The Berend is really not really a baby anymore. Even though he is just a bit more than one year old he has already figured out how to use his hands to grasp a bottle of milk and chunks of food, how to use his legs to toddle through the house, and he can rather clearly say Daddy or Dexter just as he pleases. He is fond of the fire-trucks that whip past our house whenever there is an emergency on Lethbridge's South side and he doesn't like cheese (except for string cheese, i.e. something similar to mozzarella). He loudly requests something to drink when he wakes up in the morning and eats the breakfast, that his parents prepare so lovingly, only sluggishly. He is a real little boy with his own character and will and wishes and ways to get what he wants.

Berend is excellent in entertaining himself as long as there are a lot of cars driving down the street or the winds are strong enough so that the trees are shaking. He then stands by the window and looks out to watch what's happening out there. When he first started doing this he was not quite tall enough and had to bend his head backwards - chewing on the window sill - and stand on his tippy toes to see something at all. He then figured out that it helps to stand on something (toys, books) and now he is actually quite comfortably looking over the window sill onto the scenery. The spring-time is just beginning in Southern Alberta and so we are looking forward very much to spending more time with him outside on the playgrounds and the backyard. Dexter certainly won't mind!

Earlier this month we all went to Calgary for a weekend and Berend got to see the big city. He was quite impressed by the Indian food and the animals at the zoo really got his attention! He stared at the monkeys with his mouth and eyes wide open but the meerkats were his favorite: One was scratching the glass just where he was standing and he was very impressed. Berend seems to have found a liking of nature in general: He waters the plants in the house (with the watering can with or without water in it), brings old pieces of paper to the recycling box, and sifts carefully through last year's grass to search for maple bugs, venomous spiders, or rattlesnakes.

So Berend is doing just great and we all look forward to a wonderful spring and summer!

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