Biking (continued...)

Of course you can always have someone else take a picture :-). In this case the most obvious alternative: Lisa. This was taken during the weekend so Lisa was around to take some pictures and as you can see he is really doing it. Me running after him at this time was not all that necessary anymore other than for his peace of mind... I did still need to be there for him to get started. He still needed a little push for that at the time this picture was taken.... but, he is past that now too (which makes biking a lot earier, not only for him, especially for me :-)).

As of last friday he does not need help anymore with starting. I layed the groundworks and Opa finished the job... Also he can now turn corners. On this particular ride he tried to turn a corner and ended up in a rose-bush :-). As you can see we got him a helmet. This is not something I grew up with, but is becoming more and more common in the Netherlands. As a matter of fact he had a friend over to play two weeks ago who was already biking by himself. This boy was wearing a helmet as well and of course Tobias wanted to try it on and then wanted one for himself. To be honest I think it is quite a good idea... Not in the least because he looks soooooooo cute in it!

For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

(Almost) Back to School

Tobias is back in school now.... It started this week. Last week was still his vacation though, and I took the opportunity to take him and Lorelei out one more time. Obviously I used my daddy day to do so and we went to the Dolfinarium. This a kind of an amusement park set up around dolphins. They have other animals too, like seals, sealions, walrusses and such. The animals are trained and they perform shows. Especially the dolphins show was really nice. Tobias enjoyed all the animals, because he is kind of into them right now. He has a couple of books on science-like matters like insects, sea animals, the human body etc. It is so much fun to go through such topics with him because he remembers everything and he will ask lots of questions about it.

Anyway, we had a very nice day at the Dofinarium, which ended in the playground of the park where he found this digger.... Despite his interest in scientific matters he is still very much into Bob the Builder as well :-)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Milestone: Biking!

Milestones like sitting, crawling, walking and such are quite a while behind us for Tobias, but, being half-dutch, there was still a pretty serious milestone for him to pass.... biking. Well, he passed it yesterday. He is pretty proud of himself and, as you can imagine, I am too. On top of that he is proud of me since I am his "biking-teacher" :-).

Anyway, it took a while. I bought him a bike last year and in retrospect I bought him one size too big. Honestly, I did so against my better judgement and aided by the advice of the salesperson, and, I admit, worried that my "investement" might be too small too soon. Well, the result was that initially he could not reach the ground and when a training wheel came loose he fell and was temporarily traumatized. He did not want to go biking at all for quite a while.

Last month we visited our friends in Paris and they had a little bike and a lot of grass, so we practiced a little and it actually worked quite well. Plus, it helped me convince Tobias that he really didn't need training wheels anymore, as long as I would hold his bike by the seat while he was riding. For the past few weeks he had weekly biking lessons on the weekend with me bing his teacher (and breaking my back in the process....). As with everything he is quite a fast learner and he took to most of the instructions I gave him. Vern, the little turtle shaped horn-like thing on his bike (named after a character from the movie "Over The Hedge") "helped" him go even faster (or so he claims... :-)).

Well, yesterday was the day he realized that he could keep going without stopping at every single lamppost and he actually rode his bike for an entire block! And even better, he wanted to do it again later (which meant that I did not have to bend over and hold his bike-seat anymore, but I had to run all the much faster and further to keep up with him....). I think we can officially say that in doing so he passed this, for Dutch measures quite important, milestone!

Oh, yeah, taking a picture while running after him ready to catch him in case he (almost) falls is kind of hard to to, hence the ommission of a picture. I will try to take one during one of the next lessons in which he will learn to start and to take turns...


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

(Rahther Large) Headphones...

I love how my children make me laugh in ways that are sometimes quite unexpected. Last sunday Lisa and I were just having a cup of coffee and talking and Tobias was sitting at the piano. He has been doing that somewhat more often recently, much to my delight :-). Suddenly it gets quiet and the he starts yelling really loud: "Hey Papa, Look!". I look and see this image :-). He had grabbed and connected the headphones and was playing piano like this. Obviously it was quite loud...

Another such episode occurred yesterday when Tobias was playing sports with Lisa. I wasn't there, so there are no pictures, but the anecdote made me laugh just the same. Playing sports is one of Tobias' favorite games outside these days. We play hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, american football, and baseball, which was the name of the game yesterday. These games get increasingly hazardous for us parents, and yesterday Lisa had a baseball hit her face. So, she says to Tobias: "I should wear a facemask!". So Tobias goes: "Yeah, I am going to wear a facemask..." and he runs inside and comes back with a Lion's mask that he got at the zoo quite a while ago..... Of course the mask has nothing to do with baseball at all, but he wore it just the same for the remainder of the "game".


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Taking a Bath

Taking a bath has always been one of Tobias' favorite things to do. It still is, although there are nights where he'd rather skip one... We have actually had a brief period of time where we had to skip baths because of eczema type rashes. That was a while back though... The effects are still there in terms of the frequency of bathing. For a time we were at the historic low of about three times a week (doctor's orders...).

Currently we are up to at least every other night, sometimes more, still way down from every single night though! But we are getting there and of course, with Lorelei there too, bathing has become even more fun, especially now that she can sit up by herself. Tobias likes that too. He does not have to be that careful anymore and most of the "jokes" or "games" that he comes up with these days make Lorelei laugh. Aren't they cute together?


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Helter Skelter

This past Sunday I had an appointment to go biking with one of my friends. He lives near a hilly forest so, it is possible to mountain bike there, which is what we did. Initially it was going to be just me, but we talked to them at another friend's wedding and they invited all of us over. My friend and I would go biking first and have a BBQ afterwards. Well, that's what we did.

Tobias played with their children pretty much the whole time! And they had so much fun. Here you see him on a skelter, which, I am afraid I am going to have to buy too someday in the not too far future.... (it was slightly big for him at this point, but it won't take long....). Later they played with water squirters which, of course, was loads of fun too, although it does tend to make one kind of wet :-).

Unfortunaly we ended the day with a sick Lorelei. She had a fever, which of course alarmed us. We went to the doctor and were told not to worry.... Eh, where had we heard that before....? Anyway, by tuesday it was gone and as I am writing this a very happy and healthy Lorelei is sitting on my lap :-)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Having Fun Together

Tobias enjoys looking at pictures of himself. He will ask me: "Papa, what did I look like when I was a baby?" or "Did I also do what Lorelei is doing when I was a baby?". Of course the answer is yes most of the times and given the amount of the pictures I took of Tobias as a baby, most of the times I can show him as well. And I do that and enjoy that. So does Tobias.

Last week my parents were on vacation which meant that we did not have daycare on friday. I took the day off and since friday is only a half day of school I got to spend quite some time with both my children! Well, Tobias asked if he could see some pictures of when he was a baby. We did, but while we were looking at the pictures Lorelei woke up. I got her out of bed and she joined the fun.

As you can see, not just me and Tobias, but also Lorelei enjoys looking at pictures :-). Oh yeah, and as you can see in this picture as well: Tobias is soooo much the big brother! He is sooooo sweet to Lorelei! Moments like these make my daddy-days (or in this case, the occasional day off) so unbelievably pricesless!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle