Early 2011 Video

It's almost Christmas, so here's a video! ... of about a year ago. This is around Jan to Mar of 2011.

Olivia at 19 mths 29 lbs. Robin at 3 yrs 4 mths 29 lbs.

Life has been good with the "twins", as they are often thought of by people they just meet. Their similar size is a very dominating factor of life, and very convenient. Although sometimes a little confusing. Robin sometimes wants to be treated like Olivia, and vice versa. I carry Robin down the stairs while Robin wants to be carried. Olivia wants to sit in a chair, while Robin wants to sit in the high chair.


Olivia has moved onto multi-word sentences already. I've kept track:
Nov 1: "Pay n pay!" play and play.
Nov 12: "Ma up too!"
My recent favorite is that she now has a word for Robin. She calls her "Kya" (k-eye-uh). It started out as Rya, but somehow morphed into her new and more pronounceable toodler-ese version.

She's also caught on to a little defiant phrase that Robin uses. When I ask her something and she doesn't want to answer, she says "Doo doo!".
She's even said a couple of four worders!


The two of them have learned to play very well together, and I realized today that they spend nearly all of their time together. They even nap at the same time, so it's really only the few moments between waking up that they are apart. Our days are punctuated by phrases such as Robin yelling "Look what Olivia's doing! No Olivia!" for well, most everything. We're working on that. While you can see Olivia's little brain working furiously to figure out the right words to describe her wants. "Dada, come!" is often spouted with an out thrust hand reminding me that I will likely not know where to go, and will need her help.


Much strategy is needed throughout the days. Sometimes, just to get them to eat, Robin has fed Olivia, so that they are both entertained. Often Olivia needs not one, but two toothbrushes in her mouth in order to get a proper brushing done. To add some anticipation for bed time, a new game has been implemented: bare bum running. This is likely much as it sounds. The kids get undressed and line in the bathroom doorway. I go down the hall and stand with my feet spread wide. I say "On your mark, get set, GO!" which catapults the giggling flailing toddlers down the hall, through my legs, and then back to their marks. Olivia has even started saying "Set, go" when she plays it by herself.


Robin has been very impressive with her imagination lately. She has two imaginary friends: Dada and Joey. Not sure why we need an imaginary Dada in the house along with the real one, but that's how it is. Dada and Joey do everything together, like going outside, going to the movies with Grandma, and being pregnant. I think that one was Dada.


Olivia's number one job is to keep up with Robin, and she's doing well so far. Early next year, she wont be the youngest cousin any more, as both Miyuki and Yvette are due shortly after the new year. She really didn't have to worry much about being the littlest though.

PS Neither kids cried getting the flu shot! No idea what the odds are on that.

Stuff my kids say

Since both kids are now speaking up, I've kept track of what each have been saying lately.

Olivia's vocabulary has been exploding over the last month. So far she's right about in line with when Robin started to really chatter at 18 months. Unlike Robin, she has refused to repeat words you want here to say.

Daddy: "Olivia, can you say duck?"
Olivia: "No!"
Daddy: "Can you say car?"
Olivia: "No!"
Daddy: "Can you say no?"
Olivia: ... silence



Here's a list of Olivia's words that she's used so far:

Ine (mine)
Nah! (no)
No
Up
Kaka (cracker)
Booka (book)
Sit (most often a command)
Hat
Do (when she wants you to do something)
Too (when she wants to join in)
Sootha (soother)
Appa (apple)
Moon (she says when pointing to moon or sun pictures)
Cheesssssss (cheese)
Ema (Elmo)
Duck
Hi
Go
Num num (for a food she likes)
Ticka (sticker)
Pease (please)
Code (cold)

That's all I managed to catch and remember to write down, but I have a feeling in a month or so there will be too numerous to count.

Robin, with the following quotes, still manages to blow the circuits in my brain. Child logic is not adult logic, but I'm re-wiring to try and work it out as I go. Here's some of the latest:

Daddy: "Don't be silly."
Robin: "I don't know how to not be silly!" hmmmm... this may be true.

Robin: "I want to swim in the barfy water forever!!!!" after being told to evacuate the wading pool that a child had vomited in.

Robin: "Here's a bandage for you daddy." having been found in the above mentioned pool.  Yum.

Robin: "I had an enormous poop!" after coming out of a porta-potty, within earshot of... hundreds.

Robin: "When you toot it makes bubbles!" tub science at its best.

Robin: "Maybe the toot can be friends with the pee-pee." thankfully said on the toilet.

Robin: "You're sick. I need to clip out your bones" said during doctor play time. 

Daddy: "Robin just so you know, you don't throw your stethoscope at your patient." again, doctor play time.  She might need more schooling. 
Robin: "I need my builders hat. It keeps me safe on holidays." fittingly, she was at the lake on holidays, and was wearing a hard hat.

Robin, at Brigitte's birthday , she greeted guests with: "Welcome to Misery Land!"... it comes from the Little Ms. Sunshine book.  The party fun.

Daddy, teasing about the title of the book Little Miss Splendid: "Let's read Little Miss Do Do."
Robin: "Daddy, if you don't know what the book is called maybe we should read another little miss book."

Robin: "My poop looks like Indian food." ironic, because she likes Indian food.

Robin, observing the seashell macaroni: "These noodles look the things that cover your nipples." I'm guessing mermaid bikini top here.

What to Do When There's Only One Swing

Sometimes there aren't enough swings at the playground. Sometimes you have to make do.

Robin Turns 3!

Happy Birthday Robin! We spent a great time out at Jen's parents at Falcon Lake with my Mom coming out and Uncle Jonny in town. It was pretty simple: decorated with some balloons and a banner, had some cake and presents, and had a party with Robin's favorite people. She was happy as pie! She even had a little treasure hunt to find one of her presents, similar to a book that she memorized the message from (The Secret Birthday Message).

Stuff My Kid Says

Olivia is now walking. Full on. And trying her best to keep up with Robin. And I'm trying my best to keep up with the both of them. At least picking up after them.



While trying to keep up, I've been writing down things that Robin has been saying on my iPod as she says them so that I don't forget - for a man who can't remember a name to possibly save his life, this is an important thing. So in the vein of the book "$#!t My Dad Says" I'm going to recount some of the more notable things that have come out of our surprisingly verbose little (surprisingly) still 2 year old. And what the heck, some of the things I never thought I'd hear come out of my mouth too.



Robin : "I'll see you in an alligator" (amalgamation of See you later alligator in a while crocodile)

Robin: "I want to see g for goldenboy!" (she has an alphabet book called G is for Golden Boy and screeaaams it whenever we go by the legislative building)

Dad: "Make sure that doesn't have poop on it before it goes in your mouth!" (you'd be surprised how often that comes up...)

Dad: "Robin, did you just call me dude?"
Robin: "Hey dude!"

Robin: "I got for bout to close the door!" (got for bout = forgot about)

Daddy: "I don't know what this is on my hand but it came from one of you!"

Robin while eating bean soup: "I want to eat more ropes" (these are her name for the crushed tomatoes in a bean soup we make. I'm not even close to figuring out where that one came from)

Robin: "Old MacDonald had a MONKEY on his farm!!!!!!" (her first real joke, because, come on, what kind a farm has monkeys in it?!?!)

Robin at bedtime: "Mommy go upstairs and do soother books and bed yourself!" (in rare defiance of going to bed. Bedtime is soother, books and bed - sbb for short - because just hearing that it's bedtime sucks, but books and soother too? Hmmmm... let's make a deal)

Robin counting for hide and go seek: "2,3,4,5,6,13,15,16,9 and a half, here I come!" (this was the exact counting sequence, I swear)

Robin: "I'm a bad guy! Grrrrrr!" (often this is the Big Bad Wolf, or a Nightmare)

Daddy: "Is that puke on my pants?" (because I seriously didn't know)

Robin: "I'm as fast as a rocket!"

Robin: "I want to watch the Deense Bears"
Daddy: "Berenstain Bears. Can you say Be-ren-stain Bears?"
Robin: "Berenstain Bears"
Daddy: "What would you like to watch?"
Robin: "I want to watch the Deense Bears"

Robin on the toilet at McNally Robinson: "I WANT TO BE PRIVATE WHILE I GO POOP!!!!!" (privacy is normal when she goes poop. We leave and close the door. But this is not always possible in a public washroom. Thus, I heard her yell this while I was in the middle of the store and Jen was with her in the bathroom)

Robin: "How do I swallow the food down?"
Daddy: "???" (really, what do you say to that?)

Mommy: "Don't tell Daddy" (to Robin about a secret)
Daddy: "Don't tell Daddy what?"
Robin: "What!"

Daddy: "Don't touch that rag. I'm not sure what I wiped up with it."

Robin: "I'm going to go Jack and Jill!" (still not sure about that one, something about sitting on her knees...)

Robin running from the living room after Olivia starts crying: "I didn't kick Olivia!"
Daddy: ... "Did you kick Olivia?"
Robin: "Yup"

Robin, when Olivia is crying: "I can't hear all that noise!" (I think that comes from when Robin isn't asking about something nicely, we say "I can't hear Robin when she uses her whiny voice" and then she asks nicely)

Robin: "Daddy I went poop!"
Daddy: "Good."
Robin: "On the toilet seat!"
Daddy: "Uh oh."

Robin, out of the blue, to our friend Michelle about her husband James: "You should go with your wife" and pointed to James.

Robin, from what she learned yesterday: "Gravity makes things fall. Gravity is a force. A force is a push or a pull" (our little budding physicist. Sniff)

Daddy: "Olivia, hold still so I can get that meat out of your ear!"

That last one was my personal favorite. So here are some pictures to match.

Olivia is 1!!!

Olivia is 1 and it's interesting how close the milestones for both Robin and Olivia have been in terms of actions. On April 20, Olivia took 6 steps, and Robin took her first steps at 11 and a half months too. Olivia has learned the ASL sign for "drink" and "more." Her "drink" is a bit of a flail, but we get the point. And her "more" is exactly like Robin's was, just pointing her two index fingers together.

Throughout the day, I keep a log of interesting things that the kids do as notes on my iPod. Very handy, especially for someone with a sporadic memory like mine. The problem is that ever since Olivia has become mobile, I'm noticing that those notes get old quick. I wrote "Olivia can turn the music on her exersaucer all by herself"... which we have now taken down because she is too big.

One comment that is still unfortunately timely is the "Zombie booger face". That's all I had to write in my notes to remember exactly what I meant. For the last 2 MONTHS Olivia has had one cold after another. It's the price we pay for going out a lot I guess. I suppose if I stuck everything in my mouth, I'd get sick a lot too. As to the above mentioned zombie booger face. When she wakes up, there it is. It's much better now. And I'm sure she'll be glad to read this some day in the future and see that on her first birthday, Daddy wrote about her mucous prone face.

We are (knock on wood) very lucky with our little Olivia. She's healthy, happy, dances like a maniac, sleeps though the night and mows down food like she's a reincarnated trucker. I suppose she might get embarrassed by that comment too. We love you Olivia.

Stay at Home Dad

About a month ago, I made the decision to quit my job to become a stay at home Dad. In some ways it wasn't really a big change, since I have already been at home with the kids on parental leave since the summer. But now that I've actually quit my job, there's a permanent ring to "Stay at Home Dad". I'm now a dad with a capital D.

There's lots of reasons why Jen and I decided this was best. Heck, I even made a pros and cons sheet (one of those ones you make in high school and think will be too corny to actually use in real life). The main reason is that we think it will be best for our family. When I was back at work when Robin turned one, we had her in a home daycare two days a week with my Mom the other days and it was fine. We discussed the idea of me staying at home for just Robin, but I wasn't into the idea at the time. I liked my job and went through lots of school to get there.

But then Olivia came, and it was time to think things through again. This time, the stay at home vote won. As my pros outweighed the cons, the decision was made. Well, it wasn't really that analytical. In the end, it was really that both Jen and I thought this would be best for our family; less stress, good connection with the kids, and it just felt like the right thing for us.

Now I don't have anything against daycare, and as I mentioned Robin had a great one. I'm sure there are less good ones out there too, but this wasn't about keeping the kids out of daycare. Although, I do hope this helps form a good connection between the kids and their Dad.

So far, it's going pretty damn good.

Olivia's first word and Olivia's two ways of crawling

First things first: Olivia's first word was Dada!!! She said it a few times and we weren't sure it was anything but babble. But now she's repeating it, so it's confirmed.

Also, Olivia's crawling is getting much fast and she's pulling to stand and cruising around furniture. It will be no time until she starts walking. There's also something really interesting she's started to do. When she is on carpet, she crawls normally. But when she's on hardwood or a similar slippery surface, she slips her left leg (always the left) under her so that she can slide more easily. Olivia seems to have figured out friction. Take a look.

Video from Summer through Fall 2010

Here's a video spanning from about mid-summer to before Christmas of 2010. I picked the background songs because I like them and their sound fits the mood, but don't try to connect the lyrics with the video; our children are neither orphans nor ghosts.

Publish Post

Olivia's mobile!

As the post suggests, Olivia is crawling! Now it's official. Unlike Robin, Olivia's progression to crawling has been much more gradual (and not fueled by a motivation to chew on a dog toy).


It started with Olivia being able to do sort of a backwards shuffle, pushing herself back with her hands in the crawling position. Very frustrating. I can understand. There is where I want to go, and the more I try, the farther away I get.

Then, she learned to push herself from the crawl position to the sit position, which was a little more encouraging for her in pushing her in the right direction.

After that, she almost learned to crawl, but she kept her left leg crossed in front of her and could never quite make it more than she could reach. Of course every once in a while, on a smooth enough floor, she'd say nuts to it and use her arms to drag her bottom across the floor like a cute little orangutan. She still does this when the mood is right for a little palm-walking.


Today I think was the best I can make a line in the sand and say yes, she is crawling. Towards dog food. I guess it's time to get the gates up again.

A constant state of clean... ing up

If parenting has taught me one thing that I didn't completely expect, it is that you will need to clean up. Always. This does not end. If you think you are finished, you are in a wondrous state of denial and I suggest you stay in that state.

Here's how it goes. I'll start with a clean house. Let's imagine that it's immaculate.

Olivia wakes up. First thing: diaper change (and often a good pooper in the morning). We most often use cloth diapers, so it goes in the bag (which happens to look almost just like Santa's sac. These "presents" are for the VERY bad children). We then go to get Robin, and often when she wakes up, wants to play, leading to toys to be cleaned up.

Then it's time to get Robin out of her diaper. And here is where I've gotten lucky lately; Robin is potting training so well, that more often than not, she has a clean diaper! Ha ha! That's one freebee for Daddy! But wait, after she goes on the toilet, I help her clean her hands. I'll take that trade off.

Then it's time to go downstairs to eat. That means cleaning bibs, hands, faces, and of course the dishes. Often, the floor might as well be a dish. But we have a secret weapon: Griffin. I have "trained" him to go on his hind legs to eat the leftovers in Olivia's highchair. Unfortunately, our dog is a connoisseur of sorts, and is particular about the floor food that he will eat. For example, popcorn that falls on the floor will not be eaten, unless it's salted.

After cleaning up, each of them want to play. This leads to the pulling out of all sorts of toys. What are toys to them? Everything that isn't fastened down, and some things that are (telling Robin that the headphones are not a dog on a leash doesn't seem to be convincing). All of which has to be cleaned up.

What's that Robin? You had a poop/pee accident? Time for a cleanup. Olivia, you spit up on the rug? Cleaning time. Griffin, you too? Spray and wash time. Then there's washing laundry, folding laundry folding diapers, the floors, the bathrooms and alllll the other cleanings up that goes with a house. If I ever think that I'm done, it's because I've decided to lie to myself for a while. There is always something to clean, and always a mess to be made.

The coup de grace occurred a few Sunday mornings ago. There was a stomach bug going around our house and Robin was the first to catch it. She woke up early on Sunday morning, crying. Jen went to go check her, and there it was. Barf. All over the sheets and her "hand wash only" pillow, plus her Snuggle Puppy book. That was an interesting clean up, and Jen lay down with her until the light came up. And then she barfed again in the afternoon. Not as bad, but still puke. None of it was preparation for the end of the day.

We were having a lovely dinner at Jen's Auntie Sandy and Uncle Gord's and Robin was feeling a lot better. She was eating supper, dessert, and looking like a chipper little girl. Then the ride home happened...

Robin: "Waaaaaahhhhhh!" she doesn't usually cry on rides home anymore.

Daddy: "What's the matter Robin?"

Robin: "Waaaaaahhhhhh!" no answer.

Daddy: "Do you have to barf Robin?" I did NOT want to be right. But as if I was the trigger.

Robin: "BARF! Barf! Barf." There was three.

Andy: "Jen, we need to pull over. Robin barfed." pretty sure she already knew that.

We pulled over and I got out of the car and went around back to access the situation. I now know what it feels like to be in a horror movie. The barf was all over her snowsuit/car seat/boots. I stood there in shock for a moment.

