Rowan is going to be a big sister!

Just in case there are some of you out there that don't know yet, Rowan is going to have a baby sister or brother in May. Exciting times!

Rowan is quite intrigued by the idea that there is a tiny baby in my belly and likes to reiterate my explanation: "the baby is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and then it will come out."

She is very keen on the "I'm a big sister now" book that Greg and Madeleine lent us. Strangely enough, she can pretty much recite the whole book word-for-word now when she flips through it. We haven't read it to her that many times.

I'm sure the reality of having a baby sibling will be a big shock to her, though. She's been quite gentle and sweet with our friends' little babies, but they aren't invading her space and taking over her parents. We will have to do our best to make sure she doesn't feel replaced or displaced.

Daddy's in Cameroon and other stories

Nigel is away in Cameroon for two weeks; he's been gone since Saturday. He's there doing a cancer treatment machine installation at a hospital in Douala.

Rowan and I talked to Daddy last night using the wonders of the Internet and webcams and laptop microphones. Rowan was pretty good, interacting with the webcam and responding well to Nigel's questions. He showed her a nifty wooden puzzle that he bought for her - a crocodile with a hinged jaw so you can open and close it.

We're missing Nigel, that's for sure. There will be lots of hugs and kisses for Daddy when he gets home. Rowan doesn't understand the concept of "many days" as a response to the "when will Daddy come home?" question. She does get that it won't be today, though, and would understand if I said he would be home tomorrow.

We might have another little dry spell of photos (like usual, you mean?) because our camera got stolen while Nigel's bags were in transit. *sigh* We'll be replacing that before Christmas I expect. It's not a complete loss; our camera was getting pretty glitchy and wasn't reliably taking photos when I pressed the button.

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A funny game that Rowan likes to play:
She comes up to you and exclaims: "No kisses, no hugs, no tickles!"

When she says this, Rowan expects you to act all sad. Then, when you've acted sufficiently dejected, she will come over and give you wonderful cuddles and kisses to make you happy again.

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Rowan loves bubble baths. Oh my does she ever.
Ever since she had a bath with Rebecca a week or two ago, she has been super-keen to have more baths. The most hilarious part of her bath with Rebecca was when Rowan realized that she could make an astonishingly silly farting sound by blowing on her wet hand. This resulted in extreme toddler (and mommy) giggle-fits. Every time she would do it, she would get this sparkly mischievous look in her eyes. So cute and evil.

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Rowan also likes to pretend she is Swiper (the bad-guy fox of Dora the Explorer fame) and sneaks up and pretends to swipe something I'm using - like my toothbrush. But unlike Swiper, she almost immediately says: "I give you back your (item)!" and runs away with a grin.

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Potty training is going pretty well; she is dry most of the day at daycare - using the potty - and is using the "big-girl" padded toilet training seat at home. She rarely requests to use the toilet, though, unless it seems like it will stall her bedtime, and is sometimes very contrary about it when we ask her if she needs to go.

She doesn't seem able to make it to the toilet first thing in the morning either, even when I pluck her barely-awake out of bed and head for the bathroom. Ah well. It will come.

A few of Rowan's observations about the world

an astute Rowan observation from breakfast this morning:

"some people make the drips, and some people clean them up"

in this case, she was both making drips and cleaning them up.

- - - - -
a few weeks ago, we were driving in the car and stopped at a light. A man was standing at the corner smoking. Rowan observed:

"That man is smoking. That's disgusting. Nonni smokes too. That's disgusting. She shouldn't do that."

*slaps forehead while beaming madly*
My mom is totally going to think I've been coaching her on this, but I honestly haven't.

Halloween fun

We didn't get any really good photos of Rowan at Halloween, but these photos will give you a general idea of what our little pirate looked like and how we decorated our house.

Rowan enjoyed trick-or-treating. We only did it for about 40 minutes because she was starting to get that deer-in-the-headlights look and forgetting to say trick-or-treat when we went to a door. I think she was mostly just getting tired. She seemed perfectly happy to come home and binge on some candy, though. And she made Daddy "walk the plank" many, many times, with much amusement everytime he would splash into the water. (Nigel was walking off the edge of our bottom stair and "falling" onto the floor with a "splash")



arrr! demon pirate Rowan says walk the plank!

Rowan's second birthday photos!

The much-awaited post of photos from Rowan's birthday! (I'm sorry LJ users, I know there are a lot of photos but I haven't found any way to make a cut in the blog.)

Nigel and I decorated the living room while Rowan was sleeping, so she was super-excited in the morning when she woke up to all the balloons and streamers.

We had a great turnout of friends and family, and Rowan seemed to love all of it.

Rowan's first gift of the day was from Nonni - a beautiful pair of deer-skin moccasins. It looks like she is biting them, but she is smelling them. These have since become Rowan's "jumping" moccasins; she likes to wear them when she jumps on the couch or gets daddy to help her "jump" in the air over the couch. :-) There will be photos of this activity later.

Rowan with Nonni.

Jumping moccasins

Rowan scoping out the presents.

Rowan's cousin Samantha and friend Rebecca help Rowan unwrap some of her presents.

Rowan in her birthday dress.

The party in our living room.

Rowan and Rebecca playing with their party blowers. I think the two of them succeeded in moistening every one of those blowers. :-)

Rowan wearing one of her finger puppets from Auntie Heather. She loves these little guys and carries them around in a purse sometimes. I find them everywhere.

Rowan poring over the fateful potty book. This particular potty book was the inspiration behind Rowan's diaper-removing exploits - it specifically mentions removing your diaper in order to go to the potty.

Rowan and her great-grandma Abbey

Rowan and Rebecca playing with the wooden train set.

Daddy "reading" a dino sticker book to Rowan and Rebecca.

Rowan's parrot from her cousin Sam.

Happy birthday to Rowan!

Rowan loves her birthday ice-cream cake.

Rowan and a birthday cupcake!

And more cupcake!

monkey-brain bread - photo

Here's the photo that went with that much earlier Monkey-brain bread story. Photo is from September.

some photos from September

Here are a few old photos that have been waiting a long time to get posted.

Shawville Fair, 2008
Pony ride!

A different kind of pony ride

Apparently, the Fair is all about riding things.

Sick cuddles
Rowan gives the best cuddles when she isn't feeling well


Erica's birthday
Rowan gleefully making Auntie Erica a hand-printed card.

During Erica's birthday this year, the fire alarm went off in her building, sending us all outside. Luckily, it was a lovely day so we didn't mind that much.









The tissue paper monster wants presents!

ick factor of about 3 (scale goes up to 10)

Here's the scene: I've just put Rowan down for her nap and I'm on the phone - on hold. I hear her trying her bedroom doorknob - now she knows how to open doors and we have a toddler-resistant knob protector. This makes her angry. She's having a bit of a tantrum - yelling and banging at her door.

I ignore this for awhile - say 5-7 minutes - partly because I'm on the phone and partly because I don't want to reward Rowan for this type of behaviour. At some point (I'm still on hold, lalala), I hear her mention poop. It is unclear from the kitchen at this point whether she is trying the "I need to poop on the potty!" card to get out of naptime, or whether she has actually pooped in her diaper. After a few more minutes, and increasing frustration with being on hold, I hang up and head upstairs.

When I open the door, the smell makes it immediately obvious that poop has already happened. So she wasn't just being a trickster.

However, when I open the door, Rowan emerges to offer me her soiled diaper - which she has taken off herself. This is the first time that she has removed her diaper on her own. Quick check - face, hands, clothes, walls, bedding. Doesn't look like there is poop anywhere... uh. except on her feet... eww. And a little bit on the floor near the door, but otherwise it seems well contained in the diaper.

At this point, I count my blessings, 'cause it could have been SO SO much worse. I'll probably get the full deal next time. :-) So off we went for a quick scrub in the bath and then a trip back to nap-time.

Potty success!

This may be too much information, but...

last night Rowan had her first-ever poop in her potty! Woo-hoo! We are so proud of her! *beam* She got a very big sparkly Winnie the Pooh sticker for her success (and yes, I did choose "Pooh" stickers specifically for this purpose).

Nigel found a large piece of cardboard to use as a folding "privacy screen" around Rowan's potty, and lo and behold, success! She really likes her privacy when she goes to the bathroom.

Rowan has been peeing in the potty sporadically since early this summer. Her desire to use the potty comes and goes - mostly it comes when she wants to avoid going to bed. :-) I think we're going to ramp up the potty training, since she is clearly able to do it.

Anyhow! I will post Rowan's birthday photos soon, I promise.

Rowan and Rebecca

Rowan and Rebecca (Greg and Madeleine's oldest daughter) are enjoying playing together much more now that Rowan is less intimidated.

Last night, we were over at G&Ms for dinner, and Rowan was cracking Rebecca up by hanging noodles out of her mouth, putting her washcloth on her head like a hat, and generally making funny faces. She's such a ham! Rowan loves to make people laugh.

Rowan is channelling Indiana Jones

The other night, Rowan was eating some toast and she asked us what it was. We replied: "Multigrain bread." She pondered this for a second, being unfamiliar with the word "multigrain," and then proclaimed that she was eating "monkey-brain bread!"

Nigel and I just about blew milk out of our noses. It was just so freaking funny that we could barely contain ourselves. I just wanted to share that with you.

New Brunswick - Hopewell Rocks

We went to see the Hopewell Rocks in NB. It was a grey and rainy day (much like most of the days we were in NB, actually). I think Rowan's favourite part of the Hopewell Rocks was the seaweed on the rocks (the tide was out, obviously), but she seemed unimpressed by the rocks themselves. Here are a few pics of us:

Rowan with her grampie.





Rowan, grampie, auntie Heather and her beau Dim, and me.

New Brunswick - Part one

As most of you probably know, we went to NB at the beginning of August to visit my east coast family (Hi guys!). We drove there, about 12 hours each way, leaving at midnight each time and arriving in the early to mid-afternoon. The drive went quite well, I think. Rowan was quite well-behaved with only a small amount of whining when she was getting tired of sitting still. We got out and stretched our legs a few times when Rowan was hitting her sitting limit. We got her a portable DVD player for the car, so Dora was kind of our saviour for a few hours of the trip, too.

On our way down, we stopped at a rest stop that had, among other amenities, a large patch of blueberry bushes! Rowan was excited to discover how blueberries grew and ate as many as she could cram into her mouth, telling us and herself to eat only the blue ones - and saying of the green ones: "this one not ready yet".





A couple of days after we arrived, we were out near Shediac and we went to see the ocean. In this part of NB, it borders on the Northumberland Strait rather than the Bay of Fundy, so it is much calmer and warmer. Rowan loved it.

And a few more from July

Rowan loves to wear other people's shoes - the bigger the better!


Our little fairy seems to have inherited the gardening bug from her Grandma - she even helped plant our garden and has continued interest in what's growing. Rowan is especially interested in the tomatoes now that they are getting red - although she did sort of harvest a couple of green ones one day.

Tomatoes are pretty much her favourite "vegetable". (I know, I know, tomatoes are fruit, but it is the closest thing to a vegetable that Rowan eats.) She's a very picky eater, but at least she loves fruit.


Nigel is super proud of his little fix-it baby. She loves to use his tools to "fix" things. Here she is using her plastic screwdriver to repair the dishwasher. She always puts the point into the holes of the screws. Rowan really wants to know how things work and how they are put together, just like her daddy. :-)

a few more photos from June

a teaser photo from June...

There are more photos coming, just not today.

From June 2008:

Rowan the shop-fairy likes to help her daddy "fix" things.

more photos!

Here are a couple of photos of Rowan in our new house. She loves the "noo haus", especially the backyard which is fully fenced and grassy.

Here she is in her new bedroom (pre-reno). She was especially excited about hiding in the closet and playing hiding/peekaboo games with whoever would participate.



Here she is in the master bedroom (isn't the panelling and wallpaper combo sexy?)


I bought Rowan a toy tool set to play with, since she is excited by all the real tools around during the renovations. She "helped" daddy take a phone apart with her plastic screwdriver and has been trying to disassemble anything that has a screw. So funny! She wants to "fix" things; I think she's going to be a daddy's girl.



Cuteness in the bath (at our house on Darling)


Ahem. Nigel's co-worker gave us a couple of bags of clothes, which Rowan was super excited about. She wanted to try on all of the "cuute!" items. At the same time. She has about five layers of clothes on at one point. Then, Nigel fell asleep on the floor and Rowan piled all of the clothes on him. Then she climbed on him (I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get that one, unfortunately).



The Bridgeman-Vezeaus have been very helpful with our new house - everything from construction work, to baby care, to meal preparation. Your help has been very much appreciated. Thanks again, everybody!

Feeding time!

Our Darling house is full of ladybugs. Rowan likes to bring me dead flies and bugs, but sometimes they start moving again.


Rowan has taken to lining up all of her "friends" on the sofa. And on windowsills. She also likes to heap them all up and fall on them... I mean, cuddle them.