Upon entering his sixteenth month on Planet Earth, our Sun Baby celebrates Canada Day on the beach. Lior loooves playing in the sand (far left), while Luna dreams away (middle left). Meanwhile, Esther-Mirjam is kept busy making sure her kids are protected by means of suntan lotion and their food is clear of sand.

The sand is so hot that the only way to get to the water comfortably is by making a quick run for it (middle right). Meanwhile, David is kept busy making all the kids are safe in the water (far right).

During their regrettably last day in Canada, Luna and Lior have a tea party with Carmen (row below, middle). During their visit, they have discovered the joy of eating water melon (below left and right), while Esther-Mirjam has discovered the joy of taking pictures of her children eating water melon.

Esther-Mirjam thinks she is fully prepared for the flight back with a backpak stuffed with toys and food. Her children are very well behaved at the airport (top left). Once in the plane, they find that they are very sleepy but unable to fall asleep until the very tail end of the flight (bottom left). That is, Lior does fall asleep rather quickly, but then is woken up because his sister has to go poo-poo (far right). After this, he feels rather restless. Luna wants to crawl onto Esther-Mirjam's lap to fall asleep, but there is no room for her there. She finally falls asleep on the floor (middle right). However, this is only about an hour before landing. So Esther-Mirjam has to wake her up to get her strapped into her seat for landing. When they leave the plane, they find that yet again the stroller is not waiting for them at the gate, but in the luggage area. The Sent clan ends up jumping the long line in front of the passport control and is delighted to see Opa Tano waiting for them. Poor Luna throws up during the drive home. Too much excitement!

Luna celebrates her return to the Netherlands by putting on her Welpie cap (far left) and her wooden shoes (middle left). Of course, this whole dress-up thing is inspired by her trip to Canada. Indeed, princess Carmen very sweetly gave this princess dress to her new friend, princess Luna.

Luna also tries to dress up Lior (middle right), but the latter is much more interested in climbing onto the "chair for bad behavior" (far right). That is, Lior does not yet know that this is part of the use of the chair, but he will probably find out soon. Meanwhile, he has to be watched very closely for he crawls onto everything that crosses his path!

Luna and Lior head over to Doesburg to celebrate Opa Ben's birthday on July 4 (right). Perhaps the latter is not too happy about this, for they keep him awake at night because they are still suffering from jet lag.

During the first night of their return home, Luna and Lior watch Bambi. During the second night, they enjoy Belle & The Beast. During the third night, mom decides the nighttime fun needs to come to an end!

Luna is very good about sharing her treats with Lior (left). She is not crazy about candy anyway, unless it contains some chocolate. Lior, on the other hand, is not picky at all about what he eats.

When the Tour de France starts, Lior digs up his Rabobank cap to cheer for the Rabobank cycling team (right). With such an adorable fan, the cyclists are bound to perform very well!

These feet are made for walking, and that is just what they will NOT do (row below). For now, Lior is content to play with his feet while comfortably sitting in his stroller. One of the problems is that Lior can crawl very quickly, especially when his mom is trying to chase him. Not to worry, however, because these feet are bound to start walking at some point. For now, they are used for standing without holding on to anything and for taking a few steps, but no more.

This darn jet lag is taking a long time to get out of little Lior's system. In an effort to help him get used to the new time zone, the poor boy is kept awake while sitting in his high chair (right). His expressive hands are doing all they can to indicate his desire to go to sleep.

Aafke comes over regularly to spend quality time with her youngest brother (left). When Aafke picks up Luna and Lior from the daycare center, the two fall asleep on the way home (row below, left). Once home, Lior is the first to wake up (row below, middle). And once Luna is awake as well, he wants to get out of the trailer and makes his wishes known loud and clear (row below, right). Lior is very good about making his desires known to those around him. At the same time, he is also happy to accept a simple "no". In fact, he has learned to shake his finger and say "nee".

When Aafke and papa go swimming with Luna and Lior, mom has her hands free to take come pictures of the water fun (row above, left, and right). Papa has notified his employer that he is unable to work on Thursday mornings so that he can drive to Nijmegen to go swimming with his youngest son. Despite the funny faces the latter makes (bottom right), he is always happy to see his father (row above). That is, he does not like to be pulled while lying on his back (top right). After the swimming session, papa comes over to Lior's home to spend some more time with him, feed him his sandwich, give him some milk, change his yucky diaper when necessary, and put him in bed for his afternoon nap. Then papa has to rush back to Apeldoorn so he can get back to work in the afternoon. Lior is greatly appreciative of his papa's efforts to come and see him.

