Ready!.... Set!.....

I think I have been telling you before that we think Tobias is almost ready to crawl, although sometimes we have a feeling he might just skip the crawling phase, the walking phase, and start running right away.... To me, in this picture he looks ready for the track! He has been doing this for quite a while. Sometimes he realizes that it is easier to crawl when he is on his knees, but most of the times he is trying to move forward like this (and he sometimes manages to do so too!). He is literally taking it one step (or should I say crawl) at a time though.... Most of the times after one "step" he rolls over or lays flat in preparation for the next step which sometimes turns into a roll. This way he manages to cross our bed at increasing speeds..... On the floor it is a bit harder because there are no sheets to hold on to, but the principle and the result are the same.

Going to sit

Why is Tobias having such a funny smile on his face? Well, he is making a big effort in this picture and with success. I guess it was yet again one of those milestones... Today, he managed to get himself from a laying position into a sitting position and as I took this picture he was right in middle of this transition. As you can see he is almost sitting up here. It is incredible. It hasn't even been three weeks since he can sit on his own and now he can already GO sit on his own.... what's next? Tobias continues to amaze me in how fast he develops. I guess that will never stop, only the changes may become less noticable... but right now the developments are still quite major, noticable, and fast! Hence my amazement.

Love or Confusion?

Last weekend we went out with Kasper and Liesbeth, or should I say Tobias went out with Annalief? Anyway, we went to the "Kralingse Bos" (bos = forest), a park in Rotterdam. I had biked through it before, but never really spent much time in it. It was a nice day and a nice park. We had lunch there and so did Tobias and Annalief. Annalief apparently didn't have enough lunch. Initially we thought she was going to kiss Tobias' hand, but at closer inspection she was trying to eat his hand! And I have the picture to prove it :-). I think Tobias was a bit confused or disappointed, doesn't it look like that, or is he just looking at something different altogether. Anyway, I think they enjoyed themselves too. They were noticing each other much more then they did the previous time they met. The strollers were facing each other as we walked and they were laughing, we suspect at each other, but we can't be sure....

Sitting experiences

Tobias has discovered that sitting does not only enable them to have a different view of things, but also that it can provide different use of things. For example, the play pen could also be used as bleachers that provide a front row seat to everything happening in the living room. On top of that it provides a way to figure out how sturdy the play pen really is, what wood it is made out of, and what the rim of the play pen tastes like... :-). In short, a whole range of new experiences due to the ability to sit!

Mirror mirror on the wall...

Tobias can be so funny. He is really liking sitting up by himself an play. He plays with all his toys like that and I actually have a feeling he thinks he has a completely new collection of toys, because they look so different from the new perspective. He is so easy to please, isn't he? Well, here is another example. He was sitting like this for at least half an hour, just lauging and smiling at..... himself.... Fun thing huh, a mirror! I just had to laugh, every once in a while he even tried to shake his own hand or something because he was banging at the mirror as well. Anyway, not only did it make for a funny Tobias moment, it also made for a great picture...

Koekhappen + Snoephappen = ?

In the Netherlands there are two traditional games children play at birthday parties. One is called "Koekhappen", the other "Snoephappen". Koekhappen literally means "bite the cookie" and it is played by multiple children simultaneously or one by one (whichever the referee prefers, or the hight difference between the players asks for, I guess) eating a cookie without using you hands. The cookie is hung from a string that and is just a little bit to high up for comfort. So, you are eating on your tippy toes, which, to the referee must be a hilarious sight. The winner is the one who eats the cookie the fastest. Snoephappen literally means "bite the candy" and is played by one player at a time. The objective here is eating a piece of candy without using your hands, but this time you have to get it from the bottom of a little tub filled with water. Basically the same rules, the winner being the one who eats the piece of candy the fastest. What's your point, you might ask... well, I think what Tobias is trying to do here is combining the two games into one... he is eating a cookie with no hands from the table top... This was actually the first time we had him sitting directly at the table with us. I guess we have to do some serious work on his table manner.....

New Wheels!

Last friday (my daddy day was changed from thursday to friday, just for once...) I took Tobias into town. As you can see he was thoroughly enjoying himself and I'll tell you why that was... He was riding his new Buggy, that is, the same frame with a different seat. So far we had been transporting him in his Maxi Cosi but I thought I'd try the buggy seat for a change and it worked well as you can see. It has many advantages, mainly for the passenger. They include: Better view of your surroundings, looking forward instead of backward, sitting up instead of laying (which of course is much cooler!) and many many more. For the driver it has some disadvantages including: not being able to look the passenger in the face, reduced storage space for groceries and other stuff, but all those seem so insignificant when you see the joy it is for the passenger. In conclusion: Tobias likes his new "wheels" and (therefore) so do I. We're keeping them!