Johan started talking when Vlinder and co. came to visit this summer. (We think she inspired him!) His first word was "oho," which is his way of saying "vogel," or bird.
Next were "bus" and "auto" -- some more of his favourite things! A lot of his words are Dutch -- I think due to the immersion experience of the three-week visit with Oma, Opa, Oom Arvid, Tante Merle and Vlinder. His vocab includes "Quack" (when you ask him what an "eend" (duck) is, or if he points to one in his book, as well as "Kaka" -- which is an attempt to say Kikker, or frog. He also says "cacker" for cracker and "mo" for more. Another favourite word: "jus, jus, jus, jus jus"!!!
Johan is great at pointing to animals and objects in his Richard Scarry "Wordenboek". He doesn't call many of the animals by their names -- he knows them by their noises. Hence, "woof" for the hondtje, "boo" (what Dutch cows say), "raaah" for the tijger or leo, and snorting noises for the varken, or pig. He will also say "vis" or "fish" -- I'm not sure which one he is actually saying!
It's really exciting to watch his vocabulary grow -- just last night as he raced up and down the kitchen, and Sven started calling out "Go, go!" to him, Johan started to repeat that word every time he took off!
A few weeks ago, I asked him, "How much do I love you?" and to my great amazement, he stretched his arms in the air as high as they could go, just like Little Nutbrown Hare in the "Guess How Much I Love You" book. I'd only been reading it to him for a week or two and had no idea that he really understood it -- it's really neat to realize how much he does understand.
We look forward to hearing more and more from him -- and it will be interesting to see which languages he uses, and he is now in a French daycare, and so there's three languages going in to his little blond head!
Andrea
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
How time flies
Well, it has been a long time since we have put together a post and put up some pictures. There will be a few new picture posts coming to get you back up to speed.
We will start with the big news first. We have another baby on the way, Andrea is expecting sometime in the middle of January. We will wait until the day to find out the sex, just like Johan. Andrea is starting to show and the baby is starting to let us know that she is there. All very exciting.
Since the last post, we have done a lot of things. Barbados was amazing, a nice warm and sunny getaway in the middle of winter. Lots of swimming, snorkeling, surfing, playing in the waves and on the beach. The rest of the winter we spent xc skiing, with record snowfalls, the skiing was excellent and Johan loved having his naps in the pulk. As soon as we would put him in his snowsuit, his eyes would start rolling. We celebrated Johan's 1st birthday in March with lots of his friends. This was also the time that he started to walk, although he preferred to run down hills.
The spring time brought great weather and we did some hikes and bike rides. Johan loves being outdoors. He also enjoys putting on his cycling helmet, often encouraging us to put on our helmets and bringing us to the door to go for a ride. The swings and slides in the various parks are also a big favourite.
We had a great visit from the Brouwer family in the beginning of the summer. Johan got plenty of time to hang out with his dutch cousin, Vlinder, and it was as though they were brother and sister. They were so excited to see each other and would spend hours chasing each other and screaming with joy. Vlinder also had quite the vocabulary, which rubbed off on Johan. He has started speaking more and more, mostly in dutch.
In the middle of July we went for an adventure to Whitehorse to visit Pippa and Brent. We spent the majority of the time in Whitehorse with Pippa, checking out Bald Eagles, taking train rides, going for walks and hikes, and soaking in the hot tub (Johan's favourite). We did manage a four-day trip to Skagway, Haines and Haines Junction. We had great weather in Kluane and managed to do some fabulous hikes, with Andrea (and baby) climbing all the way up to the King's Throne.
Right after we returned, Andrea had to make a short visit to Iqaluit, leaving papa and Johan to tear up the town. The rest of the summer has been spent working on the house, hanging at the beach on Meech Lake and preparing Johan for his new daycare which he will start in September.
That is a very quick overview of the last 6 months. I hope the pictures will fill in the gaps and we will attempt to be better in the coming months as we prepare for number 2.
Sven
We will start with the big news first. We have another baby on the way, Andrea is expecting sometime in the middle of January. We will wait until the day to find out the sex, just like Johan. Andrea is starting to show and the baby is starting to let us know that she is there. All very exciting.
Since the last post, we have done a lot of things. Barbados was amazing, a nice warm and sunny getaway in the middle of winter. Lots of swimming, snorkeling, surfing, playing in the waves and on the beach. The rest of the winter we spent xc skiing, with record snowfalls, the skiing was excellent and Johan loved having his naps in the pulk. As soon as we would put him in his snowsuit, his eyes would start rolling. We celebrated Johan's 1st birthday in March with lots of his friends. This was also the time that he started to walk, although he preferred to run down hills.
The spring time brought great weather and we did some hikes and bike rides. Johan loves being outdoors. He also enjoys putting on his cycling helmet, often encouraging us to put on our helmets and bringing us to the door to go for a ride. The swings and slides in the various parks are also a big favourite.
We had a great visit from the Brouwer family in the beginning of the summer. Johan got plenty of time to hang out with his dutch cousin, Vlinder, and it was as though they were brother and sister. They were so excited to see each other and would spend hours chasing each other and screaming with joy. Vlinder also had quite the vocabulary, which rubbed off on Johan. He has started speaking more and more, mostly in dutch.
In the middle of July we went for an adventure to Whitehorse to visit Pippa and Brent. We spent the majority of the time in Whitehorse with Pippa, checking out Bald Eagles, taking train rides, going for walks and hikes, and soaking in the hot tub (Johan's favourite). We did manage a four-day trip to Skagway, Haines and Haines Junction. We had great weather in Kluane and managed to do some fabulous hikes, with Andrea (and baby) climbing all the way up to the King's Throne.
Right after we returned, Andrea had to make a short visit to Iqaluit, leaving papa and Johan to tear up the town. The rest of the summer has been spent working on the house, hanging at the beach on Meech Lake and preparing Johan for his new daycare which he will start in September.
That is a very quick overview of the last 6 months. I hope the pictures will fill in the gaps and we will attempt to be better in the coming months as we prepare for number 2.
Sven
Thursday, February 7, 2008
What I'm getting up to!
It's been a while since my parents wrote about me and all of our adventures, so here's an update!
Since learning to crawl in early December, I've gotten much faster. Just in the last week or so I even figured out how to go up the stairs. I've also learned how to push myself down them on my tummy (feet first, of course). Often I get quite excited about this great accomplishment and I laugh with pride at the top and giggle in exhilaration on my way back down.
I have also become quite adept at standing and can edge my way around the coffee table in the living room quite handily. I have taken to standing up and rattling the bars on the crib in the mornings to make sure Mama and Papa know that I mean it when I am tell them it's time to get up. (As that has been between 5:00 and 5:45 a.m. for the past ten days, they have taken a bit longer than I would like to come and start playing with me).
I've noticed that Papa is suddenly around a lot more than usual -- apparently, he's taken a 5-week vacation to spend more time with me, and since Mama has been packing a bag with shorts and t-shirts, it seems like we're going somewhere nice and warm. The place sounds nice... it's called Barbados. Papa is excited about something called surfing. He keeps looking up surf reports on the computer and telling me how much fun we will have on the beach together. I think it will be a nice break from the snow.
I think having as much snow as we do this year would be better if I could actually go out and play in it, but by the time Mama stuffs me in the red snowsuit with its fleece liner, I can't bend my arms or legs, so other than being pulled around on the toboggan or having naps in my Baby Glider while Mama or Papa pull me up and down the cross-country ski trails, I haven't really played in the snow much.
I have had a few playdates with my cousin Robin, who is getting bigger. She always looks happy to see me. I can't wait until she can move around. Right now I could crawl all over her, and she wouldn't be able to do anything except roll over!
I had a great first Christmas, with Oma and Opa visiting from Holland. We spoke a lot of Dutch while they were here. They are coming back in the summer and I can't wait to see them again.
I'm almost 11 months old now, and soon I will start going to a playgroup all day long and Mama won't be the one taking care of me anymore. Mama seems to be quite sad about this, but she has promised that she will only go back to work three days a week and so I will still be with her four days a week, so that's pretty good. I hope I like this new place and the other babies there are nice. I wonder if any of them can crawl as fast as I can?
I guess I'll find out soon.
Johan
Since learning to crawl in early December, I've gotten much faster. Just in the last week or so I even figured out how to go up the stairs. I've also learned how to push myself down them on my tummy (feet first, of course). Often I get quite excited about this great accomplishment and I laugh with pride at the top and giggle in exhilaration on my way back down.
I have also become quite adept at standing and can edge my way around the coffee table in the living room quite handily. I have taken to standing up and rattling the bars on the crib in the mornings to make sure Mama and Papa know that I mean it when I am tell them it's time to get up. (As that has been between 5:00 and 5:45 a.m. for the past ten days, they have taken a bit longer than I would like to come and start playing with me).
I've noticed that Papa is suddenly around a lot more than usual -- apparently, he's taken a 5-week vacation to spend more time with me, and since Mama has been packing a bag with shorts and t-shirts, it seems like we're going somewhere nice and warm. The place sounds nice... it's called Barbados. Papa is excited about something called surfing. He keeps looking up surf reports on the computer and telling me how much fun we will have on the beach together. I think it will be a nice break from the snow.
I think having as much snow as we do this year would be better if I could actually go out and play in it, but by the time Mama stuffs me in the red snowsuit with its fleece liner, I can't bend my arms or legs, so other than being pulled around on the toboggan or having naps in my Baby Glider while Mama or Papa pull me up and down the cross-country ski trails, I haven't really played in the snow much.
I have had a few playdates with my cousin Robin, who is getting bigger. She always looks happy to see me. I can't wait until she can move around. Right now I could crawl all over her, and she wouldn't be able to do anything except roll over!
I had a great first Christmas, with Oma and Opa visiting from Holland. We spoke a lot of Dutch while they were here. They are coming back in the summer and I can't wait to see them again.
I'm almost 11 months old now, and soon I will start going to a playgroup all day long and Mama won't be the one taking care of me anymore. Mama seems to be quite sad about this, but she has promised that she will only go back to work three days a week and so I will still be with her four days a week, so that's pretty good. I hope I like this new place and the other babies there are nice. I wonder if any of them can crawl as fast as I can?
I guess I'll find out soon.
Johan
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