Like father like son

Hangin' at the Catfish Cabin- the last place we ate during our stay in Eureka Springs. The food was actually very good and better than we expected. Couldn't miss getting the pictures of these two on the bench in front of the restaurant. We had Jordon outside trying to keep him entertained while we waited on food. He did pretty well-- he just doesn't want to be still for anything. He sat on the bench above for a whopping 2 seconds- the time it took me to take the picture. He also doesn't really do much walking- he mainly runs wherever he goes.

Downtown Eureka Springs

The place is really pretty, with all the flowers, rock, and Victorian style shops. Here we were at an outdoor stage... I think they have the Great Passion plays here. But today, they had a guy singing, and Jordon just loved it. He's here clapping and yelling after the performance. He also stood on the bench above and waved at the cars going down the street, yelling "Bye!". He would also do that with a lot of people we saw out and about, including his girlfried from the pool. J-man seems to have a thing for the cougars. It's fun to see peoples' reactions to him.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

This was a great place that rescues abandoned, abused, and neglected big cats and provides them with a life-long home. They also had a bear, birds, and monkeys. We got robbed of seing the white tiger because you had to go on a guided tour to see him. It was pretty hot outside and J-man was throwing a royal fit so we didn't think we could make it another 1/2 hr. till the tour started. We had already raided the gift shop and taken a water/ snack break. Jordon got away with a t-shirt and a couple new books. I was really impressed with how close you could get to the animals; I have never been to a zoo where you could get that close. One of the tigers looked at Jordon like he could have been a morsel.... then again, maybe he just wanted him to shut his screaming piehole. They say that if you come late in the afternoon, they are more active because it's feeding time. They were pretty active though in the morning when we went. We saw a couple tigers running and playing together, and one kept jumping in the water tank and chewing on his large plastic ring. One panther (or jaguar, not sure which) was scaling the sides of his cage when we walked by. Hard to imagine people keeping these animals as pets. I'm glad there are places like this that take care of them; this place was pretty awesome.

Pool fun

Jordon really enjoyed the pool at the hotel. We haven't had him in the pool much to this point. He's got the tubes in his ears and refuses to keep earplugs in, but we think we did ok at avoiding getting water in his ears. Since we're pretty new to this, didn't realize his diaper would swell up like a basketball. Geez, his butt became huge, but it didn't seem to bother him any. Pretty funny, acutally. Reminded me of that song about backing that thing up. We really will have to check into those swim diapers.

Eureka we made it!

After 4 hours in the car with a 16 month old, I was really questioning my sanity for coming up with this idea to begin with... thought we could manage it, but geez, what an ordeal to travel with a kid this age. On top of that, in my infinite wisdom, I had done a workout the day before we left that I hadn't done in a while so had back pain and was sore all over.... great time to be in a car unable to move. We hit a Babies'R'Us on the way down to get a cheap small stroller to be able to push Jordon around in downtown... or that was the thought anyway. Turns out that he would push it, but didn't want to ride in it so we mainly ended up carrying him or trying to keep him walking on the sidewalk and out of the street. The stroller carried the diaper bag. These pictures are outside of an Italian place we ate at called Cafe Luigi's. Jordon was completely fascinated with the biker bar across the street. In the picture where his eyes are huge he is focused on the bikers at the bar hooting, hollering, and starting up their Harleys. Don didn't say anything but I'm sure he was itching to get in on that mix too.

Tot tiring out

Jordon's pretty wiped out here. Didn't help that he came down with Roseola during their stay-- had a fever and got pink spots all over. I don't care what they say about adults usually not getting this virus; I got it too... fever, spots and all. On the day they were leaving Joyce had a fever too. So much for being a kid's illness.

Grandpa and Joyce come to visit

Don's Dad and Joyce came to visit for about a week from Idaho. They enjoyed visiting last summer and decided to come back and see us and more of KC while Don is off for the summer. They visited civil war sites in Lexington, several BBQ joints (including Jackstack-- with the pig, above), Jesse James's birthplace in Kearney, and Columbia. The weather was fantasic-- can't beat 70's and low 80's in July. We took a lot of walks around our neighborhood and they enjoyed spending time with Jordon.

Fake puppies don't lick

He likes the fake ones almost as much as the real ones, and you don't have to dodge the licking. With real dogs, he's often hesistant to pet and usually just likes to get close and watch. One of these fake dogs is at Old Navy, and the other is at a shop in Eureka Springs. He's also doing more of the pointing out eyes, nose, mouth, etc. That's also one of his favorite activities at night to try and delay bedtime.

Quick Trip to Columbia

Don often likes to take trips to Columbia to visit friends on the weekends that I work; gives him a chance to catch up with friends and it's something different to keep the beast entertained. Jordon is fascinated with any type of electronics so he's pretty happy that Kristy's letting him get this close to the camera.

Reading to the boys

Don's reading to Jordon and cousin Evan when all were out at the farm for Mom's birthday on the 4th. I remember when when Jordon was younger and we thought it would be so much fun when he was older and wanted us to read to him... now he loves it and wants to be read to all the time. Don and I are aquiring a mental list of books... like this one, "Things that Go" that we would pretty much like to use to start a bonfire with. Every night it's the same books to read... even though there are many to pick from, it's usually "Things that Go", "Bedtime Peekabo", "Say Hello on the Farm", "Who do You Love?", "The Very Hungry Catepillar", and "I Love You When..." that are the top offenders, or should I say, Jordon's faves. I got a really good dose of this on our trip to Eureka Springs this past week, when I got to read all of them at least 4 times just trying to put a stop to the screamfest in the car.

In our backyard...

Hangin' around the house

Happy B-day to Don!

Today is Don's birthday. We started out the day with a f/u appt. at the ENT for Jordon-- everything looked good. He's got some pretty inflamed gums with teething so maybe that's his problem lately. If he will ever finally take a nap we will then go out and do something to celebrate.

Jordon is now giving hugs-- he's been doing that for the last couple weeks or so. It's really sweet- he will actually put his arms around you and give a good squeeze. He's also saying "bye-bye" and trying to say "I love you".

Trip Down South

Don took Jordon down to visit Granny Lil's gravesite a few weeks back. Unfortunately I was on-call and unable to go with them. Their annual family reunion was happening too, so a lot of folks got to see Jordon and interact with him. Sounds like it was a good day for him! The picture of Don is with his Aunt Edna.

Update

OK, so not the results we were hoping for with the surgery. I mean, he seems healthier. Don't get me wrong. But behavior-wise, he is the same or possibly worse. He's been clingy and needy lately, wanting to be picked up and held a lot, and just overall whiny and easily fussy. Started looking at some toddler books and they say this is normal. Folks at daycare noticed it last week too, although that was most likely due to Don being out of town for a conference for a few days. His behavior at daycare improved once Don came back. It continues to be a fight to get him down for naps and at bedtime. The kid just doesn't like to sleep. He is saying more words now-- "puppy" is by far still the fave, but he now can say "bye-bye" and "all done", along with "uh-oh", "mama" and "dada". He said "pig" and "moo" (for the cow) a couple times but now refuses to say those words again with any consistency. He will pick up a phone and say "Hello" although it sounds more like "Harro". He's getting much stronger and more coordinated. He has been going up the steps now holding on to the adult handrail. He really has to stretch to reach it but makes it happen. He loves to run and dance to his toddler tunes CD.