Daddy: "Are you OK Robin?" all I could think to do.

Robin: "Yup." She actually seemed almost chipper.

Jen handed me a towel. All I could think to do was drape it over Robin and the barf. There. Problem solved. We drove home, and I took Olivia inside, saying a silent prayer to assist Jen, who had volunteered to clean up Robin and the mess (like someone "volunteers" for the army I'm guessing). I think I still own Jen one for that act of selflessness. I was told just how many nooks and crannies a car seat has. I did help with cleaning the cover, but really, Jen took the brunt of the job.

Robin felt better the next day, but both Jen and I caught the bug later in the week. Still, Robin's situation was certainly the most traumatic of the events of that week. If I learned anything at all useful - anything at all - from this situation, it's that we need to tell Robin to chew her food more.

Robin's first skate

On January 16, Robin went for her first skate! Jen is out skating with Robin today, so it reminded me to put up this post. Kirk brought Nina and Lisa, Greg came and looked after Olivia, and Ba'cha came and took this picture. She was actually pretty good! And she loooved to go faster!

Into 2011

These last 3 months have been BUSY. Olivia is now almost 9 months old, and Robin has hit the 2 and a half mark and has begun Potty Training. The capitals are because it's a big deal, and has been all consuming the last week. It's amazing how much the desire not to get pee/poop in anywhere other than a diaper/toilet/potty can motivate a parent. She is doing really well. It's tough to tread that line of encouraging her to use the potty while not pushing her so much that she becomes uninterested. Her first poop on the potty was on Jan 8. I had to make sure I logged that one (ha ha). The other day, Robin disappeared into the front room - she likes to be alone to do her business - and came back excited saying "Mommy LOOK!" as she shoved her pooped-in potty 2 inches from Jen's face. At that moment, I was able to see a very strange combination of horror, shock, and encouragement in my wife's face.


Christmas was busy as always. But for the first time in four years, our family did not go to Fernie snowboarding and skiing between Christmas and New Years and spent the time with family and friends in the city. Robin got the notable gifts of a kitchen set with tons of little pretend foods, a learning tower she uses to stand by the counter with, and hoards of books. Olivia got lots of nice and chewable toys, and books as well as a little scooter to help her with the walking.


Since it's been about 3 months since the last update, here is how Olivia has been progressing:

Physically: She's still one big kid. The "linebacker of the baby football team". And her hair is getting really curly! She's even got these three Astroyboy-ish curls sticking out of her head. (Or maybe more like the Gerber Baby). She's also been our little 6 toothed girl since about 8 months.


Eating:

• 6 months: pretty much just ate off the end of a soother, but most things went down.
  
• 7 months: loved just about all the baby food we could give her, including meat. I remember having to use distractions for Robin to play with to get her to not grab the spoon, but Olivia went in open mouthed for each bite.
• 8 months: Finger foods were no problem, and solids were almost preferred to baby food.
• 8 1/2 months: She suddenly gave up on baby food (the baby spoon became and evil attacker that needed to be swatted away) and only wanted what we were eating, shoveling most all the food down her gullet we could give her. And she lets you know when she's done, with a swat and a head shaking.

Activity: She's sitting with ease and almost crawling. She has even pulled herself to standing a few times. In the last week she has really grown a personality! She goes at everything with her index finger, poking and prodding the world. She turns pages in books when we read them, just like Robin did at her age. Her recent favourite game she just started to do this week is peekaboo. It is, as would be expected, adorable. She's becoming a little jokester just like her big sister.


At New Years we had some other couples over to our place who had kids as well. It was a hectic blast, as we ran after all the kids going crazy. We had all these grand plans of playing board games when the kids went to sleep, but as I've come to realize with children, plans like that are just ideas that you want to happen but wont likely be able to. As the evening winded down, and it was determined that no one else's kids were able to get to sleep, everyone went home. So Jen and I decided to watch Airplane. That's right, you don't lose your edge when you're over 30 and have kids.


So 2011 is going well, with Robin still being our funny little monkey and Olivia growing up fast. This week we stayed in a lot because of the potty training, but Janet has been bringing Robin to a drop in playcentre in North Kildonan and we often go to the Wolseley Family Place so Robin can socialize. I think getting out a lot will be key to enjoying this winter.