Happy Birthday!

Last Sunday was Tobias' 4th birthday!!! Like I said in my previous post: quite the milestone because school starts... Well, I am writing this while my boy is in school. I took him this morning... his third official schoolday. I went in to take him on his first one too, last monday. I think he is going to like it. He comes back with great enthusiasm every day so far, including his "trial runs" last week. But, enough about that, I was going to write about his birthday, which you may have noticed is so intertwined with this milestone, because it kind of started last friday. He had a celebration at the daycare. It was a going away party and birthday party combined. Generally speaking they don't want parents at such occasions, but since this was his last day there we were invited. It was nice. They sang for him, he handed out a treat and a toy and he even got a gift. Well, two gifts technically, because they had made a scrapbook of all the art-project-type-things he made over the years, including some pictures and some stories about him. That is very nice, especially for us I guess. Good thing they also got him a real toy... a marble game.

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

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

This only happens once in a blue moon, but when it does you have to be there: Ice! The last time we had this much was in 1997! Ok, we did have a rink in town, but that is just not the real thing. Nothing beats skating on real ice, on the canals, or even better, on a lake, or maybe even better: Wherever there is water! We were almost there, but not quite yet. We did skate on a lake though as you can see in this picture.

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

Christmas Time

It was hard having one child in the hospital and one at home just after Lorelei was born, but at least then it was possible to take Tobias to see her. This time around they strongly discourage to have children come in to the pediatric ICU facility, so, we haven't taken Tobias to see Lorelei in the hospital yet. This is despite the fact that the first thing Tobias said after we told him what is going on was: "Then I want to go see her every day!". Soooo sweet.....

By now I think he realizes that something is wrong, but he hasn't been asking too much about it and we have tried to keep him occupied with other things such as watching Lightning McQueen, playing with Lightning McQueen, playing Lightning McQueen, sleeping in his Lightning McQueen bed (yes, he likes Cars....). Also we have been decorating the house for Christmas and Tobias was soooooooo excited. That was really nice to see! Especially during these stressful times....

As you can see Tobias is a good "tree-decorator" as he calls it himself :-) We will have a Christmas celebration, but it will be quite different than what we imagined.....


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Sinterklaas

I think I wrote about this event before: Sinterklaas. Well, with Tobias getting older he gets to experience it more and more... This year, like last year, we went to the "intocht": Sinterklaas coming into town. He comes on his boat from Spain with lots of helpers called "Zwarte Pieten". They dock in Gouda and then walk into town, Sinterklaas on a white horse. Well, Tobias was impressed I think. He talked about it a lot more than last year and he sometimes said "I am going to be a good boy because Sinterklaas is in town." :-).

Well, he put out his shoe one night by the fireplace and of course Zwarte Piet put something in his shoe. We also sang a lot of songs this year... Tobias is a fast lyrics learner. That was nice. We also read quite a few books.

This year December 5th ("Pakjesavond" = present night) was on a friday, the day that he goes to the daycare. There he usually celebrates Sinterklaas as well and this year they made a miter. He is wearing that and one of our throws as a robe and I have to tell you, he looks just like Sinterklaas.... (all he needs is a longer beard, but that would require a lot of paint and a long drying time...)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Simply Adorable!!!

Lorelei came home today and the first thing Tobias called when I got her out of her carrier was "Papa, I want to hold her!". And as you can see in this picture he did! Don't they look lovely? What more can I add to that?

Well, maybe that Tobias is probably the one who had the hardest time with her being in the hospital. It started with Lisa going to the hospital before Lorelei was born. Then she was born and she had to stay at the hospital together with Lisa. Then Lisa came home and Lorelei still stayed at the hospital.... All the while we were hauling Tobias back and forth to the hospital with us... Now that we are all home he is already doing better....

We'll see how it develops. For now, as you can see, he loves his sister!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Downloading...

Oh, I forgot to mention something about Tobias' new room.... his desk! He loves that too. It took some time to put everything up, with going back and forth to the hospital and all. We (my parents and I) did his bed on wednesday, because I had promised that he would be sleeping in it and I wanted to keep my promise. Then on thursday we did his wardrobe, because, well, I arranged some things for Lorelei, I had to register Lorelei (that took more than an hour!!! 98% of which was waiting in line...), I wanted to go to the hospital and, building the wardrobe was one hell of a job! But we got it done... Tobias slept in a huge mess on thursday.

We finished his room on friday when Tobias was at the daycare. When he got home I told him we had a surprise for him. I grabbed his "miffy-computer" (basically a toy that plays songs and shows pictures in the shape of a computer) and took him upstairs. He walked into his room and was in awe (well, he made noises like being in awe anyway...). The first thing he did was take the computer for me, sit down at his desk, opening it up and exclaiming: "Papa, I have to download something!". Too funny, right?

Oh, I have to add one more thing about his new room. During the night from friday to saturday he fell out of bed.... twice. I didn't hear it, but my mom, who was sleeping a floor below him, went up there and put him back in. It hasn't happened again last night, but well, I guess everything needs some getting used to, even a new and much bigger bed...


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle