Dancing

Whenever we put music on, especially Jack Johnson, Sam smiles and starts dancing. First, he would swing back and forth. Now he really makes an effort by lifting one or the other foot up during the swinging. The latest is that he spins around. I have to keep telling him to do that slowly and change direction in-between before he looses balance and dives into furniture and sharp corners. It is very cute to watch, the spinning, not the falling.

Sorry, no photo today. I think our camera is on its last days. Now it doesn't shut properly and most pictures are fuzzy. We are looking at a new small digital camera. Any suggestions? Are you happy with yours?

Abseits?

I think the English word for that is offside? Yep, it was my attempt at a little WM joke. My parents visited us today. They are in Holland on vacation and we will see them again on the weekend. We all went to the Vondelpark and played with Sam and Lina. Sam got this tiny soccer ball from our friend Armin. Sam is really good at playing the ball only with his feet and he can even dribble.
You have to take a closer look at the second picture (click on it and you'll be able to see it bigger) - Sam has a funny look on his face.

Sun please

Rainy days again ... it is a hard comeback to the Netherlands from a sunny place like Italy. We are prepared and would love some more of those golden rays. If anything, we will be prepared for a sunny vacation in the south, sometime soon ...

Apples and Pasta

Good news! Sam finally ate some other foods that I tried giving him over and over again. On Friday he had his first bowl of pasta - Italian pasta, actually these are for babies and are called Pastina because they are tiny little pastas. He used to dislike the texture of it and spit it right out. Now he loves it especially mixed with butternut squash.
Last week he also started eating apple pieces. He already loved his apple-pear-carrot mix with yogurt and oats. Now we can have some in-between snacks of healthy foods and not just Ernie and Bert cookies.
His new moves are to sit on things that are his height, for instance, under the movable kitchen island. He sits at the edge of the metal shelf and eats his apple pieces or cookies. He also likes to sit on the steps of our little terraced garden or a yoga cushion in the house. It is really cute how he does it. He walks in front of the "seat", turns around and then slowly backs up.

Smirk

This is the smile just before he snatched my camera. Yep, Sam always smirks just before he is up to something. If you recognize it and see what he is up to it could prevent lots of trouble. But that smirk is so pretty that for the important second I am frozen and enjoying that beautiful smile. One second later I recognize what he has been up to. Too late ... kids are smarter than we think.

Little phones

... and lost of talking or better said babbling. Sam was quite animated today in the park when he was walking around with our mobile phone. He kept looking at it and pressing numbers and putting it up to his head (it was cute that the phone was upside down and way behind his ear). Then he was babbling which was priceless to watch and listen to.

Bottle caps

Sam discovered how to remove and put on bottle caps. He is really skilled with that. First, he moves the cap in his fingers a bit to get it in the right position to put on the bottle. Then he aims at putting the cap on the bottle (this doesn't always work on the first try) and once it is on the bottle he twists the cap to secure it. I was amazed!
He also likes to cover up his food bowls, but that is nothing new. He just hasn't found his love for food yet. Instead he gets distracted with everything around him.

Messy

Today I understood why Sam was on food strike: He wants to eat by himself. No more of the spoon feeding. I was able to guide his hand holding the spoon to his mouth twice. Then he needed to take over all of it. I gave him a spoon and a bowl with a little bit of his food in it. He didn't really succeed yet with the eating, instead he smeared it all over the table, chair and himself. (I think the picture doesn't do justice to the mess) He enjoyed it so much that I could feed him some extra spoons. He ate his complete meal and I was happy to clean up the mess.

Playing with Bailey and Dakota

Sam enjoyed playing with the smaller dogs Bailey and Dakota, especially the smallest of them, the 3 month old Dakota. Sam kept running away with her leash and she kept holding onto the other end. Dakota also liked moved Sam's new sandbox toys which we played with on the grass ;-) Sam looked like a giant next to her.

The red car

Sam got this bobby car from his Omi and Opi. He loves to be pushed around on it, or ... climb on it and do some sort of acrobatics. I have been meaning to take a picture of this, but most of the time I was too slow or afraid to leave him alone while I search for the camera. As a side note and to all the new parents out there: This is what you get for your sons/daughters first birthday when you say that you don't want any plastic toys ;-) It may have been a shock for the first hour/day, but once you see the smiles of your child you will forget and enjoy the new red car too!

lekker Icecream

Today we went to Rotterdam to see the Volvo Ocean Race boats. It was another beautiful day and my boys were happy to be outside (and see boats). Sam had no appetite the last two days. Yesterday he ate almost nothing all day, which always makes me a bit tense. Today was a better day, he found his love for icecream. The first lick was very hesitant and sceptical, but the second, third and following were not. He enjoyed it as you can see in the pictures. What a beautiful mess! I am hoping we can find healthy foods that he will love like that.

Swinging

We had some wonderful weather the last days and I hope it will continue. All people of Amsterdam can be found at one time or another at the nearby Vondelpark. We finally found some swings for Sam. Most playgrounds in Amsterdam have no swings, but large sandboxes and jungle gyms. As you can see he loved it. We also took his shoes off and he went walking in the grass barefoot. He has made lots of improvements in his walk over the last weeks. It is amazing to see how fast he learns. Already he is from one end of our apartment to the other in no time and escapes into the garden.

Mercedes

We took a day trip to Stuttgart,literally - we were there for just 24 hours. We visited the Zoo and went to a party in the New Mercedes Museum. It was great fun, especially roaming around the museum at one in the morning. Sam was great. First he danced and later he slept through loud music, museum visit and the cab ride to the hotel.

Back in our new home

... and the sun is shining. Finally! It has been a tough week. I came back alone from Germany with Lina and Sam and all week we had really bad weather. It has been grey and rainy and our small apartment got even smaller in a short time. But now there is light again. The door to the garden is wide open and Sam can roam on our little terraces. He loves the outside or maybe he feels relief from my anxiety about being locked inside all day by rain storms. Doug is also back for the week even. So we can enjoy some family life again. Yesterday we went to two parties. One was a good-bye party - friends with two sets of twins are moving from the Netherlands to Norway. They are starting their long journey today. After our good-byes we went to another friends BBQ in Utrecht. Sam was a champ and stayed up late, even without the grouchiness. Then he slept a couple of hours on their bed. On our trip home we transfered him between the bike and my lap in the train and back to the bike. When we got home he was up and thought it was morning. But for the first time in a long while (maybe even year) we could sleep in on a Sunday until 8:30 ;-)