My own car!

On Sinterklaas evening Tobias received several gifts. Previously I put a picture on of Tobias playing with a shapes puzzle. That picture was taken on Sinterklaas evening. On that evening he also got this car. He didn't like it as much at first. He was a bit scared to ride on it. He has been for a while, but since this past weekend he has started to like it some more. He actually laughed while riding it. This picture was taken today. We increased the speed a little and that was a lot of fun! Also driving by mommy was a big laugh... So, it took some getting used to but now he is able to enjoy his own car. Mommy took this picture while Tobias was zooming by...

Tobias is doing great. His waterpokken are pretty much gone. He has a few scabs left, but it doesn't seem to bother him that much. Overall it has not bothered him much. I think it should be gone by this weekend.

I was thinking the other day.... it is funny how you give your child all sorts of nicknames over time. Of course when we tell about him we refer to him as Tobias, but there are names we use to refer to him when Lisa and I talk about him to each other and there are names we use to talk to him if we want to comfort him or something. And recently we even had some names to refer to him while he had chicken pox (Google is ambiguous about the spelling of this word, I found that both pox and pocks are used frequently. My initial educated guess was pocks, I had never seen the word written. I saw it spelled pox on a friend's blog. That friend is American and a good writer, so I figured I'd use pox this time following her, undoubtedly correct, example. Maybe I should consult the dictionary at some point...). Anyway, some examples are:
- Buddy Boy
- Buddy Buster
- Buddy Bus
- Snicker Doodles
- Toabster
- Little Man
- Knulletje
- Klein Mannetje
- Lieverdje
- Tobias de Bobias
- Toabs
- Speckles
- Speckly Face
- Krentebolletje

I guess many more will follow. I am sure every parent uses nicknames just like we do. I find the etymology of these nicknames quite confusing, inexplicable and interesting.

What is also interesting is the rapid development of Tobias' language. He now has quite some sounds he uses. He uses the syllables "pa" and "ma" and repeats those a couple of times (sometimes two times, which of course makes us think he is calling us :-)). But also "da", "ba", "wa" and some more things like that. I am sure there is nothing deliberate to it, but sometimes we can make it deliberate by making him repeat it after us. That does not always work, but sometimes it does and that's cute.

It is also very interesting to see how he starts to link certain words we use to objects an people. I think I told you before he sort of knows what "kiss"means. Well, now he knows what "ball" means because when we ask him "where is the ball" he will start looking for it and he will start playing with it. He also recognizes the words "mama" and "pappie". He looks at us when we say "where is mama" or "where is pappie".

I am sure the amount of words and sounds he uses and understands will keep increasing. Before we know it he will be talking and listening. Again, like many times before, I am amazed by the speed of his developments and I guess I could say proud of it as well...