Olivia is born!!!

NEW BLOG: About Robin and Olivia
http://aboutrobinandolivia.blogspot.com/

Olivia Jane Potter Cumming was born at 4:30AM on May 1. She weighs 7 pounds 15 ounces and is 21 inches long. She has blond hair and looks a LOT like Robin's baby pics.

It's no longer all about Robin. Now it's about Robin and Olivia. Since we now have two wonderful children to share stories about, it was time to start a new blog.

I hope you enjoyed keeping up with Robin's life. Now you can keep up with two.

Almost there...

It's now less than 2 weeks until Jen's due date, and the excitement is building! We just got ourselves a new 2009 Honda Odyssey EX, right on time for the new baby. Everything seems to be in order, and we've got our "ducks in a row." Anyone who reads this, please keep your fingers crossed for us that things go safely and smoothly.

I'm very curious to see how Robin reacts to the baby. Right now she's often referring to the "baby in Mommy's belly", but we'll just have to find out how she does when it happens. I hope our little cutey does well.

"I do do do"

Very soon now, we are going to be a family of four. April 30th is the due date, but Jen is pretty efficient, so my guess is that it's going to be early. We're finding we need some more room, so we've even been van shopping. That's right, I'm ready to be Van Dad. That's right, I nouned that van with a capital V, since I think it might end up being a big part of the change in our lives. Heck, I'll even have to start a new blog: "itsallaboutrobinand_________"

What a fast pace couple of months this has been! (It seems like forever even since we went to go visit Alyssa and Rob, but there's a little video and picture footage here.) Our little baby is now a little girl. Ms. Chatterbox has soooooo many words now. I think her longest sentence was "Robin is sitting on the chair now." And did I mention that she can count to ten?!?! This Daddy is going to have to start bragging a little more.

(See Alyssa? You can totally handle two toddlers!)

Even though her pronunciation is remarkable for her age, she still has a few words that all her own. Like the fact that we had a "peppernoni" pizza today. She's also kept her way of saying her Grandparents' names. Someone cleverly pointed out that she uses the last syllable twice: Grandpa is "Papa", Grandma is "Mama" and Bacha is "Chacha".

So what does "I do do do" mean? When we put her to bed, all snuggled in at night, and are about to leave the room is when she most often says it.

Jen: "Good night Robin! I love you!"

Robin: "I do do do Mommy!" (I love you too Mommy)

Here's a video of some happenings in 2010 so far:

Full of Beans

The phrase "full of beans" pretty much describes Robin lately. Her energy is boundless. She tears around the room in circles saying "spinning!" til she falls down. She'll bring you a book, let you read half of it, then run away to go and grab another book, so that you can read half of that one. Repeat. If you ever dare pick her up when she is in the middle of play, ho ho!, be prepared for the blunt retort of "DOWN!" as if I had just stopped her from diffusing a bomb or something just as important. In her defense, when followed by a question of "what do you say?" from mommy or daddy, she chimes in sweetly and softly with "please". We're working on our Ps and Qs. I think with all of that energy, Jen has described very well why Robin will NOT be doing any taking care of our next baby for a long long time.

Full of beans also works for daycare, since Flora (our daycare provider) is a vegetarian. And since she feeds Robin, she eats - and loves - a lot of beans. It's strange, but until VERY recently, she hasn't been much of a meat eater at all. Now this isn't a downplay of the energy Robin shows at daycare too. Flora once asked me "which one of you or Jen talks a lot at home?" because Robin is one chatty character. From early on, she could say the names of the kids in the daycare: Ella, Abby, Paige. My favorite is when she says Flora's daughter's name, Anushka. Before saying it, Robin looks proudly at her, knowing she's about to pull off her favorite joke, then says "Gooka!" I think Anushka has grown tired of that game. And by the way, the new words JUST KEEP COMING out of Robin's mouth.

And third, well. Third is a trait that she shares with her daddy. After all, the more beans you eat... you know where I'm going. Toots. Not that she's a very tooty girl, but just today in fact, as she ran around the bathroom naked, she bent over, tooted loadly, then boasted "POOPY!" (Now worries though, she just got the word wrong.)

To finish off this fiber filled post, I feel it is important to document the... memorable adventure to get to Toronto's Pearson airport, gate 4, on our way back from Alyssa, Rob and Toby's place:

After a weekend of wonderful food and wonderful drink (such as the Mexican Bulldog I was introduced to) we had to drive into Toronto from Collingwood, about a 2 hour drive. Luckily, we had a GPS to guide us. However, it helps when the driver (me) decides to actually watch, and more importantly follow, the directions the GPS gives you. In a timely fashion. After a detour through a new housing development, and then one currently under construction, we were back on track on the freeway.
Jen (from the backseat with Robin): "why don't you turn on the volume?"
Much better. Voice directions from the GPS. That will make more sense to my foggy brain. And shortly after, ah, the airport was in sight, with a sign to gate 4. Success.
Jen: "Did we fill up the gas?"
After a near 30 minute detour, and passing numerous gas stations that you could SEE from the freeway, but certainly not get to, we found a gas station. Well, Jen found us a gas station. After filling up and using what I'm sure was the grossest bathroom in southern Ontario we were on our way. Now why was the GPS telling us to go the opposite direction to the airport? Ah yes. On ramps. Freeways don't exist in Winnipeg. So we were on our merry way to gate 4 at Pearson again. After driving back a loooooooooong way to get back onto the skybound highway.
At this time, my stomach was reminding me of all the tasty super bowl food I had the day before. Such a long highway. I can't even see the airport. Internal pressure building. No one would notice if I just released a little bit of bean fueled pressure... 10 seconds of glorious silence. Then, from her carseat:
Robin: "Out!!!!"
Jen: "What's the matter Robin?... ohmy!"
Andy: "Sorry, sorry. We're almost there". Which is little consolation when you are going 120 on the highway in the middle of winter and can't crack a window.
Robin: "Out out!"
GPS: "At highway 407, keep right then take exit left to 403."
Andy: "What the hell does that mean?!"
Jen: "Just follow the directions it shows."
So I do as it says. I swear I did.
GPS: "Recalculating" which is what it says when you've screwed up it's route.
Andy: "No no! I kept right then went on the 403!"
Jen: "You were supposed to go the other way on 403"
GPS: "Recalculating"
Andy: "I know that!"
Robin: "Out!!!" ... daddy may have unconsciously released some pressure into the car again.
Andy: "Recalculate faster! There's 30 different routes to take on this bloody freeway!"
GPS: "Take left on 402. Recalculating"
Andy: "Turn left or not!" I was starting to lose it a little.
Robin: "Bar!" as in cereal bar.
Finally, we arrived at the airport. Hoorah! In we went. So many signs. Ah! Departures. There we go.
Jen: "We still have to return the car"
Andy: "... at departures, right?"
As we drove by, we could SEE where the car should go, but since it was all one way, we couldn't get there. There was absolutely no way. There was only a boulevard between us and the car rental shop, but no way.
Andy: "Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!" I started to laugh uncontrollably.
Robin: "Mama stinky!"
Jen: "No, daddy's stinky" I must have released more gas in my fits of laughter.
There was no choice. We had to leave the airport into the maze of the freeways again.
GPS: "Recalculating"
The GPS then spit out the craziest scribble I had seen yet on the map.
GPS: "Stay left on 407 then stay right on ramp follow blue taxi cab onto route 25745529". Maybe an exaggeration.
Of course, when leaving the airport, there are very few directions on how to get BACK to the airport. Then after a few minutes:
GPS: "Turn right"
Andy: "There IS no right you blasted machine!!!! There's a 100 foot drop!" I actually bellowed this while shaking my finger at the evil little lying map making machine.
Jen: "Why don't you just turn the volume off?" Which I did.
GPS: "Recacl..." glorious silence.
We followed the zig-zagging labyrinth around until we found the signs that led us back to gate 4, managed to find the car rental turn off before the point of no return, and made our way to the plane with plenty of time to spare (I'm sure Jen added the Andy factor in when we decided how early to leave. Did I ever mention that I almost missed our flight to go on our honeymoon because I went to the arcade to play pinball and didn't hear the boarding announcement? Well, Jen remembers.)

In the end, we all learned something from this. When the going gets tough, the toddler and pregnant mother are calm and collected. But daddy might need a soother.

Daddy Daughter Day

Over the last month, Robin has been sick. Constantly. Runny nose, coughing, the occasional fever. I hear that daycare will do that. Jen and I have also sucked in our share of "Robin borne" illnesses, which is why today is Daddy Daughter Day: I am home sick. However, Robin is pretty much fine now, and is smiling gleefully as she swats her table. Noises are fun. Especially when she makes a giant noise of some sort, then looks at us and says "shhhhhhhh!". Sometimes for noises that are indicators of other things.

(If you can't read it, it says "Does Robin have a poopy bum?" Yes/No. She is pointing to yes. For the record, though she can't read yet, there was a rumble in the bumble)

A lot has happened in the last month, with Christmas, birthdays, our trip to Fernie and... uh... I suppose all of January, in which nothing much ever happens. We were really afraid that bringing a one and a half year old on a 16 hour car trip might not be the greatest of ideas. It's a good thing Grandma Potter has some sort of magical power that lets here entertain a small child indefinitely. Some may call that being training as a reading teacher. But it looked more like magic to me. Or at least some kind of super hero power. I'm starting to think that Robin's Grandmas have super powers in general.


Robin is ever changing. Two words sentences? That's nothing now. Flora (our daycare provider) asked which one of Jen or myself talked a lot at home. Apparently Robin is a bit of a chatterbox at daycare.

Here's a video montage of the latest of Robin in action.

Living with Robin: Can you Speak Robinese?

Robin is one little excited, energetic barrel of fun lately! On the days that I come home and she's already there, I can hear her "dada?" call from the other room. It quickly get more frantic with "Dada?!?" and next "DADA?!?" finally "DADAAAA!". She then bursts into the room, where I have my arms open wide happily saying "Hi Robin!". She promptly looks at me, screams "NOOOOOOO!!" and then and runs away.

Of course, I chase her to where she runs to and pick her up for a hug. She gives me a brief - very brief - hug. Then I get the command "Down!" as she wants to put me down, as there is more playing to do.

She is learning words faster than I can count. I mean, maybe I'm a slow counter, but still it's pretty quick. She says "more" when she wants more food. She says her daycare friends "Ella" and "Abby" with ease. She's got the barnyard covered from "moo" to "meow" to "bow-wow". She can say "outside" with the greatest of clarity. But no matter how many times we say it, bellow it, call it, whine it, or exasperatedly sigh it, she still has no word for our high energy and still crazy dog Griffin.

She has her own vocabulary of unique words too. Some seem obvious, but some can trick you, and a few you likely just won't know. See if you can figure out what the following mean. Try to sound it out. Hint: she often only uses part of a word, and sometimes only one syllable.

1. Chee
2. Chacha
3. Bed
4. Gen (with a hard G as in good)
5. Cheat
6. Poon
7. Papa
8. Peena
9. Orn
10. Mehmaw

Here's the answers. Did you cheat? Well, in this case, "cheats" are good.

1. Cheese
2. Ba'cha (My Mom's nickname. Bapcha is Polish for Grandma)
3. Bread (although it's a trick question, because it sometimes does mean her crib)
4. Again (often as in "Spin me around fast enough to barf again Dada!")
5. Treat (for Griffin)
6. Spoon
7. Grandpa (not myself as you might expect)
8. Pizza
9. Orange
10. Grandma

What's your prize you ask? Stop being so greedy, this is a child's blog.

Teaching Robin the importance of redundancy

As promised in the last post, here is a video of Robin signing "more". Yes, I do realize the irony that as soon as she learned to sign that she wants more food, she can now SAY more too. But I think that's good for Daddy if nothing else. Sometimes, Daddy's thick head doesn't quite clue in to what she wants, and needs both the verbal AND visual clues. For example, saying "I'm hungry" may not get Daddy's attention, but saying "I'm hungry" while mashing a sign in Daddy's face will.

Robin has a special sign for food that's "good" which she uses here. It's supposed to be a baby sign where your palm goes up from your chest to your throat, signifying the welling up of good feelings. But Robin more or less scratches her chest like a monkey. It's very cute.



As a final update, Robin has a molar coming in! It's just a little nub in the back right of her mouth.