I love Nonny!

Every good thing must come to an end. So did our vacation. We had such a good time, I think we all did! I guess I can keep this post short because the writing on Tobias' shirt just sums it all up... It says:

"It's Easy to Get to Grandma's, Jus' Hard to Leave!"




PS: Tobias has four teeth now. Here he is showing off two of them. Doesn't he have a cute smile?

Skinny Dipping

Nonny and Ganddad have a pool in the yard. Since it was sunny and warm (for Dutch measures anyway) throughout the vacation, we used it quite a lot. The pool itself was a little cold, but the spa was perfect. So we (me, my brother and my dad (oh, and one day even my mom)) would go into the pool, get really cold and then jump in the spa to warm back up.

The spa was so nice and warm (and for a guy Tobias' size big enough) that Tobias went in there a few times as well. As you can see in this picture he is thoroughly enjoying it! We even submerged him entirely a few times and he did not seem to mind that either. We forgot to bring his pants so he skinny dipped... I guess kids can get away with pretty much anything, right?

As for the adults? Well, notice the beer bottle in the background... Quite relaxing I can assure you, sitting in the spa sipping beer in the Texas sun! 

My Favorite Gift...

Tobias got so many gifts, so I guess it is hard to decide which one really is his favorite, especially for him... I just know that he loved this one. We would push him around the house and he would laugh. He even made some attempts to sort of use his feet while riding.

Anyway, as you can see this gift has a drawback too, for the parents. Once Tobias was on it he would be laughing..... while in motion. As soon as we stopped he would start to cry. Also once we got him started and we would stop and take him of he would cry and try to get back on, in other words, he would not stop! So, we spent quite some time wheeling him around. My back can't wait until he can self propel by using his feet. 

Christmas in the US

Well, it has been a while since I posted to Tobias' blog. That is because we were in the US for the holidays. We had a good time and Tobias had some pretty good experiences, starting with flying! He was such a good boy! Even though we asked for child friendly seats we did not get them so Tobias had to be on our lap the whole trip. He did not make a fuss about it and just dealt with it. He even slept for a little while. He did not start crying until the plane landed.... I guess he just could not get enough of it :-). Once in Dickinson, it took a few days before he was used to the time change, but then again, that was no different for mommy and daddy.

This trip was very special in many ways. One of the main reasons is the fact that everybody was there. Opa and Oma from the Netherlands and Uncle Ferdinand also came over! So the family was all together. It was a house full, but it made it very special. I doubt Tobias will remember, but I know that we will.

While in the US Tobias got quite some books. The one he is reading here with Oma is actually not a Christmas gift, because as you can see in the background the gifts are still unwrapped. There are a couple of things to notice in this picture. Like I said, the gifts are still wrapped. If you focus on the gifts you see some rather large ones there.... well, those are Tobias'. Next, the tree. First of all it is something that is supposed to be in a Christmas picture. Second of all (although you cannot see that in this picture) there is an ornament on there especially for Tobias. It says "baby's first Christmas" on there and then Tobias' name and his date of birth. Well, they misspelled his name: "Tobias Queen" instead of "Tobias Quinn". This gave us quite a laugh actually... Finally notice the stockings in the background.... Isn't the small one cute?

So, all in all I thought this picture to be quite the Christmas picture, and it was taken on Christmas day as well. Hence this picture in this post... 

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...

Waterpokken

Past Friday Tobias was going to the day case. I was going to take him to the day care so I was the one getting him up and dressing him. While I was doing that I noticed a red spot on his tummy. I didn't think much of it, but closer inspection revealed a blister-like spot. I am one who pops things that are on my body so I popped the blister, just to make sure it was a blister and just to see what was inside. Well, there was a water-like substance inside. I still thought it was just a blister. Maybe his diaper had been rubbing on his tummy or something.

Anyway, I got him dressed, fed him, gave him a bit to drink and everything was fine. Then, when I got him ready to go outside by putting his coat on and everything, I felt a little bump on the back of his head as I was holding him. It was very similar to the little blister on his tummy. This is when it occurred to me that it might be something other than a blister, that it might be waterpokken (chicken pocks). Closer inspection of Tobias' head revealed more spots behind his ear. My diagnosis: waterpokken. Just to make sure I called the expert on such matters... mommy... and she had her colleague confirm it: chicken pocks. I decided to take him to the day care anyway because he was in good spirits and didn't seem to be bothered by it. They took him in because if he had infected other children it would have already happened before the spots started showing. She warned me though that by the time we'd pick him up he'd probably be covered in red spots.... and he was...

Tobias didn't start feeling bad until much later. He had a good day at the day care and saturday was fine too. The night from saturday to sunday is when he was not able to sleep. He woke up at one, as did we, and didn't go back to sleep until six or so, as did we... Sunday he was not feeling well at all. He was tired an did not have much of an appetite. He was so tired that he did sleep quite well that day. He also slept through the night on sunday but still was not feeling well on monday. Monday night he slept well again and today when I got home from work he was back to his happy self.

This picture was taken on monday night. As you can see he is doing OK, but covered in spots. Most of those spots had not opened yet at tha point although he already had some scabs too. The funny thing is that when he checks out his tummy he does not touch any of the spots but goes right for his belly button, as if the spots weren't there... odd...

Well, if nothing else I learned a valuable lesson: Do NOT pop spots, speckles or whatever on your child's body (the one I popped is the bigger one just above his belly button...)

Zwarte Piet

On the actual Sinterklaas day there was a "Sinterklaas breakfast" at the day care that Tobias goes to. We all went (although I had to leave a little early) and had a nice time, particularly enjoying seeing Tobias enjoy himself.

Tobias made himself a "zwarte pieten muts" (a black pete hat (a black pete is a helper of Sinterklaas)) last week that he got to wear for this occasion. The yellow stuf are his handprints, the blue thing is supposed to depict a feather that a "real" black pete wears on his hat. The black facial paint is the finishing touch, isn't it?

Tobias, zwarte piet, is unwrapping his gift here. He got a wobbly seal with a ball on his nose and a draw string to pull it forward. I don't know what he enjoyed more, the gift or the wrapping paper... But he had a good time, and his group leaders were so proud because he did not take his hat off once!