Chasing Butterflies

With the cold and all we spend most of our time at the zoo in the butterfly garden. It's so nice and warm there I get to take off my coat and chase butterflies (but I'm not touching them, don't worry ;-)

Bedtime story

My favorite time of the day is the bedtime ritual when I finally get to rumble around in mom's big bed without all those clothes on. We brush my teeth, read some books and do pillow fights until mom says it's time to zip up in my sleeping bag. I usually do not agree... but alas...

Boxing Deven

Mom got a big present from a nice UPS man the other day and while she was raving over this new designer bag by Vlieger Vandam I was delirious about the box with paper. I played with it for a couple of hours and then Monkey took over hiding in the box under a mountain of paper. Great stuff!

Ice Ice Baby

The whole country seems ecstatic since the new year starts off with the finest winter weather thinkable. There's actually snow and all the water is frozen so yesterday grandma took me to this frozen pond where mom learned how to ice skate when she was a kid. I kept to the sled and shuffled my way across this cold surface but boy was this fun! I don't care about the cold, this winter fun is just too good!I even helped to shovel some snow in the garden.

Happy New Year!!!

Whah I saw fireworks for the first time in my life and I think I am addicted! Mom had told me all about what was going to happen that night while she got dressed up for a little private champagne party with aunty Karen. I woke up shortly after midnight and mom and Karen took turns showing me the fireworks, warm and snug inside behind the window. I was a bit drowsy but I liked the party and had some snacks before mom and I went back to bed an hour or so later. Mom says it's going to be a good year, the year of the Earth Ox, so let's see. We already had a real productive first day of the year, cleaning out the garden and stuff. So... Happy new year and hopefully more fireworks soon!

Sunny and... cold!

I finally figured out why mom is trying so hard to make me wear a warm hat. Up until now I refused but it's so cold out that I finally budged ;-) The sun in the park was nice and warm though hmmmmmm

Bean bag

Apart from all my new Lego and books I am super stoked with the bean bag mom made me for X-mas! (and so is Monkey the cat)

X-mas day II

Then we went to the grant parents in riverland where I had to be entertained through a long brunch with uncle Bert and auntie Annie so they just threw presents at me until I fell over and hit the sack ;-)

X-mas day

we were off to a good start; I got to run around naked YEAH!... uh, until I peed all over my new Lego

Pre X-Mas delights

It's not even X-mas and I already had my first presents from Santa. When we got back from our Holiday uncle Joff - who had looked after Monkey the whole week - installed a surprise Christmas tree including presents and cards. I totally got the hang of unwrapping presents so mom hardly had time to grab her camera. I love my new Lego set and played with it all day. Mom and I also went to visit my daddy and Nolan yesterday. (Oeps no pictures, but it was real fun playing with Nolan and his old toys!) They too had a big Christmas tree with presents for me. I got an even bigger Lego set, a complete farm, so now our house is filled with bits and pieces that fit very well together and I am not even looking at my old toys any more. Tomorrow we'll visit another Christmas tree at the grandparents so I wonder if there will be more lights and presents and goodies to munch. I love X-mas! ;-)

Holiday with the grandfolks

Mom and I spend a week with grandma and grandpa at this luxe holiday cottage park in the south of Holland, just next to a war museum. I had delicious bubble baths with mom every morning, and almost every afternoon mom took me to the indoor swimming pool which was definitely the climax of my day. It was a bit cold and wet outside so I got a bit under the weather and I a had quite a few of those strange anger tantrums which drove the whole family up the wall but apart from that we had a great time and I learned lots of new words like 'aan' and 'uit' ('on' and 'off' goes for lights as well as clothes), 'pap', 'auto', 'huis' and 'thuis'... stuff like that. My new favorite hobby is fooling around at the sink. It's not exactly a swimming pool but if there's water I'm happy!

Deven dopt zijn eigen boontjes

(That title only works in Dutch but it comes down to Deven discovering the delights of helping out with the housekeeping)

Sinterklaas party

I discovered there was a climax to the whole story with Sinterklaas and all the Pieten. For days on end, every morning when I woke up, I found all sorts of treats in my wooden shoe and then one night mom suddenly put her shoe next to mine and the next morning there were all these presents and Sinterklaas dropped off even more presents at the grandfolks before he went back to Spain. Mom says now his brother Santa Claus will come all the way from the North Pole. Can't wait to check him out! I already love all the lights at night.

Born artist

I just might become an artists one day. Mom took me to the open days at the Rijksacademie and I loved it so much I didn't want to leave even when it was already past diner time and dark outside. there were so many interesting pictures and stuff I wasn't supposed to touch but .. hey ;-). I also really love to play on the big Museum Square because of the great skate ramp and lounge swing and all the towers of the Rijksmuseum I love to point out.

Deven & the dishes

Tonight I found something new to my liking; helping mom do the dishes. The problem is if I really like something, I don't want to stop doing it. So when mom was all done stowing the dishes away she decided to 'dish' me on the spot. I get to stay up a bit later cause it's Friday but the clock was ticking away and a big crying game wasn't avoided by giving me my way. I can be very 'taurus' like that mom says ;-)

Bye bye babies

I'm a big boy now I can walk so last thursday I was officially promoted to the toddler group at daycare. The farewell party at the baby group was the usual drama (it's my party and I cry if I want to) but they made me a nice paper hat and I got a super cool soccer ball as a farewell present. Back home I find I'm pretty fond of my farewell hat, but apart from that I think I like the toddler group much better! The playground is way more interesting for one ;-) Mom forgot her camera that day but we'll get some pics from the baby nanny soon.

Sint & Piet happening

I had already seen these guys on the telly but today I got to see them for real. We went to welcome Sinterklaas and all the Piets arriving by boat over the river Amstel, together with little Jop and auntie Nienke. It was real crowed as we biked along with the boat going over Amstel but then the moms went ahead and found a front row spot where the steamboat (and a thousand other boats) arrived it's destination. I was very impressed with the whole event, boy I've never seen so many kids and parents in my life, so afterwards we all went to the much more quiet zoo where I had my first poffertjes, yummie, and then Jop and I shared a ride. That was enough excitement for today that's for sure ;-)

Showing off

Not only did I have a mild case of the water pocks last week, I also got a bad shiner under my eye in my relentless urge to show off my climbing skills. So here's the damage! Don't I look like a tough rookie ;-)

Update

Yeah folks, mom's been real busy again. Joff and the grand folks had to be called in to babysit me while she went out doing most important things apparently, so we fell behind on my blog, and there's so much to tell. Apart from the fact that I am off the wall with energy running around like a mad man and refusing to go to sleep sometimes, I am developing an amazing sense of rhythm playing with my super cool Casio synthesizer and I am about to be transferred to the bigger kids' group at daycare which is a gradual process but so far I'm not exactly enjoying it. I've also been measured and weighed again last week, scoring perfectly average with 11,325 kilograms and 82,4 centimeters and I am officially off the baby bottle and formula milk. In the mean time I am totally into the moon, looking out for it day and night, as well as airplanes. I can actually say the words 'maan' and 'vliegtuig' along with something resembling 'Teletubbies'(my favorite is 'Lala') and 'weg' when something disappears. When we go out I love to fool around with the pretty autumn leaves that happen to match the color of my hair so mom takes pretty pictures of that. Then this weekend I had an outbreak of the 'water pocks' which itches like hell and makes me a bit cranky, but mom says it will be over in a couple of days. That's it in a nutshell. Water pocks picture coming up (I hope ;-)