The future's so bright...

I've got to wear shades.

"No Eat Chocolate"

Story Time!

I'm busy cleaning up the house and trying to put away all the gifts, Colin's working away on his computer and Robbie was in his room playing with his new toys. After several minutes I realize Robbie wasn't making any noise, so Colin goes in to check on him. "Heather, come see this! He put himself to bed!". We're both awww'ing over his cuteness. I see his little legs hanging out of the bed so I go to cover them up and as I pull the sheets over his feet his little head pops up..... it's COVERED in chocolate! He went underneath the tree, picked up a tin of chocolates my girl friend had made for us, went to his bedroom and hid under the covers because he knows he's not suppose to have it. It was all over his linens, his face, his legs (he was in a diaper and shirt) and hands. He looked at us and all he could say was "no eat chocolate".

I'm a big brother!!

Robbie is such a great big brother! He loves to give Lana kisses, hugs and tickles. He shows Lana how to take her Vitamin D and gets new diapers for her.

Robbie's also started to poop on the potty! So far he's done it 3 separate times, timbits have become a great incentive!

Pressure

Geez, I'm even feeling pressure to give birth from my 2 year old!

"We go see Grampie?"
"We see Grampie when baby comes"

Let it Snow!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" I can't tell you how excited I am to pass on the Christmas traditions, stories, sights, sounds and smell that come with Christmas. Robbie can associate Santa, snowman, Rudolph and reindeer!

We went to Walmart and he got another rubber duck to add to his collection (he already has a yellow, blue and green one) this time they had holiday ducks, so Robbie chose a snowman duck... he is in love with this thing. Everything is "snowman"; snow = snowman, snow boots = snowman boots, etc etc.

He loves the Christmas tree and constantly asks for "lights".

We've had snow the past couple of days and today was the first time I was able to bundle Robbie up and send him outside with his Daddy while I snapped pictures. I apologize for the lack of pictures lately, lets just say my flexibility and balance isn't what it use to be.

You can click here to view all the pictures.

The laundry basket has oh so many uses!

Enjoy :)f

A Visit from Grammie and Grampie

We had another great visit from Grammie and Grampie, unfortunately it wasn't so great for Colin. He had gone to the Oilers game the night before and must have eaten an under cooked burger as he was up the whole night vomiting and kept going well into the afternoon. He was throwing up so much that he popped a bunch of blood vesicles all over his face, it looks/ed like he had purple freckles all over his cheeks, eyes, forehead, etc. I think they're kind of cute but Colin thinks otherwise.

Grammie and Grampie came with a bag FULL of goodies for us. They got us a reusable advent calendar that Robbie absolutely loves, Grammie finished the baby's blanket (it's gorgeous!) and they brought their stockings for a template. I'm going to be making the family our stockings this year and I'm really excited to make them, stockings were always THE BEST part of Christmas and I hope to pass on the love of stockings to my kids.

This was the last visit from my family until our new baby decides to make her grand entrance... quite exciting!

Tis the Season

Tonight's Dinner

I tell ya, this little monkey always seems to be testing his boundries with us.

I made some chilli (with pasta) tonight and I didn't think we'd have any issues with it... I was wrong. He took one look at it and refused it and then proceeded to ask to watch one of his tv shows, to go downstairs and he wanted "chips" too. We told him he could have whatever he wants if he just has ONE pasta, he would walk up to the table and look at the pasta and you could tell that he wanted to just eat it and get it over with but he was having an interal battle. I tried cheering and coaxing him with blueberries but he ended up leaving the table. So we read books until it was bed time, I told him it was time to put on his PJ's and he looked at me and said "pasta then donkey?" (Shrek = donkey) I agreed... just like I had been doing all night. He ran over to the kitchen table, looked at a kidney bean, called it a candy and then devoured it! I gave him a blueberry as reward and he was all for having another bean and then another! Once he got the flavour of the chilli he was all for having pasta and I was able to sneak some ground beef and tomato in his fork too! I was ready for him to go to bed without any food and I know he was testing to see how far we'd go.

I'm really happy that he sees blueberries as a treat, I don't have to give him M&M's anymore!

Julia and Rich

Last night I got a call from Purolator saying there's 3 boxes waiting for me to be picked up. I went to pick them up and they BARELY fit in our Jeep! (good thing we don't have the mini any more) Toys R Us sent us these massive boxes on behalf of someone, we weren't able to open the boxes right then because as soon as Robbie would see them he'd want in. So I sent an email to Uncle Paul because that seems like something he'd do but he said it wasn't and thought it would be Grammie and Grampie, so I made a phone call and Grampie says it wasn't him. Once Robbie was in bed Colin and I raced into the garage to find something with a name so that we can thank them.... it was Julia and Rich!! Our kids are so lucky for all the gifts they got both of our monkeys, I can't wait to wrap them!

I met Julia when I was working at the Bridal Centre and we've been able to keep our friendship strong since my move up north. They've come to visit us a couple times since our move and Robbie really loves playing with them.

Thank you Julia and Rich, you definitely went overboard and I'll send you video of his reaction on Christmas morning!

Do A little Dance...

http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/RWSpictures/Videos/?action=view&current=BustinAMove.flv

Gido & Grandma

We had a nice little visit with Gido and Grandma this morning. Robbie was really excited to show Gido all of his toys and have someone who will chase him around.

What a great age*edited*

Seriously... Colin and I are having the time of our lives with him.

He's loving.
He's compassionate.
He's funny.
He's sassy.
He's a sweet talker.
He's everything we could ever ask for in a little man!

Here's a couple updates that I have yet to blog about:

- Vitamins. He's taking one chewy flinstone vitamin a day and he LOVES them! He reminds me every day about his "treat". I pour a couple out onto my hand and let him choose which colour he wants. He always wants it in the mornings but I let him know that he can have it after his nap, he always seems to want to go for a nap after I tell him that :P

- Story time. Colin has been reading the bed time story for the past couple of days, Robbie's initial reaction was is not one of pleasure. I've been getting into bed with him so that it's a little easier of a transition for him. We let him bring two toys to bed, he's got so many little people and mega block animals that I line them up and let him pick which ones he wants to take to bed. It use to be such an easy decision but now he just hums and haws over which two he wants to take, so I've started doing a count down - once I get to 10 whatever 2 toys you have in your hands are the two you go to bed with.

- Bath time. He went through a phase where he could care less if he had one or not, but now he's asking for one every night. Why? A couple of weeks ago he was going through some bottles and found his bubbles and wanted me to blow some for him, I told him we would play with bubbles at bath time. He wouldn't let me forget that he was going to have floating bubbles in his bath that night and now every night he wants bubbles! I wonder if Toys R Us sells bubbles during winter? I'm running low!

Last night Colin was reading George to Robbie, he got half way through the story when Robbie noticed Colin's "nubbin" on his bald head and proceeded to push it and laugh hysterically. I swear, he didn't hear another bit of the story... he was laughing SO hard. I couldn't help but laugh with him.

We donated a bunch of baby Robbie clothing along with some of my old maternity stuff. Robbie had a ball playing with the empty plastic bins.

We've been having a little bit more progress with the potty, he's asked to go several times throughout the day. Unfortunately he has next to no desire to go during the afternoon/evening... all in time, he knows when he goes poop and he usually doesn't like that feeling so it's a step in the right direction :)

We had Julia and Rich visit us yesterday from Calgary. Last time we saw them was right after Robbie's birthday, so it was a nice visit to catch up with each other! They've noticed that he's "talking" a lot more, he says a couple of key words and then babbles to make a "sentence".

AH HA!

We've had a food breakthrough!

He's now eating pasta (the frozen meal kind, he likes the novelty of eating out of it. Homemade is the next stepping stone) and he tried several times to eat chicken curry last night! What was the incentive?.... M&M's! He had a couple of mini packets from trick-or-treating so I cracked one of those suckers open and lined up the candy. Talk about a change of attitude, he was all for eating and trying the food!!

WOOHOO. Now I need to go stock up on M&M's.

The king of the throne

More pictures can be viewed here:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/RWSpictures/2008-11-04/038.jpg

Depressing

As much as I'm REALLY looking forward to adding to our growing family a little part of me is a little sad that this is my last month (plus a couple weeks) with just Robbie. Come December our lives are going to change permanently, they'll be another little one that will be calling me mommy... how odd is that?!

My little monkey was so excited when he woke up from his nap on Saturday to find that Auntie Alison and Uncle Steve came to play! He had Uncle Steve chasing him around the kitchen table and was smacking Auntie Alison's bum... he had a ball! They brought him a really cool jersey (size 3T that fits him!!) along with a really cool night light in the shape of a ghost. Sunday morning we all went out for some breakfast, Robbie hasn't been to a restaurant in eons and I was really impressed with him! He sat in his high chair and stacked all of the creamers (I use to do this all the time growing up... and still do :P) then he re-arranged all the cards in my wallet, the food took forever to come and he sat there like a champ! We had such a great visit with them and it caught me off guard when I said "wow, next time I see you I'll have a little girl in my arms".... eeeeep!

He went to April's yesterday and she continues to comment on how good he is. It seems like a couple of the other boys are acting out and have been put in time outs several times throughout the day and Robbie chooses to avoid their conflict instead of getting involved, hooray for him!! My only worry is that he might once #2 arrives, Colin and I have talked about how we really need to give him some one on one attention to avoid any issues. I think because it'll be so close to the holiday season that we'll be lucky because he'll have all the relatives to play with too.

We're working really hard on Robbie's speech. He's trying so hard to put full sentences together but seems to get lazy, one night Robbie and I were having dinner at the table when he called for Colin. I told him "Daddy's watching hockey" and Robbie tried a dozen times to repeat what I said, the majority of the time he would say "Daddy... (pause)... hockey" we would break down the word "watching" and he was able to say the three words together once or twice. Now every time Daddy doesn't come when he's being called Robbie looks at me and says "Daddy....(pause)... hockey". Last night Colin was making rice and Robbie said " Daddy... hockey" and we tried to get him to say "Daddy making rice" but just like the other sentence all he could say was "Daddy....(pause)... rice". He'll get it eventually!

Halloween

WE HAD A BLAST!

Robbie was so excited. My friend Sarah and her pup, Claire, came along with us and it was so much fun to watch him. This year he had two costumes to choose from, Superman or a Marine Drill Sergent (with built in abs) he decided to go with Superman! We were able to bundle him up underneath his costume and out we went! He tried so hard to muster up the words trick-or-treat and would always say thank you after they gave him candy (without even being reminded!) and would attempt to wish them a Happy Halloween. He kept saying "next door" while he pulled us to the next house ready to work his charm and get some more candy. About 3/4 of the way around our route I let him have a resses cup and oh my goodness did that give him the motivation to visit more houses.

Our neighbourhood is awesome, it's definitely family orientated. There were TONES of kids all over the place! We ran out of candy so fast, I definitely under estimated the amount of kids we'd have. What got me was after the lights were turned off, the pumpkin candle blown out and even a sign saying "all out of candy, sorry" we STILL had teens yelling "trick-or-treat" and knocking on our door.... grrrrrrrr.

Halloween Eve

Robbie is having such a great time preparing for Halloween. We decorated the house yeasterday and tonight we're going to attempt with pumpkin carving! Stay tuned... Halloween pictures tomorrow!!!

Photoshop

So I actually sat down for a second and was able to edit a couple of Robbie's fall pictures a little bit. I'm really sorry I didn't do this to begin with, it's amazing what a couple minutes with photoshop can do to improve a picture. I've only edited two of them but there will be more to come, feel free to print these ones if you prefer them over the old ones.

The link to the album is http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/RWSpictures/Photoshop%20Album/

(I had to shrink the pictures down for this website, best viewed via the link)

Miss Kailey

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY KAILEY!

Thank you so much for inviting us to your special party!! We had so much fun watching you prance around in your butterfly costume while you're wearing your new rubber boots.

We love spending time with you and your parents and we're so lucky we get to be a part of your life!!

Love you!!

Very Cool Night

1) he knows how to connect puzzle pieces
2) "holly cow" has now replaced "wow"

Grammie and Grampie Visit

We had a great little visit with Grammie and Grampie this Monday. They drove up and spent the entire day with us! Grampie was in his element with his little buddy and everything Robbie asked Grampie did, these pictures are fine examples:

They were inseperable.
Thank you guys for driving up here for a visit, he's still asking where the two of you are! Love ya!

I wanted to attach of video of his new game (like the first couple pictures above)

More Video's

To Auntie Alison:
http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/RWSpictures/Videos/?action=view&current=002-1.flv
(she's been teaching him the word delicious)

Robbie's first glimpse of shadow puppets
http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/RWSpictures/Videos/?action=view&current=001-2.flv

Random Videos

His favorite game: Hide and Seek (although not much seeking is done, he goes to the same place ever time :P)

A little exorcist moment.

Costume #1

We're debating between two different costumes for Halloween this year. This particular one Colin bought for Robbie even before he was born!
I had to bribe him to get it on but now that he's in it he could care less. Seeing as though his Daddy's a big Superman buff I think we're leaning towards this outfit.

Food Challenge 2008

We're doing it again... we're having food battles with Robbie. He refuses to even touch meals that he once use to drool over, it's so frustrating.

After sitting down with Colin we've come to an agreement that Robbie eats too much of what he wants in the morning/afternoon and then has a full enough belly to refuse dinner (unless it's got some kind of bread in it). He understands the negotiation process, if you take a bite of this then we'll give you a piece of cheese, or fruit or whatever else know he likes. The mornings are a little bit easier than the evenings as he's just woken up and he's in a good mood. So for the time being he doesn't get anything that he normally eats: breads, breaded chicken, etc. He use to love pasta but now cringes every time he sees it... why?!? Either way, I'm cutting down on his snacks and enforcing more meals and he'll eventually cave. I don't want him to be like me.

Everything else we've worked with him on (manners, coming when called, doing as we ask, etc) has worked wonders, we have one week of strict discipline and then he catches on that this is the way this house works. He's a complete angel... as long as it's not around a meal time. When he looks at the plate and starts crying he immediately puts himself in a time out, I don't like that he does that... he shouldn't punish himself because he's scared of trying something new. We try and give positive reinforcement but it's mind over matter for him. You can tell he's hungry and wants to try it (for the reward) but he just can't break that barrier.... yet.

"Finger" Painting

New Slippers are a HIT!

hehehe I love his little gallop at the begining. Robbie keeps on having me replay this video why he sticks his slippers in the air and says "nice shoes!" Time to teach him the difference between shoes and slippers!

Such a Happy Boy

I love when:

- he says "good morning mommy"

- he chooses to cuddle with us instead of sitting in his Spiderman chair

- he listens to me

- he kisses me goodnight

- he wants to hold Daddy's hand instead of mine (I get to watch my son holding my husbands hand!)

- we go to the park as a family

- he says "i love you" instead of his version ("i do)

"Cheese!"

"GO BEEBEE's"

This is his favorite movie right now (The Bee Movie), he gets so excited when the bee's take off... as you can plainly see :P

Demanding Little Bugger

Someone (Grampie?) has taught him how the phrase "I want _____", right now I'm in the process of teaching him how to add a "please" at the end of it. It's kind of nice that he can tell me what he's hungry for (usually chicken or muffins) I just wish it didn't sound so demanding.

He's also learned to say "what happened?" Every time he hurts himself he asks what happened, it's great because I can explain to him that he hit his head, tripped over a toy, etc. He repeats my explanation and remembers it for next time. Even if he knows what he did he'll still ask what happened, it's pretty cute.

He's also cuddling with me a lot more (which I'm loving!) a hug and a kiss from mommy or daddy makes it all better :)

Videos

YES!

"Persistence pays off"

Yesterday Robbie and I had a great day. We spent most of the morning in the tub (I decided to hop in with him for the first time) going over our ABC's (he can get to J) his annunciation is phenomenal! We were colouring on each other and he loved colouring all over the baby belly and burst out into giggles when he shoved the crayon into my belly button.

He's lseems to be a happier toddler now. This morning he asked for a banana and I told him as soon as we changed his bum he'd get a banana "ok" he replies and proceeds to go into his room and lie down! Am I dreaming? Pinch me!! He didn't run away from me, he didn't say no, he didn't put up any fight at all!!!! And get this... after we put his new diaper on he reached for his jeans and put them on all by himself! Granted, they were backwards... but he was able to get his legs in and pull the pants up ALL BY HIMSELF! The snap was a little tricky so I guided him, but he put his pants on all by himself... and without a struggle too!

What a great start to my day!

Difficult

That sums up our lives with Robbie at the moment. He's testing his boundaries and when he doesn't like the rules we've set in place he definitely makes it known to everyone that he's not happy.

Something as little as changing his bum has turned into a game for him, instead of lying down for us he chooses to run in the opposite direction so that we'll chase after him. What's the big deal, right? He's a toddler. With me being the pregnant state I'm in I can't run after him and refuse to make it into a game... if I chase him around the kitchen table he thinks that I can chase him around parked cars in the parking lot. So we've given him choices: a) get bum changed and go back to playing or b) time out. The tricky thing is that he knows what a time out is and what it entails... some times he chooses to go lay on the mat in a time out where he just sits there and talks to himself. When the time is over and we go to take him out of the time out he doesn't want to leave!! Do you leave him in there until he's ready to say sorry (which has gone as long as about 5mins)? If we leave him in there then the question is: who's in control at that point?

We went to the park today and he didn't want to hold our hand on the way there or on the way back. Thankfully Colin was there and carried him home, if he doesn't hold a hand then he doesn't get to walk like a big boy. I can't be chasing after a toddler out on the streets in my state, it's just physically impossible now.

He's trying so hard to be Mr. Independent and we try to give him as much of it as we can. He wants to read his bed time story to me know, I have mixed feelings about this. I love when he reads to me during the day but at night he tends to drag things on and to prolong story time for as much as possible (when I give him a hug/kiss goodnight I have to give his water bottle a kiss, Pooh Bear, his shark, the sharks eye, the sharks mouth, the sharks nose, etc) So I've had to make the call that Mommy & Daddy are the ones that read the bed time stories, this afternoon he didn't like my decision so he went to bed without a story.

I'm hoping his recent behavioral issues are due to his teeth. He still has bum rashes which have been kept under control thanks to Grammie and Grampie's recent replenishment of Nelda's Paste. This afternoon he peed in his diaper followed by him saying "doo doo" and then he started to cry as he spread his legs apart and got onto his tippy toes. It was obvious that his pee was stinging his bum, during the diaper change we found a little bit of blood on his diaper - but oddly enough, no red bum, just a tiny blood dot under his scrotum.

On the positive side of things, Colin and I were able to go on a little trip to Vancouver and we had a wonderful time! We got to re-connect and spend some well needed quality time together. Colin was in heaven walking down Robson St with his Starbucks in hand while walking into the Lacoste store... and all the sushi the town had to offer. Janet Jackson did not disappoint, we had AMAZING seats and we were literally an arms reach away from her. She had a catwalk that encompassed the pit area (where we were) and she spent a lot of time on it looking into the crowd - I froze when she looked at me, what do you do when your childhood idol looks at you and smiles?! I cried several times throughout her show, she sang a lot of her classics which brought back so many emotions from my past. It was almost therapeutic to see/sing with her.

I spoke to soon...

When Robbie asked to watch TV and I said no, let's play instead - he proceeded to have a temper tantrum on the floor. I sat down to let him figure himself out, after a couple minutes the crying turned into whimpering and then silence....

HAHAHAHA! He's never done this before!! He's been out for half an hour now, I guess I'll just let him sleep there.

No Naps?

For the past two days he hasn't napped, we've put him to bed and all he does is talk to himself and his stuffed animals. We've gone in there to remind him that it's night night time and he says night night back to us but he doesn't settle. Regardless, he needs some down time so we leave him in there until he hollers "mommy" (usually about an hour and a bit) but for the rest of the day he's extra clumsy and a little sensitive. On the bright side, these no nap days have meant that he goes to bed earlier.

The non-napping could be associated with his bum, he has a pretty bad rash on his tush that was causing him a lot of pain last night. Perhaps his 2yr molars are coming in? Regardless, I'm going to have to pick up some more bum paste when we're in Calgary.

"FASTER!"

It seems as though my waddling pregnant butt can't keep up with this toddler. As we were on our way home from the park he asked if he could have a slurpee (a fruit smoothie) I told him mommy would make him one as soon as we get home. So he starts pulling me by my finger and kept repeating "faster mommy, faster!" I couldn't keep up so he let go and he went running up the sidewalk and into the house.

He's also discovered the word "listen". I don't think he fully understand what it means, but it's pretty cute when daddy and I are having a conversation and then Robbie pipes up with "listen!" followed with a bunch of Robbie babble.

Robbie's Hidden Talent - Singing (videos)

Updates

Well here's my attempt at covering everything that's been going on these past couple of weeks.

• Robbie and I went for a walk with Sarah and Claire (Sarah's pup). Robbie met a lady bug! He put his finger out right next to it and it walked onto his finger!! Robbie kept saying "bug, bug, bug"! It was really cool to see him discovering.


• We went to go see Elmo this past weekend. One of our friends at the radio station in Calgary was able to get us as well as her boyfriend (who has a 3 yr old) tickets to the show. So Robbie was Naomi's date for the evening! As soon as the house lights were turned down and the stage lights lit up he was enamoured with all the music and lights! He kept on turning back to me and saying "Elmo.... Big Bird" he sat on my lap (got a better view of the stage if he sat on me) for a good 45 mins but then he started getting anzy (he had just woken up about 10 mins before we left for the show). We wandered around and got some goodies from the gift shop. At intermission they were selling Elmo balloons and (of course) Robbie wanted one. He was really good about waiting his turn in line but as soon as we got a balloon he wanted to hold onto it, he didn't want it tied around his wrist and made it known to the whole world. So I tried to tie it around his belt loop.... he didn't like that idea either, he also didn't like my final call that I'd hold onto it until he was ready to have it tied somewhere. I ended up calling Grampie for a pick up a little bit before the show ended, we were both hungry and had had enough stimulation for one night.


• While we were in Calgary, Grampie took Robbie on 2hr trips to the park! They would come home and eat some food and then Robbie would nap for - get this, 4 hours!!



• After seeing Elmo and all the Seasame Street characters he is obsessed! I'm on YouTube all the time searching for video's for him to watch (Play with me seasame is usually on while he's napping) He's got a Seasame tool belt which Grammie and Grampie gave him last Christmas that's the hottest toy now (he's never shown interest in it before). He woke up this morning and immediately goes to the belt and asks me to put it on and then names all the characters as he puts them into their appropriate holder.


• We got to go to Heritage Park while we were in Calgary and Robbie had a blast! As soon as he saw the big train he squealed with excitement. We were able to go on it several times so he was totally in his element and kept on yelling "all aboard the train!" Grammie bought him an ice cream cone while we were there and he had chocolate ice cream EVERYWHERE - but boy did he ever enjoy it!


• He officially has his full set of teeth (minus the 2 yr molars)


• I picked up a cook book for picking kids and I must say that our first day was a major success! You puree squash, broccoli, beets, etc and they're sneaked into all the baking and cooking. I made a spaghetti pie last night and Robbie had 2.5 servings!!! We made a big deal about him eating at the big boy table and how he got to have his own napkin and it was a big success. He sat at the table with us and kept on asking for more! In that dinner there was broccoli and carrots that were hidden. I can't wait to do some baking and make some other nibblies with healthy veggies in them!!


• He's so interactive lately... such a little parrot! When a TV show comes on and he knows the theme song he'll try singing along to it, if he finds it funny he'll start laughing, if someone's in trouble he'll say "oh no! what are we going to do?"

There's a bunch more pictures on his website :)

The Pregnancy

http://ournumbertwo.blogspot.com/

For people who aren't aware of Eggberts website!

Pictures - The lifestyle of a toddler named Robbie

Who turned the switch on?

Let me forewarn you that this is a little bit of a vent/pitty post.

I've been trying to encourage Robbie's growth and have been pretty laid back about his experimentation with discovering new things as long as there's no harm that will be done to himself, others... and my furniture. For the past couple of days Robbie has been testing my limits to the point of me breaking down in hubby's arms. We go for walks and he doesn't want to hold my hand, then he chooses to throw the ball he's holding into the street laugh at me hysterically and run the other way. I have nothing else to do except for grind my teeth and carry him home and then break down as soon as I get in the door. When I've had the same kind of issue 3 times within 4 days I just don't want to take him anywhere. My optimistic side tells me to keep doing it and he'll grow out of this phase and will start holding my hand and listening to me again but the other part of me says not to put yourself through this, you're pregnant and it's getting harder to run after and carry him.

I think someone turned on his terrible two switch and I'll do anything for someone to find the switch and turn it off!

Best Picture EVER!

Happy 2nd Birthday Robbie

I'll try and blog later when the monkey's asleep. I just wanted to post a couple of pictures:

Look at those earings!

BREAKING NEWS

I was in the shower and when I got out he looked me up and down (was a little awkward at one point) and then all the sudden...

Robbie: "peepee"
Mommy: "Does Robbie was to go peepee on the potty?"
Robbie: "Peepee"

So I take of his diaper, thinking he's just toying with my emotions and then all the sudden I see a stream of pee flow into the potty! HOLLY CROW... My little man just told me he wanted to pee!!! I was screaming at the top of my lungs with excitement which lead Robbie to scream with excitement, he was trying to please me with more pee and you could see him try to push out as much pee as possible so I'd kept on doing my crazy antics. When he was all done we took some toilet paper and I let him wipe his peepee and he got to put everything into the big potty and pushed the button (flushed). Afterwards we celebrated with another peepee dance which Robbie was quite happy to join in to.

I told him now he was a big boy that got to wear big boy gonchies and we said bye-bye to diapers.

So now all my plans for today have been vetoed due to my son's wonderful new news!! He's walking around in a T-shirt and Curious George undies. Next time I'm giving him money and a marshmallow!

Almost two and one more tooth!

Wow... I just realized that this will probably be my last post before my little man turns two, where has the time gone?!? It`s so depressing... we just bought him a bunch of toddler-ish furniture, gone are the days of cribs and change tables.

A couple of new Robbie favorites:

- Orange... he loves anything orange.

- Doodlebops or as he calls them "doodops"

- Tunnels. We picked up a fabric-like tunnel from Ikea and Robbie is addicted to it and always seems to want to go take us downstairs so that he can attempt to drag me and my growing belly through this blue tunnel (Colin always seems to laugh when he watches me in it)

This is actually a cowboy hat worn sideways

Robbie is slowly starting to get better with his eating habits, we had a veggie platter out and he will eat tomatoes, carrots (as long as their not thick), cucumber (some times) and he even tried red pepper (well, more like he had some dip with pepper). When we were visiting Grammie`s last week he ate really well for her too, so I was pretty happy.




Ooooo Robbie`s pretty much done with teething! HOORAY!!! He`s only got his bottom right eye tooth left. This is so exciting, teething has been a major issue with Robbie and I`m so glad that he won`t have any more bleeding blisters on his poor tush.


Robbie`s started kissing and hugging the baby. Unfortunately my belly`s starting to get in the way of my snuggles and reading time with him, hopefully he`ll have patience and will work around the little buddah belly.

A funny video... update to come

Mr.Manners

After Colin sneezed Robbie said "bless you"!!!

Too cute :)

Robbie's New Sentences

"What was that?"
"Watch this!"
"On my bum" (which always makes me grin, we're obviously saying that a lot)
"Are you okay?"

Side note: he's not quite ready for potty training. I need do some more research, he's got such a short attention span that he'll only sit on the potty for two or three seconds and then goes off running butt naked.

... eyes, ears, mouth and nose

Jaws

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.