Sinterklaas

This past weekend was Sinterklaas weekend. We celebrated a day early, on the 4th, so the kids could play with their toys on Sunday. It was very nice. Of course the presents come in big bags and Lorelei dove right int… literally. As you can see she is out in this picture but just seconds before I could snap this shot she was pretty much entirely inside the bag .

Sinterklaas brought her some nice toys and I think she was having a good time, as was I.

Thumb Sucking

Unlike Tobias, Lorelei is big on sucking her thumb. She never used a pacifier or anything like that, but she does suck her thumb. I have to admit it is quite cute…. (right?), but these days, with the cold and all, she has a big crack in her thumb and I am sure it is hurting her, but she just keeps on sucking anyway… I hope she realizes that it is her thumb sucking that causes the pain and maybe she’ll quit .

Coloring

Lorelei is in a pretty serious coloring phase. She loves the crayons and she loves the books. By now she has put one and one together to figure out she can color in the coloring books. Yes, she has also tried to color other book. Yes, she has tried to eat the crayons. But, she is over all that now (mostly anyway) and actually colors the pictures in the coloring books. I wonder when she’ll figure out that the lines are there for a purpose .

Frosty The Snowman

One of Lorelei’s favorite book at this point is “The Snowy Day”. It is about (well, that’s obvious…) a snowy day . It talks about how snowflakes form, how they fall, what you can do in the snow, and about building a snow man. So, you can imagine her enthusiasm when Tobias and I were building an actual snowman. She loved it! Unfortunately it did not last a long time… then next morning it had already collapsed and now all that is left is a little pile of slush… But, it is the thought that counts, right?

Pink Teletubby

When we took Lorelei out into the snow we dressed het up pretty seriously… She had new snow boots, just like Tobias, but she also has a snow suit, a hat, mittens and everything. I doubt she was very cold… I am not big on teletubbies, but she kind of looked like a giant pink teletubby…. very cute!

She had lots of fun running around in the snow and pulling the sled around (the red thing in her hand is the sled-handle). That kid in the background running out of the picture is Tobias engaged in a snow ball fight. He made her laugh! She stayed out there for quite a while, and even though at one point she probably did get cold, she still did not want to come inside….

Birthday Girl!

My little girl is 2!!! It is hard to believe but she really is… And she had quite the celebrations, in three episodes…

Episode 1: Daycare
They always celebrate birthdays at the daycare, but this time was special to me, because I was there… Since I work so close to home now I was able to ride my bike up and down to the daycare to be there for the party. I am not sure it was such a good idea, because all Lorelei wanted to do is sit with me, and when I left she had to cry, but at least I enjoyed it. I was also lucky enough that one of the people there was so kind to take some pictures. They sang songs, she got a gift, and she got to hand out her treat bags. It was very sweet!

Episode 2: The actual birthday, with family
Her actual birthday was on a Friday this year. My parents babysit on Fridays, so they were already there. Uncle Ferdinand came by as well and we had a nice celebration, a nice dinner, and a nice conversation. We also opened all the gifts Nonny and Aunt Shelli had sent us. Lorelei was one happy camper! One of the things she got was a coat and hat. We put it on her and it looks great, but she never wanted to take it off… We gave her a walk-bike (a bike without pedals), she got a doll-bed, a doll, a coat, boots, a puzzle, a book, and a Dora doll hand-picked by Tobias .

Episode 3: Party with friends
On Saturday we had invited friends over and we had a big party with a house full of people, mainly (or dominantly) kids. It was a very nice crowd an hence a very nice party. Lorelei got spoiled with lots of presents and lots of sweets, and a very nice cake . She actually blew the candle, and with some help from Lisa she managed to blow it out . We even had Nonny over through the webcam. Luckily one of our friends knows how to handle a camera and took this very nice picture while I was busy holding the webcam…

Like I said, it was quite the celebration…. and now my little Birthday Girl is 2!

Toy Catalogue

It is that time of year again…. the toy catalogues have arrived. This is one of those examples where you can tell Tobias gets upset when Lorelei is not careful and rips it up when she reads it. Good thing we got more than one, so they can each have their own . As you can see Lorelei’s looks more like a pile of paper trash than like an actual toy catalogue, but it does not seem to bother her…

She loves all sorts of things, especially things that she can say like:
- Dora and Boots
- Baby or Pop (Dutch for Doll)
- Motor (motorcycle)
- Auto
- Orse (Horse)
- Baah (Sheep)
- Boy
- Meisje (Girl)

If it is just the toy catalogue she rips up it is fine with me, especially because she obviously loves “reading” it…