Stampedin'

Awwww look at our little cowboy!

Robbie and I drove down to Calgary last Wednesday and Colin flew in Friday, it was a well overdue visit with Grammie and Grampie. When we first got there Robbie played strange with Grampie and was hiding between my legs at first, after an hour or so later he remembered how much fun this old man was and was quite happy to let go of my finger/leg.

Thursday we spent the morning out and about, doing some errands because all the family was busy with work. After Auntie Ally was done work we went down to the grounds... big mistake. I feel so bad for putting Alison through what Robbie dished out. He was not happy from square one - fussy, poopy, teary eyed... just not a nice person to be around. We tried to give him some mini doughnuts to lighten his spirits up but he kept on throwing temper tantrums, so after about an hour I couldn't handle any more. I was emotionally drained from all the people looking at me while I hold my child who's arching his back and screaming at the top of his lungs, from all the teenagers who were laughing at what I was having to deal with, from all the of all the people who were looking at me like I was stupid and there some kind of switch that I just had to flip off. All I could do was cry while my baby was on the floor throwing a hissy fit... all this while my poor sister was there to spend some quality time with each other. I'm so thankful she was there, she took the reigns and was able to calm Robbie down. (sorry for the crappy outing Alison)

Throughout the first couple of days of our visit Robbie was VERY sensitive and was ready to throw a tantrum at the drop of a hat (worse than a woman PMS'ing). The last couple of days he had a ton of fun... especially with Grampie. Grampie is putty in Robbie's fingers and Robbie knows he can do no wrong in Grampies eyes, they're best buds. They'd be playing in the back yard and then all the sudden their gone for 20-40mins, they get back and Grampie would say "he wanted to go to the park". I love watching my parents be grandparents, they have so much fun with him. Grammie taught Robbie how to sing "head and shoulders, knees and toes"!! Robbie knows all of the body parts but sometimes gets them mixed up in the song but always ends with a strong and loud "TOES" and "NOSE".

The day we drove home it turned out I was really emotional. I REALLY wanted to drive home that day so that Colin could have a little nap (he didn't sleep very well). But with all the stuff in the car and the car seat in the back he couldn't slide the seat back so his legs didn't fit... so what does the hormonal pregnant woman do?... starts to cry. So I'm saying bye to my parents and crying, not because I'm leaving them but because my husband can't have a nap. (I'm so weird)

Monday was project de-spoil Robbie. After a couple of mini temper tantrums he's back to his normal happy self. Colin and I have started a couple of different projects with him:

a) Negotiation - we know he likes certain foods but chooses not to eat them. So now what we're doing is asking him to take a bite of the new stuff and he'll be rewarded with something he likes, like a piece of cheese, cherry, etc.

b) Verbalization - he got very use to grabbing my hand, my parents hands, etc and lead us to what he wants. When he reaches for my hand I'll say "mommy will follow you, what do you need help with?" it's been working really well thus far. I'm thinking ahead to when "eggy" comes along and I've got my hands full with an infant that he'll be more inclined to use his words.

Today was a great day. This morning Robbie and I went to Walmart to pick up some swimming diapers for this evening, while we were there he came across a child size suitcase with Diego plastered all over it. So Robbie runs over to the shelf and knocks down a couple of other mini suitcases while he's in awe that he just found a Diego suitcase.... that has wheels!! So around the store he went pushing this little suitcase through the isles, it was the best shopping experience... "lets go this way, Robbie" he's reply with "okay" and he'd run in my direction with a big smile on his face because he's got Diego.

We took Diego to the grocery store and people were giggling at Robbie as he pushed his suitcase through the isles, I think it's great that he's able to follow my lead and I don't have to hold his hand all the time.

This evening we started our swimming classes. We have classes Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri for two weeks at 5:30. We packed up Robbie's Diego suitcase with all of our swim stuff and off we went, I got a couple of comments about how he's too little to be pushing the suitcase... give me a break, you try prying that thing away from him! Robbie loved the pool and had fun playing with the toys, but it's obvious that the teacher doesn't have kids of her own, she had us in the kiddie pool and in a circle formation while we started singing songs and splashing... a toddler can only sit in one spot for so long (at least Robbie can't) it seemed like Robbie was the only one who lost interest after the first 15 minutes or so. I just let him go wherever he wanted to roam, we want this to be a fun and happy experience for him. Hopefully the more we go the more the novelty will somewhat wear off and he'll stay still and sing songs with the rest of the group... but honestly, how can you ask a toddler to sit in one spot for 30 mins?!

I love my baby, even though he throws temper tantrums I seem to have more patience since the Calgary visit and want to talk him through his meltdowns. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have to be calm, explain it in the simplest format and comfort him. I just need to keep reminding myself that he's just a little man that's trying to understand why there's rules.