Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Happy Birthday!
Then of course his real birthday was last Sunday. We had two celebrations, one with children and one without. The one with children was in the morning from 11am to 2pm and boy was that enough! We had a total of 10 children in the house, and quite a number of parents as well... He was overloaded with gifts, but still, his favorite one was ours (or so he claims :-)). We gave him a hockey (field-hockey that is) stick, a ball, shinguards and hockey-socks. He LOVES it! But then his second favorite is bound to be Opa and Oma's gift which is a big tractor that he can ride on. One of his friends has one of those and he loves that thing, so now he has one of his own.... maybe they'll race each other. He also got lots of other gifts like a race track, playmobil, some books, some chef stuff including a coffee maker, and many many more nice things!
He likes to play chef and recently Lisa had gotten him an apron so whenever we cook we have to put our apron on.... and now he has more stuff to play chef with in his own kitchen.... The other day I came home and he was walking around with a notepad and a pencil. I just sat down without realizing what it was that he was doing, but he was taking Lisa's order of coffee and cookies! Yes, he likes to play waiter too...
Anyway, at his party I made silver dollar pancakes for the children and after that we had THE ELMO CAKE!!! Lisa had made that one the day before and it turned out beautiful (as you can see in the picture). Tobias was soooo excited about it (of course he played chef and helped Lisa make it). So was one of his friend, because Elmo was close to being destroyed before being consumed as one of Tobias' guests (Berend-Jan, 2.5 years old) picked up the cake box and walked to his dad to show him the Elmo cake.... Elmo was rescued just in time... and enjoyed! (although Tobias didn't like the icing as much because "it has too much sugar, papa...".
Later that day my parents, my brother and uncle Yuri came over and we had a nice time (and Tobias got even more presents...). That evening Tobias said he had a really nice birthday party, but it was a little too loud so his ears hurt..... he also told me his favorite present was his hockey stick, so that's how I know ours was his favorite :-).
My little boy is 4!
For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Milestone: School!
Tobias has reached another milestone: School! This week he went for two trial runs (monday morning and this morning). He liked it, although he had a hard time doing so. Both mornings he did not want to go. Both afternoons he came back quite excited. What does that tell me? I don't know, probably that he just has to get used to it maybe? Well, so do we. Not only is this a milestone for Tobias, it is for us too! Our boy is growing up... Well, growing into an even bigger boy anyway. I guess we are all kind of emotionally vulnerable at this point in time having been through what we have... Yet, the changes just keep coming our way.... But, I am sure we can handle this one too. Next week he starts for real. Today he seemed to be quite OK with that so, we'll see.
Friday we will close the daycare chapter. He is going there for the last time, celebrating his birthday and his departure. Monday we will start the school chapter. In a way I am sad that we are closing the daycare chapter. I am definitely going to miss the lazy daddy day mornings in our pajamas until noon just playing around with Tobias. Or, the spontaneous plans on my daddy days regardless of anything else. But then again, I am also looking forward to the school chapter. Looking forward to see my boy learn, make friends, living new experiences, reaching new milestones.
I guess my boy will always be my boy regardless of age, time, chapter or whatever....
PS: I took two pictures in front of the school and both were out of focus. Unusual with my camera and also a bit of a shame.... I did the best I could so it will just have to do.
For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle
Ice Skating
Tobias' first skating experience was on the rink in town. The canals were frozen over but not reliable yet. We rented double blade skates for him and tried it. A few days later (end of December) the canals were reliable. I bought Tobias double blade skates and he actually did quite well. We had an accident though when we I pushed Tobias on a chair. We were going pretty fast and Tobias was liking it. Then.... we got stuck in a hole in the ice (cause by an air bubble) and the chair stopped but Tobias didn't. In Tobias' words he was "flying like a bird", and in a way he did. He landed belly and face flat on the ice. Fortunately all the damage was a little abrasion on his forehead. Minutes later he was ready to go on the chair again.
Nonny watched Tobias and remarked while taking pictures: "I thought this only existed in the movies...". She was talking about canal's frozen over, white frosted trees, and lots of children out on the ice playing, skating, sledding and what not.
Then we had a few days of thawing. The canals were no longer reliable and we had to get back to the rink. We did and met a friend of Tobias'. She was skating on single blade hockey skates. Of course Tobias wanted to try that too and actually did quite well. So, when the temperatures dropped again I went out and bought him single blades (the ones he's wearing in this picture). The temperature dropped so low that from last wednesday (one week ago) until last sunday we were able to skate on lakes, and we did! On wednesday my dad and I went for a tour in Aarlanderveen and I took Tobias out on the canal to try his new skates. On Friday. Tobias and I went on an even bigger canal. Saturday we went to my parents and skated on a fairly sizable lake, 8 km in length. My dad and I went up and down once, and later I played with Tobias, both sledding and skating. I fell that day and hurt my knee pretty bad, so I had to take it easy on sunday. I took Tobias to a lake near where we live. This picture was taken there. Tobias and I went for at least about 7 km or so, which I think is quite far for a little boy on single blade skates for the third or fourth time.... (I have to admit I had to hold his hand... :-)).
Well, as I am writing this the fun is over... I am hoping that we will have another opportunity to skate this year, but like I said, something like this only happens once in a blue moon....
For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle