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