One Smart Cookie

We have a small folding stool that we keep in the pantry (when it's not being used as a toy, that is) for reaching things on high-up shelves.  Robin likes to play with it, and has already learned how not to pinch his fingers in it, and how to make sure it's stable before stepping on.  He particularly enjoys launching himself off it into somebody's waiting lap.  Well, yesterday he seems to have made the connection between the stool and getting taller.  He heard an airplane pass overhead and ran to the back door because he wanted to go see it.  We'd just come inside, so I told him we weren't going out again.  The next time I looked over, he'd carried the stool to the back door and was standing on it so he could see out the window.  Later in the day, he was placing it next to the wall under a lightswitch so he could climb up and flip the light on and off.  His problem solving skills are definitely improving!

I made myself an alphabetical list of his words a few weeks ago, and we're up to 41 now including spoken, signs, and sounds.  Many of them don't sound exactly the way you or I would say them, but we know what he means by them.  A lot of what he babbles now really sounds like words too, and sentences.  I'm really looking forward to hearing what's on his mind, once he starts stringing sentences together.

We think Robin might be starting to know his colors too.  He's not completely consistent, but he will follow commands like "can you bring me the blue ball."

Our biggest news is that Robin is mostly potty trained!  I'll probably blog about this at length on ScienceFictionMommy, but for now I'll tell you that he's almost 100% on pee training:  he understands and communicates when he needs to go, he can hold it until he gets to the toilet, he goes standing up like his Daddy, he has successfully let other people help him, has been successful at other people's houses, and finally used his travel potty (meaning he ought to be okay at parks and stuff.)  We have yet to master public places, mostly because he hasn't had to go while out running errands.  #2 is a bit slower, partly because he does it less, and partly because he often does it right after waking up from naps (he's in pullups while asleep), so when I don't get to him right when he wakes up, I've missed teaching opportunities.  However, we have had a few successes now, he definitely understands the feeling, and he hasn't had a #2 accident in his underwear in almost two weeks.  We're very proud of him!

Wearing his daddy's Spiderman shirt like a cape

Shampoo mohawk

Reading to his moneky

Some updates

Robin has finally mastered "Dada!"

He's been calling Dean "Mama" for months, even though he knows the difference between us.  For the last few weeks we've gotten an occassional Dada out of him, but it's only been the last few days that he's using both regularly, and will even get us right when I point to a picture and ask "Who's that?"  Hooray!  Dean wanted this for a Father's Day present, but it came a few weeks late.  Hey, better late than never!

Robin also recently learned "happy" (that's a good word to know!) and possibly "up."  I feel like he might be on the verge of a language breakthrough, since I feel like he's trying to tell me things a lot.  Plus, I keep reminding him that words would be helpful when I don't know what he's pointing to.

And speaking of...

This is going to seem a little odd to the members of my family who knew me as a toddler.  Yesterday, Robin wanted to take his monkey to the store.  I agreed to take the monkey but told him it would have to wait for us in the car.  As we were loading into the car, I told Robin that another reason for him to start talking is that his monkey needs a name.  Zax told his Great Aunt Catherine his name, and Crikey the Croc told Daddy his name, but the monkey hasn't told anybody his name yet, so Robin needs to tell us what it is.  Then I drove off, listening to the radio and not thinking about the monkey.

However, I realized as I was parking that my son had been saying, (in a singsongy voice rising on the first syllable and dropping on the second) "doot doo, doot doo, doot doo."

Now, this may sound like nonsense to most of you (and yes, I suppose it is) but "Doot doo" was the name of my lovey:  my yellow blanket that was so loved it deteriorated.  And I probably named it when I was close to Robin's age--or at least at his current language level.  Now, it was several minutes between my telling Robin his monkey needed a name and when I realized what he was saying, but what if...?

Here's another funny thing Robin's been doing for a while, but I realized I should share it so I can remember that he did it:  When we put Robin to bed, one of us rocks him for a while and sings to him first.  Before the singing begins, the other parents hugs and kisses Robin and says "good night."  Robin typically says "night night" or waves, or a number of other things.  One thing we sometimes do is say "I love you THIS MUCH" and spread our arms wide.  Robin will occassionally spread his arms wide as well, but more often he'll grab one of his stuffed animals, take one animal ear in each hand, and spread the ears as far apart as they'll go.  "This much!"  "Monkey ear much!"  "Bunny ear much!"  It's so funny, but sure is original.

You can see more of this where I posted on Science Fiction Mommy, but Robin figured out how to get out of his crib so we converted it into a daybed. 

Here are a few pics of us putting it together.

This piano was in an otherwise-empty house that we viewed a few weeks ago.  It was horribly out of tune (and possibly damaged as well) which is probably why they left it behind.  Robin really enjoyed banging on it.  It sounded very eerie, like a horror movie.  Kind of creepy, in the basement of an abandoned house!

Two lawnmowers running

We went to Belleview Park early in the day on July 4th to ride the train

and play on the playground, as well as participating in the holiday festivities. 

Robin kept going "whoo whoo" while on the train. 

And he LOVED the bouncy slide, he kept signing "more" after each ride.

We went home for his nap, and then went to a party for the evening.  There were several downpours of rain followed by brief periods where it stopped (or only briefly sprinkled.)  We didn't see many fireworks, although our host lit several fountains.  Robin liked watching the lights, but turned back into Barnacle Baby when they made loud pops or shrieks.  He did pretty well, considering.

Watching a fountain that started hissing--a little unsure of that.

Evolving Kisses

Robin has been kissing for a while now, where he'll jut out his chin and allow us to kiss him on the lips.  It's so sweet, especially when he instigates it himself.  Well, the other day he started making a kissing sound as well.  And he has started pretending more.

He doesn't do the sound much when Dean or I kiss him, but he'll make it when he kisses one of his stuffed animals.  And today, when I was putting him down for his nap, he had two stuffed bunnies and he was making them kiss each other.  :)

Here are some pics from Father's Day:

Lunch

Robin giving Daddy his gift

Stay tuned for pictures from our latest vacation!

Birthdays and stuff

Robin has reached a sort of cognitive milestone, where he's learning the difference between reality and pictures.  There have been numerous times lately where he'll try to grab something out of a picture (in a book, his mural, magazines, etc,) then he'll look at me and shake his head.  He's starting to grasp that there's a difference between solid objects and pictures!  I think it's neat.

We went to two separate 2nd birthday parties Memorial Day weekend, although I only have pictures of Gavin's.  Here are Robin and Gavin together

We gave him the hat.

The party was at the Railroad Museum, which was awesome.  We're planning to come back sometime that we don't have to rush off, to take full advantage of the various attractions.

The other boy here is Tristan.  Both Gavin and Tristan are the sons of Dean's coworkers.

I recently made Robin a sensory bin to play with, to give him more to do and have more stimulation.  Click here for the post I made about that on Science Fiction Mommy.

Robin's Aunt Kat decided to spray whipped cream directly into his mouth on Memorial Day.  Good grief!

Robin helping Daddy vacuum.

Our Trip to Avon

I got online to make an update, and it occurred to me that I hadn't blogged about our vacation to Avon last month, so here ya go!

It was a pretty restful vacation. Dean and I got a fair bit of writing done during Robin's naps, we caught up on several episodes of "Lost," and we spent a lot of time at playgrounds and swimming pools.

Some other kids wanted to ride the teeter totter with Robin.

Some other fun playground shots.

Robin really loves his Spiderman coat. He'd never worn it before this trip, but he often didn't want to take it off when we got inside, and would even point to it hanging up to request to wear it. We think that he might recognize Spiderman from some of the books he has.

At the Avon Rec Center. Robin really enjoys the water.

Click here for the other slide video I posted on Science Fiction Mommy.

This statue is in Beaver Creek, the ski resort uphill from Avon. The bear has an arrow sticking into his bum, and the child is hiding a bow behind his back.

Robin's not sure he wants to walk on the snow. For good reason, I suppose: after we wandered around for a little while and were heading back, he slipped and got his pants all wet.

This is the pool at our timeshare. The air was just a tad too chilly to be comfortable swimming outdoors. Then we came home, and it's like somebody flipped the switch to 80 and 90 degree weather. Hello, summer in Colorado!

Robin loved riding the luggage carts (that part of the video didn't focus, unfortunately) and he also learned how to use keycards. He also loved the doors in the condo, because they had lever-style handles, so he could open and close them to his heart's content!  We had to put the security chain on the door at all times, to make sure Robin didn't escape from our unit.

Lifting weights in the gym. He's so strong!

At the prow of the pirate ship in Vail's pirate playground.