Happy Birthday Robin!

We had our first prenatal visit today, and we saw the baby!  This was because I'd had a little pain on the left side of my abdomen a few days ago (probably due to pushing Robin on his new bike, which bends me over sideways) but it was enough to make easy-to-worry me think about an ectopic pregnancy--so they did a quick ultrasound to check the baby's viability.  And there it was!  Just one (hooray!) and it's right where it should be.  We were able to pick out the head, some limb buds, and watch the heart beat (180bpm.)  It's still too small to hear the heart, but it was neat to see it while it was so small!  Oh yes, and it's due June 10th.

But on to the main point of this post:  Robin's birthday!

The theme was Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  Check out here to see the invitations.

We gave Robin his train table the night before the party because we wanted to give him the chance to claim it as his own before having to share.  It was definitely a hit.  He threw a huge fit when we told him it was time for bed, and we've spent a good deal of time in the basement playing with it since then.

Our basement with an array of food

The party favors, which contained a stuffed monkey, a matchbox car, two foam airplanes, and a frisbee.

A few shots from the party

The train cake.  This took a long time to put together, but we were pleased with the result.  I'd been potentially expecting more guests, so we were eating cake for dessert for more than a week!

Robin smeared in cake

Unwrap that gift!

Surrounded by bounty

On his new bike

Happy Birthday, little man!  How did two years go by so fast?

A Birthday Gift for All

More birthday photos are, of course, forthcoming, but I thought I'd best get this one on the blog for anyone who hasn't heard the news through other sources.

After Robin opened his birthday gifts from his friends, Dean and I had him open this gift in front of everybody.  Here's a picture of him wearing it:

Yes, that's a t-shirt that says "Big Brother."  We are expecting another baby!  S/he should be joining us in early June--just outside 'Birthday Alley' which currently runs from late March to mid May for our family.  I just hope this baby doesn't come early like Robin did!  But we'll take what we get.  Our family is expanding again!

Four Days!

I was using the leaf blower today, and after I finished making piles I was blowing air at Robin.  He absolutely loved that!  He would run away laughing wildly, then come running back calling "more!"  Then he stopped running away--instead he stood in front of the nozzle and let his shirt fill up with air.  It reminded me of one of the many trips to Buffalo to visit my grandparents when I was a child.  During this particular trip, we went with my dad's parents to the Skylon Tower in Canada, which overlooks Niagara Falls.  It was very windy on the observation deck, and we were all letting our shirts fill with air.  There's one picture of my dad and my grandpa, both with poofy shirts.  Dad had a triumphant smile on his face, but Grandpa was looking down at his shirt with a thoughtful look on his face.  Well, at one point today Robin looked at his poofy shirt with the exact same expression, and it brought all the memories back.  I said "Aw, Robin, can I hug you?"  He took off running, but it was a good moment.

He's going to be TWO in just four days!  It's hard to believe it's so close.  As I did last year, I'll probably give the blog an overhaul after that.  Stay tuned for birthday pictures sometime after the big event!

Just like his Daddy, Robin is reading the Toys R Us ad over breakfast.  They advertise extraordinarily well, because Robin pulled this out of the paper just to look at.

Wearing Mommy's apron

He looks like he's ready for preschool when he has his backpack on!

In Black Bart's Cave at Casa Bonita

At his tumbling class

These are from a recent trip to the zoo

 

Pics from our latest swim class, on the day Daddy was able to go, too.

 Then the Children's Museum followed

All Right Dada!

A language breakthrough has recently occurred--Robin can now use two-word sentences.  It started out with "all right Dada," (yes, I know that's three words, but "all right" is basically a single word to him) progressed to "all right Mama," and within the last week he really started putting words together.  He'll say "more banana" or more of other things that he wants and "hi" and "bye" will now precede names, although "all right somebody" is still his favorite.  His vocabulary is still quite limited, but he's made a lot of progress.  Something recently clicked.

We're getting ready for his second birthday!  It's hard to believe he's been around for that long already!  Here are the invitations:

Robin examining an invitation

And here are the party favors

Some pictures from our visit to Estes Park to see the Bagpipe Parade a few weeks back:

My friend Cora was in town for another friend's wedding, and she stayed with us a few nights.  It was excellent to see her again!

Robin's not sure what to think of her "Cousin It" impression

The three of us, my parents, and Cora at a Rockies game (the Rockies won in the 10th!)

Growing Up

Robin's showing growth in both his cognitive skills and his empathy lately.  I love that he now expresses understanding in what others may be feeling.  This applies particularly to pain.  If we tell him that we got hurt (or simply if he witnesses us get hurt) he will come over and kiss our injuries for us, and will often give a hug as well.  He's also doing this for stuffed animals.  He seems to enjoy climbing up on our bed, throwing Dean's stuffed dog "Flicka" off the edge of the bed, doing the sign language for "hurt," and then climbing down to give Flicka a hug and kiss.  The fact that he understands that Flicka gets hurt when falling off the bed shows his growing understanding of consequences.  He hasn't fallen off our bed, but we frequently tell him to be careful at the edge of the bed because he could fall off and get hurt.  He will also point to the edge of the bed and then sign "hurt."  He'll do the same thing in regard to rocking his chair back at the table, and he now says "hot" when he points to the stove, too.

I took this video a few weeks ago, of Robin stacking his mega blocks.  He can put them together so much better than just a few months ago.

Robin said a name that didn't belong to a family member last night, for the first time.  Dean's friend Lannie ('annie) is now Robin's new best friend, and Robin managed Charlie before the evening was over too.

He's also getting physically stronger and has much more endurance.  He walked most of the way home from the park the other day, barefoot, pulling his wagon behind him.  The walk to the park is about a half-mile.  (He was barefoot because he had an accident at the park and his shoes got wet.)

He's started interacting with other kids now, which I think is awesome.  Last week at the library he took a little girl by the hand and led her over to show her the fish tank.  He'll give toys to other kids sometimes too.  I love seeing him interact with others.

He's also getting a lot more willful and stubborn.  I guess it's the Terrible Twos.  It isn't so terrible, really, (at least so far) but his tantrums have gone up in frequency a lot.  I'm trying to make sure we have plenty of time and to give him options so he has some control over his life, but we still butt heads frequently.  I'm loving how he's using his imagination and interacting with the world so I think this is a great age, but it's definitely going to be hard on both of us.

We took Robin to an airshow a few weeks ago and he LOVED it!  Here are a few highlights of the day.