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.

My God, What Have We Done? I mean, Robin's First Haircut

We gave Robin his first haricut today!  His hair took a long time before it started growing.  It took 22 months to go from this:

to this:

(Hard to believe he's the same boy, isn't it?)

We've been commenting that he needed a haircut for months now, and finally decided to do it.  There was much deliberation about whether to do it ourselves or pay someone.  In the end, we decided to give it a shot.

Getting ready

Our complete setup.  Robin got to watch videos of himself on Mommy's laptop to keep him occupied.

"Eek!  Mama??!!  What are you doing???"

Snip!

Daddy taking a turn at making things even.

So here's the end result.  I think we did pretty good on the back:

and on the sides:

And now for the front:

D'oh!  He looks like a monk.  Somehow "the bangs should be about here" turned into them becoming way too high.  It would've been better to keep them about the level as the hair above the ears, but... Alas.  At least it will always grow back.  Perhaps in two months, at his birthday, he won't look quite so crazy.  Which lesson did we learn?  To cut his bangs longer next time, or to pay somebody else to do it?  Only time will tell.  What do you think?

Robin's hair.  Yes, I've kept some for the baby book.  (The papers are actually keepsake envelopes.)