Anneke's Birthday Part II

In addition to generally being a memorable day, Anneke's birthday also had a lasting impact in more than one way. First of all, Lautje, too, now has a new companion - since Anneke eventually got tired of having to defend her new doll, Lisa, from his incessant attempts to feed her/burp her/tuck her in, the Mommy and Daddy finally relented and Timmy was added to the ever-growing family. Needless to say, Laute was thrilled and has rarely been seen without Timmy ever since: Second, Lautje is proud to show to everyone that, while Anneke is only one year old, he is already two, a statement accompanied by the appropriate number of fingers (or maybe he is just ready to join the peace movement or testing the wind)But most importantly, there now are two children whose bobbycars seem to have grown attached to their little buttocks. It took Anneke roughly a day to figure out how to get on and off, and another day to turn her backward motion into a forward one. Having accomplished that, all she needs now is a cell phone or (and!) something to drink: And while Mommy and Daddy could do without constantly stumbling over abandoned bobbycars, it is heartwarming to see the both of them going on excursions together and, upon returning, neatly parallel-parking their vehicles next to each other:

Anneke's Birthday

The next big event after our beach excursion was, of course, not-so-little Anneke's first birthday. Eagerly anticipated by Lautje especially, who looked forward to 'helping' Anneke blow out the candles on her birthday cake, the festivities opened with a visit from the Opa and Oma and some serious mudcake-baking:
This was followed by the unwrapping of the presents where once again, Lautje proved a big help, both in unwrapping and in volunteering to try out the new stuff. Delicious veggies were added to the already rather well-stocked kitchen (though never will there be enough stuff to keep the two from fighting over it...):
Thanks to auntie Nicole, Anneke's fascination with keys can now finally be fully satisfied - which, happily, tends to distract her enough to keep her from noticing that Lautje has stolen the corresponding house:
The t-shirt should make it a lot easier to explain to, well, pretty much every stranger who asks for her name that it is, in fact, neither Annette nor Annika - and it also looks really cute on her:
But Anneke's favorite gift of the day clearly was her new 'Poppenwagen', her doll's stroller, which serves as both a bed for her new doll and an addition to the abundance of vehicles she uses to explore the apartment:
All in all, a good time was had by all:
Of course, this blog entry would not be complete without a picture of the birthday girl herself, looking (quote) to die for cute in the little birthday outfit provided by the Nanny: