Trekkar

Lisa went back to work yesterday so, today I had my first daddy-day with my two children, all by myself. It is not like I haven't spent time with them all by myself, but somehow this is different. And I have to tell you it was a wonderful day! Tobias of course had to go to school so, I got to spend lots of time with Lorelei. Most of that time she was sleeping, but we also played and cuddled and everything else....

So, when school was out we went to pick up Tobias. When we got back to the house Lorelei was sleeping again and Tobias and I played. I picked this game and initially he said that it was to difficult for him. I asked him to explain what we need to do and told him I would help him. Well, it is a game in the English language and you have to take a picture card with a word on it and then spell the word with the letters. He picked wagon and he read: "wuh - aeh - guh - on, wagon". Then he said: "Papa, we have this thing in school, it is a 'trekkar' (literally: "pull-cart"), but we have to do it in Dutch because we're together." So I said OK and he started saying "t - rrr - aeh - kh - ah - rrr, trekkar. Ok, so first I need a t". And that way he went on, with some, but not a whole lot of help from me and spelled the word "trekkar"! He even realized there are two k's in there... And all that without the pointer of the word on the card because of course the card says "wagon", the English word...

We went on to do two more words in Dutch. I was quite amazed and quite proud of my little boy!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Spring is Hither!

Yes!!! You gotta love the springtime. We went to the beach for the first time this season last Saturday. All of us went together. Lisa spent some time feeding Lorelei in a restaurant while Tobias and I played soccer on the beach. It was not very warm, but the sun was out together with quite a few but not too many people. We had lunch in the restaurant and then we all walked (and kicked a ball) along the waterline for a while.

I love that time when not everybody goes to the beach yet (or anymore, when it is fall), but it is nice enough to be out there. Easy parking, not too many people and loads of fun! Also this time and of course I had to bring my camera along. I took some nice pictures including this one. We built a mountain and Tobias is applying the finishing touch: some seashells. As you can see it is a very delicate process :-).

(By the way, this weekend was nice but this week has been rather crappy...)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Having fun with Second Cousins...

Given the current circumstances, Lisa and I estimate the likelyhood of Tobias having cousins rather small..... (no pressure or pun intended....). The question is whether that has to be an issue. Well, judging from all the fun Tobias had last saturday on our Family Reunion, the answer to that is quite simply: NO!

My mom is one of 7, with quite a bit of offspring with quite a bit of offspring. So, Tobias has quite a few second cousins and he proved last saturday that you can have lots of fun with second cousins too! Especially with Jurgen (who was born on January 18th 2004. Yes, that is exactly one year before Tobias!). They played, inside and outside, pretty much all day. Understandable, because they are so close in age, but fun nonetheless. They played soccer, dinosaurs, and, as you can see here, car carrier.

Maybe we should have family reunions more often....? :-)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

The "Music Maker"

The other day I was finished taking a shower and stuff and Tobias and Lisa were still getting ready. I decided to put Lorelei on her pillow and play her some songs on my guitar. As soon as Tobias was done he came to see what we were doing. He sat down next to her pillow and enjoyed the music with her. That was nice.

Shortly after that something even nicer happened.... I put my guitar away after a while and left the room for a few minutes. When I got back I encountered the scene in this picture! Tobias had picked up his own guitar and was playing for her, but not only that, he was singing as well: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", her favorite song (or so Tobias said). He said: "Papa, look, I am the music maker and you and Lorelei are spectators!".

I didn't know what to do or say, other than just to sit down and enjoy the show......


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Getting Serious

As I wrote before Tobias has all new furniture in his room. One of the items is a desk, but he hasn't been using it that much... So, we decided to move some stuff and toys to his room. This past weekend we went up there and played. I think I told about the school project about Italy. Well, during that project they read a lot of Pinnocchio stories and Tobias went on and on about that. He was telling fibs and pretending his nose grew and bumped into things, like the ceiling :-).

Anyway, we went up there in his room and he wanted to color. He told me he wanted me to look up some coloring pages on my computer and print them. He even told me he needed the printer in his room! :-). Well, that didn't happen, but I did print a few pages and as you can see he was rather serious about coloring them... And as a matter of fact his coloring skills have significantly improved over the past few weeks. He did quite a good job staying within the lines and using rather appropriate colors. An interesting thing was that every item he colored got a new color and he was done when he had used all his colors once.


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Reading a Book

Situation: I was home with Tobias and Lorelei and Lisa was out. Lorelei was a bit fussy and crying and stuff and I lay down on the couch with her to comfort her. That worked.... somewhat....

Ok, so, I was lying down with Lorelei, Tobias comes up to me and asks: "Can I come lie down with you guys?". So, I said sure... We are all there lying on the couch and Lorelei starts to cry again. Tobias says: "Papa, maybe Lorelei want to read a book with us...". (Where does he come up with that stuff...?). So, I say sure, Tobias gets a book and I read. And guess what, it worked. Everybody was happy reading "The Enormous Turnip" and that's when Lisa came back home and shot this piture. Cute huh?


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Big Sweet Good Brother!

Tobias is such a sweet big brother. He is loving, caring, hugging, kissing and everything. Rarely does he lack patience for her. The few occasions are when he is really tired or angry, but I guess that's understandable. Mostly he is his loving self. He wants to help us in everything we do for Lorelei. He wants to put the formula in the bottle, he wants to hold her, he wants to help bathe her, he wants to put her dirty diapers in the trash can, he wants to give her hugs when we hug her and kisses when we kiss her. He says that he loves Lorelei the most and that she's his little girl ("No papa, she's MY little girl!").

I hope he will keep up all that sweet loving stuff. For now I have no reason to believe it won't but hey, she's only been home consistently for a little over a month.... We'll see.

In this picture we had gotten out this play blanket. She was crying and Tobias came to the rescue. He just lay down with her and started to comfort her by talking to her in a high pitched voice (like his mommy) saying things like "it's ok little girl" and "come here little girl", all the while caressing her face and tummy..... adorable!!! Like I said in the title: A Big Sweet Good Brother!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle