The Summer of Our Little Big Girl and Our Big Little Girl

Our busy summer is quickly fading away. It's been filled with fun and time spent together. Jen and I each had August off and we definitely appreciated it.

Robin turned 2 at the end of July and we had another family party for her at the splash pad at Vimy Ridge park. We officially have a little water girl. One of the biggest reasons that we moved back from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg was for family. Although we miss many things about Thunder Bay, it has been worth it.

The advances Robin has made over the summer were enormous. Her vocabulary is more that of a four year than a two year old. It's hard to keep track of all of the things she says, ranging from the incredibly cute to surprisingly mature. Here are a few examples:

Regarding her toy beaver (I wrote this one down after she said it): "He likes to chop down trees. They go on the ground. I put him over here because he likes toys."

She'll often count through the numbers 1 to 10 (she used to skip 7), but if finishing counting earlier will get her something, she'll often skip to 10, exclaiming it with her big ham smile. This lead to the following conversation:

Andy: "Robin, do you ever play duck duck goose at daycare?"
Robin: "Yup"
Andy: "What do you say?"
Robin: "Duck duck duck duck duck duck..."
Andy: "Then what?"
Robin: "Ten!"
I laughed, so she kept saying "Ten!" while laughing her little head off, thinking that saying ten was the joke.

Then there are the serious moments. We were sitting at the breakfast table one morning, and there was a nice shared silence. Then she looked at me and said:
"Today, I'm going to dig for gold," motioned at her nose, and then nodded in approval of the day's plan.

--- Intermission ---(I realize this is a long post. Stretch your legs, or have a beer if you are of age)

The Winnipeg Folk Festival was amazing this year. It's a much more G rated experience than in the days that we camped in the festival campground, yet so much fun. There was face painting, good friends (Kristen, Andrew, Liisa, and Ella came in from Thunder Bay, and we hung around with Darcy Beer and his family with 2 little kids as well), great weather, and of course great music. Robin was particularly intrigued by the "Tall lady".

Having all of August off, we made it a mission to spend as much time as possible out at the Potter's cabin at the lake. Uncle Dan finally got to see his guest cabin designs come to fruition, as we built and put up the walls. It was a lot of work which Jen and I gave a hand in. Jen was always a lake kid growing up, spending her summers at Big Whiteshell. It's nice to give Robin a similar experience.
Jen: "What's the number one rule in the canoe?"
Robin: "Don't stand up!"
Unless, of course, it's beached.

We did manage to come back into town for a Bomber game or two. There is a ritual in the Potter family of lamenting the Bombers shortcomings (mostly with Jen and Greg, and I fire in my two cents). That is a nice way of saying that this year, we have been complaining about how much they suck. Again. However, after that 31-2 win over Saskatchewan in the Banjo Bowl, I'm much more hopeful. Robin has taken to the games. They go something like this:
First quarter: Robin shyly hides in Mommy's shirt. Olivia sleeps.
Second quarter: Robin comes out of the shell a little. Olivia sleeps.
Third quarter: Robin has some hotdog, exciting exclaiming "There's Boomber!!!!" every couple of minutes. Olivia wakes briefly to eat, gets a bum change, then it's time to sleep again.
Fourth quarter: Robin and Olivia both get a little antsy, so good thing it's time to go.

We were even lucky enough to have a visit with Robin and Olivia's Aunty Yvette and cousins Brigette and Hugo in early September. Except for the wasp bite (sorry Hugo!) it was a great visit, and really nice to catch up. All the cousins, Brigette, Lisa, Robin, Hugo, Nina and Olivia are all within 5 years of age, so it's really fun to watch them and see all the stages of preschool years together.

At the end of Yvette's visit, we had something very sad happen. My Bapcha , my Mom's Mom, had a heart attack and then a debilitating stroke. She is my last surviving grandparent, and Jen's are no longer with us either, so she is Robin and Olivia's only Great Grandparent. Upon hear that her Great Bapcha was sick, Robin said "I should give her a hug. Then I'd better give her some Tylenol."

The title of this post comes from the strange but convenient situation we our kids. Olivia is over 16 pounds, while Robin is about 24 pounds. This is at 4 months for Olivia and 2 years for Robin. The convenient part? They are now in the same diaper size. Ridiculous, but convenient. When Robin was little, she was in 25th percentile of size for her age, and now Olivia is over the 95th for height AND weight! As similar as our little girls are, there must be some genes a little different in there.

Days are flying by, and Jen will be back to work full time soon. We've got Dave's wedding in Calgary before then, and after that will come the true test: how will my sanity hold up looking after our two little ones through a long Winnipeg winter? I wonder what Grandma and Ba'cha are doing? Maybe I should give them a call...