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and line dancing!

Okay- I’m not what anyone would call “crunchy granola” by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to share one thing I’ve started doing that helps the environment, AND makes it WAY easier on me! A while back, one of my Maya’s Mom friends posted on her blog about the “One Bag at a Time” campaign going on in many grocery stores. Basically it’s trying to get people to reuse cloth bags for groceries instead of using paper or plastic. Soon after reading her blog, I went through the MASSIVE stack of plastic grocery bags that we’ve collected over the years, and recycled a huge portion of them. We use them to line garbage cans, throw out kitty litter, and carry small things to the car, but we weren’t going through them as fast as we were acquiring them, and they were starting to overrun our kitchen. So after doing that, I went to the grocery store, and turns out that Ralph’s was doing that same campaign. I picked up one of their bags for a buck, and they bagged my groceries in it. I was impressed by how much it could hold, and that it has the qualities that I like in plastic AND paper bags- I like paper because it stands up in the car, and doesn’t dump all the groceries out all over the place, but I don’t like that it is useless when it gets wet, and the handles sometimes fall off. I like plastic because they are easy to reuse for many different things, you can carry more than one in each hand, and if you put milk in one, you don’t have to worry about the bottom falling out of the bag. Well, with these cloth ones, they stand up, don’t dump your food out in the car, the handles are sewn on, so they don’t fall off, they hold at least twice the amount of a paper bag, and the handles are long enough that you can put the bag over your shoulder, and carry about 4 of them comfortably at once! (Depending on how many heavy items you’ve purchased) I’ve purchased 3 of them so far, and I LOVE them. Every time I go to the store, I like them more and more. Oh- and they give you 5 cents back for every bag you use every time you shop. I’ve so far gotten 40 cents back from the $3 I originally spent on them. And today I was able to carry 2 large bags of groceries, a baby, a diaper bag and a purse all up in one trip! What usually took me 4+ trips to the car today only took me 2 with these new bags. They totally rock! I keep them in the car now, and it’s easy to remember to bring them in to the store, and WAY worth it when I’m dragging the groceries in the house. So there you go! If you’ve been thinking about getting those bags that you see at the check out, I highly suggest investing in one- hey it’s only a buck!

Tonight I tried to feed Jordan her baby food peas, which she ate- 3 or so bites. She instead ate a large amount of freeze dried fruit. She LOVES Mango and Strawberries. Once she was done, I plated my dinner, and started eating it. She saw my green beans, and came over requesting one, so I gave her one. Then another. Then another. And this continued until she had eaten about half the bowl that I had for myself. When I told her she had eaten all of them she started to cry. So I went into the kitchen and got her some more. She continued to eat about 8-10 more beans. I guess the girl likes green beans!
The other day I also wrestled her down and actually got piggy tails in her hair! I think it was quite cute:

We also went to Music class at Gymboree that day, and our buddy Merrigan had her hair done the same way!

We had a lot of fun in class:

This is our new friend Lily:

Another “Jordan tidbit”: She has been taking my pens and pencils and trying to write with them- usually with her left hand, and when she writes, she doesn’t take the pen in her fist, she holds it between her first finger and her thumb like an adult. It’s not from watching me, because I use 2 fingers on top of the pen, and rest it on my ring finger. I’m trying to get a picture of her doing it, but she can’t know that I have the camera, or she’ll want that instead of the pencil/pen.
Oh- and the words that Jordan says a lot now are: Hi, Tigger, Peek-a-boo, Dada, Dirty (what I say when she shouldn’t touch things like bug on the sidewalk, or the toilet which she wants to flush constantly), and that’s about it for words I hear every day. She can say more words, but doesn’t use them often. Anyhoo- I’m exhausted, so I’m off to bed!

Jordan turned 13 months on Monday, and I managed to snap a few pics of her. She’s growing up so fast, it’s crazy! She’s walking like a pro, and doing animal sounds- monkey, cow, and elephant- sometimes. She can identify face parts on anyone, including animals, and she’s working on a few more words. Her favorite word is currently “Tigger”, which she says constantly, whether Tigger is there or not! Playhouse Disney’s new lineup for the school year has put My Friends Tigger and Pooh on every day, which Jordan greatly enjoys. She spends most of the show pointing at the TV saying “Tigger!” I’ll have to get it on video at some point. Anyway, I’m tired, and she’s asleep- at least for a minute, so I’m going to scoot! Oh- and she finally cut that last tooth in the front- the right side bottom one next to the middle. Still no sign of molars, but judging from her lack of sleep, I’m guessing that they aren’t far off! Here are some pics for you to enjoy:

Cheeks!

Playing with her phone

Okay, so her hair’s not very long yet, but there are sort of curls! Especially in the heat that we’ve been having here! This picture doesn’t show it very well, but they are there!

I haven’t posted in a very long time, and I’m exhausted now, so we shall see how coherent this post is! I’m going to try and condense it as much as possible, so here goes!
Jordan News:
Jordan is now proficient at walking!! She started walking fairly well on her own when I posted those baby in the grass pictures, and she’s gotten better as the days go by. She is also learning so many new things. She knows the signs for so many things now- she can finally do the sign for “duck”, and “bird”, and has begun to attempt the hand motions to the itsy bitsy spider. She also can point to noses (Mommy’s, Jordan’s, Daddy’s, kitty’s, etc), eyes, ears, and mouths. She has learned how to blow kisses, knows where her tummy is (and Mommy’s), and is getting better at kissing when we ask for a kiss. She still comes at us with an open mouth to plant one right on our mouths, but oh well. And when she blows a kiss, it’s usually licking her hand first. Her night time routine has also been turned upside down. She is waking up several times at night, needing snuggles, hugs, rocking, milk, or any combination thereof. This is probably due to the next bit of news…
Mommy has a new job!
I have started working part-time at Gymboree as a teacher! I have 2 classes Tuesday and Wednesday nights, then I work all day Saturday. The training is close to being over, so I’m closer to being a full-fledged teacher! Our new schedule starts next week, and that’s when “my” classes start. I’ll be teaching Levels 2-6, so that should certainly be interesting. I’ve done a level 3 and level 2 all by myself, and parts of level 4, 5, and 6. I seem to be having the most trouble with Levels 5 and 6, as they can talk, and it throws me off a bit. I’m used to kids up to age 2, but have had more experience with the babies up to maybe 18 months. I have to learn how to pretend again, and how to understand 2-3 year old speak. But it is a very fun job. Playing with kids all day, and getting paid for it! The best part is that now Jordan can attend classes for free! The worst part is being away from Jordan. She gets to stay with Daddy while I’m gone, so at least it’s a familiar situation, but I miss her when I’m gone. She misses me, too, I think, judging from the way she clings to me when I return, and the way she clings to me at night when she wakes up screaming like a banshee. I’m hoping that now that the schedule will be the same every week that she will get more used to it, and go back to sleeping longer stretches.
Speaking of sleeping- that’s what I want to be doing now, so off I go! I need to get some sleep in before the marathon waking/cuddling/eating/crying starts, and hopefully get enough sleep so that I won’t be a zombie going to church in the morning!