Opa Saves the Day!

Recently, the Opa came to visit and help the Daddy do a few handyman-type things, like install lights and do the foot boards in the kitchen (the Mommy still isn't sure whether the Daddy is simply not very good at handyman-type stuff, as he says, or whether the Daddy is simply too lazy to do them, as she suspects...).
In any event, Lautje was very glad to see his Opa, as can be seen above and below. However, if he had realized at the time that the Opa had built a shelf over the couch that was out of his reach (and therefore has all of the really fun stuff that Lautje wants...), Lautje might have been less excited to see him.
And, of course, the Daddy is always very glad to see the Opa, but most especially when it means that he doesn't have to deal with electrical wiring...

The Walking Cart

For Christmas, the Oma imported a Dutch walking cart for Lautje all the way from the Netherlands (courtesy of his Great-Aunt Sarie), which would ideally help Lautje learn to walk. The idea is that the cart helps him balance, while he walks behind it. Of course, being Lautje, he used it once, decided it was too much work, and then promptly ignored it for 2 months. That is, until a few days ago, when he suddenly decided that it was fun, and couldn't get enough of it, as can be seen below. Naturally, being a combination of the Daddy and Mommy, instead of walking leisurely and carefully, he basically ran after it at full speed until it ran into a wall or chair or otherwise came to a stop. The living room is now basically his bumpercar playpen.
Of course, then Lautje found out that he could sit in the cart, and someone (the Daddy...) would push him around. This, while being of no practical use in learning to walk, was both less work and more fun...
But even more fun is standing in the cart and having someone (the Mommy...) push him around. Of course, it's difficult for Lautje to stay upright while he is laughing so hard, but he manages...

Big Chief One Sock

After 1 year, the Mommy and Daddy have started to notice a few patterns. Some things come and go (whether he's a Mommy's boy or a Daddy's boy), some are fairly typical (whether he's clingy or not), but then some are positively strange and uniquely Lautje. Foremost among these is Lautje's ability to consistently lose one sock. No matter how secure or tight the socks are, at some point, the Mommy and Daddy look up and notice that Lautje has simply misplaced one of them, as can be seen below.
What is most amazing is that it is always only one sock. The second one is generally still around, and rarely even loose. And it has nothing to do with a particular pair of socks: Lautje is non-discriminatory in that respect. Nor does Lautje discriminate between left and right; he's an equal opportunity sock loser. No, he just goes about his day, and at some point, a sock simply disappears (and sometimes is never again seen: the Mommy and Daddy at one time seriously considered whether he was digesting his socks... but decided instead that when the family eventually moves, Lautje's secret cache of misplaced socks from the past 6 months will be discovered). In honor of Lautje's idiosyncrasy, his Daddy gave him a Native-American descriptive name (other than Grump or Big Nasty, both of which might also qualify...). He named him 'Big Chief One Sock'.
And the sad thing is, Lautje even seems to respond to it...