Letter from Sinterklaas (again…)

Tobias got a letter from Sinterklaas, again. The content was not unlike last year’s, but this time he was able to read it himself, impressing both his parents and his Opa and Oma (and Sinterklaas I am sure ). Sinterklaas evening is, obviously, a very exciting time for kids. Tobias was quite excited as well. He was very serious about reading his letter and exhilarated when he opened his presents… Sinterklaas had remembered his wish list very well! His favorite present was probably Mario Galaxy 2 for Wii, but he was also quite excited about Lego Ninjago and Battleship (the game). We celebrated on Saturday so that he could enjoy his presents on Sunday (instead of having a school day the next day). We did play a lot… Nice!

Kruidnootjes…

Sinterklaas has come and gone. Sinterklaas-time is a time of presents, but also of treats. About two weeks ago Tobias came home from school with some of them. They had made kruidnootjes and got the recipe for it to take home. So, about a week ago we did a trial run making them at home, and last Saturday, the day we celebrated Sinterklaas, we made them again. I was the measurer and Tobias the kneader. He did a great job and the Kruidnootjes turned out to be very nice. We’ll have to do that again sometime .

(Kruidnootjes are best described as tiny gingerbread balls, I think….)

Swimming Diploma!

Tobias passed his swimming test and got his Diploma A this past weekend and as you can see he was quite proud of it. Rightfully so, after nearly two years of swimming lessons. And then to think that it is almost two years ago that he was able to keep his head up without floatation devices, and that last year during the summer vacation he did nothing but swim… Of course that was more playing than swimming… I guess he needed a proper technique and stuff. And then there were some things that he needed to be able to do, like swimming underwater a certain distance, swimming with his clothes on and some different strokes. We haven’t been worried about him in the water for way over a year, but now it is official, he has his Diploma A!

Next up: Diploma B, and then I think we’ll call it quits…

Of course we’re proud of our little boy too!

Oh, did I mention that Sinterklaas handed Tobias his Diploma? Well, he did...

Sinterklaas

Yes, Sinterklaas is in town again and you know what that means… Shoes by the fire-place… So, that’s what we did and guess what, he actually stopped by and put something in their shoes . Oh, and that something was on Tobias’ list too. The whole process of making the list was sooooo cute this year. He can write now (much better than last year anyway) so every once in a while he would say something like: “Oh wait papa, I’ll be right back…”. He’d run upstairs and write something in his black notebook (that I had given him) on his “list”. The first thing he wrote was a nintendo DS followed by Bey Blade. When he first started talking about it he wasn’t very clear as to what it was. He called it “bley bley”, which is I guess how his friends who do have one call them. It is a rather advanced spinning top which can “battle” other Bey Blades. It is also what Tobias got . Lorelei got some Pooh-bear Duplo (Legos). She was quite happy with it but was way more interested in the candy in her boot .

Music Show

Tobias joined a trial-music-class, much in the same way he once joined a trial-soccer-training. Such things are done through a program called “brede school” (literally: “wide school”). Most schools in Gouda are part of this program and what it does is, it enables children (and parents) to try things without having to become a member right away. So, this time it was music. It was a series of three lessons during which they sang, did rhythm and melody. Last Friday was the third and last time and parents (and grandparents, my dad came too) were allowed in for the last ten minutes of the session to see the performance or “The Show” as Tobias called it.
They performed a little piece of music with all the components (voice, rhythm and melody) they had studied. Tobias’ part was very minimal… It was a song about strange noises and Tobias had to rub his hand around this drum to make the sound of the wind. I enjoyed it just the same! The kids had the opportunity to register for a whole year of classes like these, but Tobias declined. He wants to take guitar lessons… (I am providing these now and he is actually making progress quite rapidly, but we’ll be looking for a real guitar teacher soon if he keeps this level of enthusiasm about it…)

School Picture

Like Lorelei, Tobias had his school picture taken too. I am not quite as satisfied with his than I am with hers, but hey, it’s the school picture, so I will put it on my blog for you… We even have two shots of Tobias, but neither of them are as cute or spontaneous as Lorelei’s. I guess when it comes to photographing kids it is not just about photography skills, it is mostly about kid-skills…

Big Helpful Brother

We gave Lorelei a CD Player for her birthday. Tobias has had one for a while now so he knows exactly how it works. This picture was taken on the morning of her birthday. We all went up into her room, sang Happy Birthday and gave our gifts. Tobias gave her CDs and we gave her the CD player. Needless to say she wanted to try it right away… Well, as you can see Tobias helped her out. In this picture he is teaching her how the CD player works. And… he is a very good teacher (or Lorelei a very good student ) because this lesson was all it took for Lorelei to be able to do it herself!

Thank you very much buddy-buster!