, even walking around the perimeter of furniture etc. But the night that Duane left he just started walking on his own! The story goes like this: Jordan loves vacuums. Why? I don't know. I'd say it's because I'm such an amazing housekeeper that I vacuum everyday, but that would be a huge lie. I agree that my purple Dyson is an amazing machine and quite good looking, but I don't think it's that either. Anyway, he had been pretending to "vacuum" with a stick or spatula, etc. for a few days when all of the sudden he was so preoccupied with "vacuuming" that he just kept on going. All the way down the hall and into our bedroom. I raced to grab the video camera before he realized he was walking. To my suprise even though he would fall down, he kept getting right back up and doing it again. I had to get this on video, so I kept him going. "Oh Jordan, the floor is really dirty over here, come vacuum this." "Jordan can you help mommy vacuum?" The best part was the noise he was making while doing it. Trying to imitate the vacuum noise, it was awesome! So at least I have the walking recorded (and quite a bit since then) so that Duane can see it.

The only downside to this development is that since I'm the only one home and Jordan is now EXTREMELY mobile, I haven't had any time to do all the little projects I had high hopes for. So I think I have hung a few pictures, but that sums it up. To think being the only one home with a toddler was going to give me any "time" to rearrange the pantry, or furniture, or do some filing in the office, is laughable to me at this point. But I can say that I am having the best time chasing Jordan around the house and yard!

Only a few more days till we get to visit Uncle Chris. I am so excited. I'm sure our first airplane ride since walking will be far from relaxing but we'll see how it goes. I'm actually more worried about Jordan and Grandpa being together on a plane. Those two are trouble when they are together ;-) Maybe Grandma and I will sit elsewhere and then complain to the flight attendant about the noisy baby in the other row. (I wouldn't really do that, but I have a friend that did...and you know who you are.)

Anyway, here are a few pics in the meantime. This one would be really cool if it was in 3-D. That olive would be coming right at you!

Here's one from the Animal Planet Expo we went to at Liberty Park. Boy was it hot that day! Luckily we had these "Meerkat Fans" that they gave us.

Here are a few of Jordan, and Jordan and Riley at Steven's Birthday party on Saturday.