Lior loooves Opa Ben. Whenever he spots the latter, he makes it very clear that he wants to sit on Opa Ben's lap (row above, left and right). When Opa Ben feeds him his sandwich (left), he returns the favor by giving Opa Ben something to drink (right). And Opa Ben patiently fixes the toy that Lior damages (row above, middle).

Lior also loooves playing in the back yard, rocking on the teeter-totter (row above, left) and relaxing in the swing (row above, middle). He tries to free the rabbit, Pleun (row above, right). Mom loooves Lior's tractor (left), but our young man much prefers to ride on it by himself (right). Poor mom!

Contrary to most Dutch people, Esther-Mirjam insists that Lior wear a bike helmet when he sits in his bike seat (left and right). This must be due to her extensive experience in the United States, or perhaps because of the bike accident she had when she was pregnant with Luna (as she later found out). Lior would much rather be a "normal" Dutch boy, for the bike helmet is clearly not his favorite.

Luna loves to mother her little brother. Here she does so by reading "It's okay to be different" to Lior (left and right). The latter is trying to divide his precious time between eating his breadstick and listening to his big sister.

Lior is very good at expressing himself with his hands, accompanying music (row above, left), saying "I'm sorry" (left), pointing to what he wants (row above, right), and counting (right). His cute smile is his best expression (row above, middle).

Lior's feet now do what they are made for, they are walking! That is, he does take a tumble every now and then, but sees the fun in doing so.
Click here to watch the clip.

Now that Lior is walking, he also has easy access to the stereo, much to his mom's dismay. She will now have her hands full with her active sun child!
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Lior spends a sunny morning in the beautiful garden of Michelle (row above, left and right), looking at the boats that pass by (row above, middle). He also exercises his newly acquired walking skills (left) and has fun playing with the toys from Michelle's pool (right).

On a sunny summer Saturday, Lior goes to the Tivoli amusement park (row above, middle), where he rides in a boat (row above, left) and on the merry-go-round with mama (row above, right) and Victoria (right). The latter is the neighbor of Opa Tano and Oma Naatje in Spijk. After a fun-filled day, it is time to relax at home on the couch (left).

The Sent clan is joined by Aafke and Ruben for a vacation at amusement and vacation park Slagharen (row above, left and right), where they stay in a real teepee (row above, middle). The sun is so bright that Luna and Lior borrow the sunglasses of mom (left) and Aafke (right).

The bright sun also means that Lior needs to wear his new hat (left). After lots of searching, mom finally found one that Lior is not able to take off, for he is not crazy about wearing a hat, despite the smile that graces his cute face while wearing his new hat. Every morning, a delicious breakfast is enjoyed with fresh rolls (right, top). Mom also goes out to borrow a child seat for Lior so he gets to tower above the breakfast table. Luna takes advantage of the vacation setting to renew her boundary exploration (right, middle). She has a hard time going to sleep early, for there is quite some noise around the teepee with lots of kids running around late at night. Ruben tries to help her get ready for bed by reading Nijntje to Luna (right, bottom). The kids also wake up rather early in the morning due to the outside sounds. Lior enjoys the fact that he gets to use the remote control to watch television (row below, left). And he gets to practice his newly acquired walking skills around the teepee (row below, middle and right).

Lior does not yet understand that one needs to use just one bat while playing with the ball (far left). He seems to have a better grasp of how to use the brush and dustbin (middle left). As far as Lior is concerned, these are much better toys than anything that mom brought along for him to play with.

There is a special program with kids activities, in which Luna participates a few times. Much to her mom's delight, she learns how to iron (middle right). Luna is just as mesmerized by the show put on by the clown (far right).

During the hottest day of the vacation, the Sents and Brinks can be found in the pool, where Ruben watches closely over his younger brother (row above). He long wished to have a younger brother and is so happy that his prayers have been answered. While outside of the pool, he seeks cover for the sunshine in the tent and underneath the parasols with Luna and Lior (left). While in the pool, he plays with Luna and Lior on the slide (right). Indeed, slides are like magnets for Lior. Whenever he sees one, he makes a bee-line for it. And once he has gone down once, he can barely be stopped. Only after lots of protest can he be urged away from a slide.

Hip, Hip, Hurray!
Sixteen Months Old!

All in all, the pool is not a bad place to celebrate one's sixteenth Month Day, eh?