Playing with the Neighbor

It seems that 3 is the age at which playing together is the thing to do. The summer after Tobias turned 3 he ventured out into the alley behind our house a lot more. Lorelei is doing the same. In doing so, she attracts the attention of other kids, including boys :-). Here she is playing with Jochem, our next door neighbor's oldest... "Jochem is my friend", she'll tell us, which is not a title she grants everyone. Emma, for example "does this" (she will show how Emma pulled her shirt) and therefore "is not my friend". Jojanneke, Lotte and Euan are among the lucky few who are allowed to be Lorelei's friend. We'll see how that develops :-).

Roller Skating

It is springtime... All the kids come out to play, including my kids. Tobias must still have some of the skating virus left in him from this winter, because the other day he wanted to go roller-blading. This has hardly ever happened before. He's had the blades for quite a while but they have hardly been used... Anyway, he got them out and off he went. Then, of course, Lorelei wanted to do that too. Fortunately we have these strap-on roller-skates for your shoes. I can tell you one thing, the also fit on cowboy boots :-). And, just like on the ice, Lorelei kind of "runs" on them with the occasional roll.

Sooooo cute :-)!

Biking (continued...)

Lorelei has been able to bike for a while now, but during winter we haven't been outside that much, let alone biking... Well, it is springtime now and the bike is out! And the girl is biking like crazy! She loves it and is doing really well. She is now able to ride for quite a ways and pretty straight. She is able to round a corner without having to stop. She is able to start by herself. The only thing she can't do yet is break very well. She knows she can squeeze the hand break, but she doesn't hold it... so, she doesn't stop. I don't think she quite gets the concept of the pedal break yet. So, what she does is dragging her feet on the ground, which is definitely not the most efficient way to stop...

There is still some work to do, but as you can see, she is getting there. Maybe soon we can get rid of our bike seats :-).

Strong Big Brother

Lorelei was quite lucky on the ice this past week. First, Tobias was a good coach to her, then, he started pulling her on the sled! This was loads of fun for Lorelei. It started out like this, with her sitting down, but later on she was lying on that thing face forward. She fell off once in a while, but that only created more fun and laughs, from both of them! On top of that, Tobias was sooooo proud of himself…!

Needless to say, lots of fun for me too :-).

Skating All By Myself!

If you look outside today it might just as well have never happened, but this picture was taken last Sunday, the last skating day of the season and the last time we went. It was just me, Tobias and Lorelei. Tobias is completely self-sufficient now, and as you saw in a previous blogpost, a pretty descent coach as well. And guess what, it worked! Here you can see Lorelei skating all by herself. Well, it was more like walking on the double gliders, but she did actually glide every once in a while. And she was actually going quite fast. Most importantly, she had a great time… at times she just could not stop laughing, this was mostly after falling though…

It’s a shame that it’s over, but it sure was great while it lasted!

My Private Coach…

So, yeah, obviously, if Tobias wants to skate, Lorelei wants to skate too! She has the baby skates with double gliders. It is basically walking on the ice with funky shoes on that make it extra slippery. Kind of cruel if you describe it like that :-).

Anyway, the three of us went to the ice yesterday to go skating. I put Tobias’ skates on first and off he went. I went with Lorelei holding on tight. Of course we went very slow and I was probably telling her the same things I have been telling Tobias when he was learning: Glide, one foot, other foot, calm, glide etc… So, after a while Tobias skates up to us to see Lorelei skate. He skates up next to her and goes: “Very good Lorelei, keep going, glide, other foot, calm… Good girl!”. Sooo cute! He is such a good big brother (most of the time :-)).

Lorelei said she enjoyed skating, but after about twenty minutes or so she said she was too cold. Good thing Lisa came by to pick her up. Tobias and I kept on going for a while, but before Lorelei left, I was able to get this shot of the two of them!

Papa, Look at Me!

Lorelei is a genuine girly-girl, that is in the sense that she loves her dolls! She’s got a lot of doll stuff and plays with it pretty much every day. They are her babies… They laugh, they cry, they sleep, they go poo… everything :-). Anyway, all that stuff accumulates in a corner of our house in a big basket. Of course, sometimes the stuff is all over our house and the basket is empty. And when the basket is empty you can sit in it. And when you sit in it you can cuddle with your dolls. And when you cuddle with your dolls and call out: “Papa, look at me!” Papa will get his camera and take a picture. And when Papa takes a picture that is so unbelievably cute he puts it on your blog….

Well, that’s what happened :-).