Dr. Tobias, the Paleontologist

Tobias is very much into Dinosaurs. He has been for a while. We read books about dinosaurs, watch TV shows about dinosaurs (Dinosaur Train, which is really funny and educational…). So, what could be better than visiting the Houston Museum of Natural Science with Nonny and Aunt Shelli? Well, apart from swimming, not a whole lot. This was quite the memorable experience for Tobias seeing real dinosaur bones and even whole skeletons. And I believe that Nonny and Aunt Shelli enjoyed the trip just as much as he did…

I had to hear about it afterwards, because this was a trip without mama and papa, we went out to see a movie… My favorite anecdote about this trip came from Nonny. She explained that when they entered the museum there was this dinosaur skeleton right there. There was another boy, maybe 9 years old, with his mother and he exclaimed: “Mommy, mommy, look, there is T-Rex!”. Tobias matter-of-factly said to Nonny: “No nonny he is wrong, that is Allosaurus.” Sure enough, when they went to read the sign Tobais was right, it was Allosaurus…

It is unbelievable how much and how fast he can remember and recognize such things. He knows so many of the names, their features, when they lived (what time period that is) etc. And I keep being impressed with the ease with which he can pronounce the names…

Not only was this a great trip, but Nonny spoiled Tobias too with more books, a t-shirt and some miniature dinosaur skeletons.

Jumping and-a Diving

Often I find it hard to find the picture that “captures it all”. Not this time, though. As I wrote on Lorelei’s blog we had a great vacation. Why? Well, because we saw lots of family and friends, which was great and all, but most of all because our kids had a great time!

Why Tobias had a great time? POOLS! He LOVES swimming and is not afraid at all. As I wrote before he is ready to swim without armbands, and he did without them this whole vacation. He just jumps in and then swims to the side, across the pool, or basically wherever he wants to go. It takes him a while because his technique is not great yet , but he gets there without going under…

Swimming is not his favorite thing in the pool, though. His favorite thing is jumping in the pool. Like I said, this picture kind of captures it all. We visited a total of four pools during our vacation and our primary activity was sitting by, or hanging out in and around pools, watching Tobias make cannonballs and helping Lorelei stay afloat. So, what better image than this one with Tobias hanging in mid-air on his way to a huge cannonball-splash!?

Feeding Fish

This past weekend we had a family reunion with my family. This an annual thing where we all meet at a restaurant for drinks and dinner. It was very nice. We did not see Tobias much though, because he was completely occupied by the fish they had there. They were quite sizable fish and initially Tobias was scared. He did not dare to get too close, let alone, stick his finger in the water. The proprietor showed him how to feed them though and he became more and more confident and ended up feeding them and I think even touching them… It was quite interesting to see that process in motion…

Before the family reunion we went to Lisa’s school for the summer party, which is where Tobias got his pirate face, in case you were wondering…

The Good Brother

 

Tobias is such a good big brother to Lorelei. Granted, sometimes he is not as nice, but that is mutual, and most of the times when one or both of them are really tired. Most of the times they are great together though…. and cute! Check out this picture where Tobias had seen Lorelei wander off on her own and told me: “Don’t worry papa, I’ll go get her…”. And that’s what he did.

On Thursdays the three of us walk to school together. First we have to take Lorelei to the daycare, which is basically around the corner from our house. The other day Tobias even asked me if he could hold Lorelei´s hand and walk her to the daycare…. So sweet! He is also really good when it comes to waiting for me, for example when I have to lock the door, or open the car or something like that. He´ll tell me: “I’ll hold her hand papa.” and does just that.

Needless to say once more that I love my boy…

Water Spayer

On that same daddy-day (see Lorelei's blog) Tobias was playing around making me, Lorelei and himself laugh with a flower sprayer. I like this picture, because you can see how much he was into it, and the timing was just right…. :-) He played with that thing for a long time…

Gardening…

 

Like I said in my previous post, Tobias likes to do jobs. Here he is gardening. This was actually quite impressive. He had never done that before, but I was busy doing something else and he wanted to help me. I wasn’t really doing something he could safely help me with so I thought I’d give him another job. I told him to trim bush, and that is exactly what he did, and quite neatly too… I did not have to do any additional work on it (except cleaning up a little bit of the mess…).

I was quite proud of my boy. (He is not exactly wearing his gardening outfit, but he had been a pirate before and hadn’t taken off his outfit yet….).

Building a Robot

Tobias is into lots of stuff. One of the things he is into at this moment is Robots. Thas is probably because he has a robot book, which we read to him from time to time. It is one of those kids science books that tells you all about something in a kids way. Very nice!

Anyway, in that book there are a few art projects, one of which it to build your own robot. As I was working on the patio, Tobias and Lisa were working on their own project: making a robot. I saw and heard Tobias about the steps, giving me reports about the current step and the steps already taken. I think it was a six step project :-). In this picture you can see the final step: putting on the head! He was sooooo proud of his handywork…

The robot is currently standing in our window (or rather, leaning against our window, for it would topple over without the support) for everyone to see.

I think he did a great job too. He is into doing jobs right now, and, making money with it. That is because he wanted to have something I did not want him to have: a Laser gun. It is one of those toy guns with foam darts that you can shoot across the room… Well, I told him that he could buy it himself if he’d make some money. I told him he could help me or Lisa do jobs in and around the house. So, he has been helping with the cleaning, cutting the grass, painting, renewing our patio, and, he made enough money to buy his very own laser gun! He is quite proud of himself, and needless to say, so am I (although I still do not like toy guns of any kind…). And the good thing is, he still has money left over in his piggy bank :-).

Actually, I should continue this anecdote because it is so funny… When he finally decided to get the gun Lisa and Tobias were going into town to buy it. Lisa had given Tobias a wallet to carry his money. He was all set to go and they left. Well, they were back within 5 minutes and I was like: “wow, that was quick Tobias!”. Tobias was obviously embarrased… turns out he had forgotten his wallet…