Once per two days I may go into the bath tub. The first time I wasn't sure, but now I really like it!
Just before and after..... getting undressed is cold and getting weight is just as cold!! I am now two days old, I am slightly under birth weight: (3240 versus 3340 grammes), but I am drinking really hard to gain! No problem for me!
The arm that you see belongs to Anja, she is helping my mama this first week. She is a darling.
And finally, the next morning, my big sister Ces is able to come. Grandma and grandpa have taken care of her, while I came into the world. And this morning papa went to bring her to me.
She is very excited too: Jumping all around me! We settle on mama's bed and enjoy each other's company.
I have an afternoon off from school.
My mama needs to rest a bit, and we have run out of apple juice, so papa and I visit the goat farm again. It is always fun. The lambs have grown!!
Mama asks me: where do you want to go Ces? To the Miffy museum or to the swimming pool. Hmm, tough choice. I love swimming, but Miffy... I choose the Miffy museum!!
It is not large, but just about right for me: there are computers, and a real Miffy house! And I get to draw and cut out a Miffy face!
And then we sit in the Museum court yard garden and drink beer and juice.
On the way home I ask if we go to the swimming pool... No Ces, mama says, I am afraid it was an 'either - or ' choice. A pity! But we had fun.
I have a week of holidays, so a good opportunity for Gabrielle to come to play. We pick her up at day care, I get to see the ladies from day care again! It is funny to see them back after I have learnt so much in school.
And then Gabrielle and I play, we run around the garden, drink our lemonade in the garden house, and then mama takes us to play ground. We take our puppets in the puppet buggies.
Today I am going to day care with my butterfly wings. I have made a deal with my papa to give him the wings when we get to school. And then when he comes to pick me up, he will have the wings again. I can't take the wings into the classroom, he says. Sad, but this is a good compromise.
It is spring holiday week and we have invited Simon to play today. Fun! We play all day. For lunch my papa asks Simon what he likes. 'Pancakes!', Simon says. And yes, we get pancakes!! But Simon is clever! In the evening he will sleep at grandmother's and when she asks Simon what he would like to have, he chooses pancakes again!!
Queen's day! We do our usual round around my town, first over the fancy fair to score books or play toys. And in the afternoon to the arts market with arts and music and food and drinks. I contribute to the wind arts project and make a wind whisperer from a plastic bottle. I dance to the music. And then papa takes me into a traditional carousel.
It goes fast and high!!
It is Wednesday, and Grandma and Grandpa are coming. 'Shall we come too?', Simon and Alex ask. Of course!!
We go to Avifauna, the bird park in my town. Auntie Hannie gets to feed the scraggly parrot, apparently the scragglier, the more caresses the bird has received. So, he is high up in the ranks.
I teach Simon how to dance on a rocky stage.
The next day it is even hotter and we go with Raphael and his mother to our lake. And the afternoon in the shade of our garden. Another fun day!!
It is Easter, and it has the hottest Easter ever. And it's been a little while since we have played with Simon and Alex. So, we go to 'their' new lake: Henschoter Meer. Actually, it is papa's old lake. My papa has often played there when he was a little boy. And it looks beautiful on the pictures. Better get there early. Alex is already in the water, he is always the first to overcome the fear of the cold.
The bridge and wooden ridge a bit further away attracts us kids, something the adults don't understand. We bake cookies.
Oh, and we enjoy the strawberries with whip cream and the boiled eggs.
Warm, warm, warm. It keeps on staying warm. An ideal afternoon for the beach. Mama comes early to the BSO (after school day care) to dine on the beach. And play, of course.
We try our toes in the water, but that is still very cold!!
And ice cream in a box after dinner is my personal highlight.
Me in my Zen moment.... quiet...
We have a busy day: Amber celebrates her birthday. The second girl of us three friends to turn four and leave day care for school. Gabrielle will be the last.
But here we are together, enjoying our chippies, a rare treat. And because it is a warm day, we also get barbecued sate sticks and hamburgers.
Yesterday croissants, today 'stoepstengel bread'. It is untranslatable, I am sorry. Do you know the Crostini bread sticks for in the Italian soup? They are called 'soup stengel'. Only I pronounce them as Stoep stengel, which is a joke in dutch: Pavement sticks??
And now we have baguettes, french stick bread, but baguettes is not yet a word in my vocabulary.
I eat it with mama's home made raspberry jam and dutch cheese. A great combination, I tell you!!
For a long time now, I have been intrigued with the street. With my old little bicycle, I was never allowed on the street, just on the pedestrian way. But now that I have large bicycle, mama allows me on the street - only together with her. Or with my papa, of course.
So, every morning I cycle on the street to my school, and then around lunch time we cycle back home. Mama is everyday at home awaiting the arrival of my brother. At lunch we eat bread and then, hopla, back to school on the bicycle. And then back home again, after school.
With all that excercise, I can now do my saturday shopping on the bike too.
I usually help papa making the croissants. But now I have grown up, and I am nearly ready to do it all myself: unwrap the packaging, cut into pieces, roll the pieces and then lay them out on the baking tray.
A nice weekend morning action.
Mama is busy potting up her new tiny plants, basilicum in this case. I join in and put these two leaves in as well. Now we'll watch them grow.
Mama just jopes I won't see them fading.....
Another birthday present! My grandparents snd mama gave it to me. Now I have a place in the garden, all to myself!
And then finally it is the big day of my party! We are just as lucky as last year with the weather: a sunny day!
Tomorrow is my big birthday party!! Papa and me are going to do some last minute shopping. With my new bicycle -and my party hat, of course- we ride into town, and buy Princess table cloths, Princess cups for the girls, Cars cups for the boys. Nearly everything ..... We ride into town again, for more party items!
The goat farm sells lovely apple juice, and we have just finished ours. Time to visit the goat farm again. Besides.... it is the time for little lambs... The best time for a farm!
I found the seeds of a tree. They looked beautiful: like a long garland. And I know what seeds are for: to plant and then you get a tree. This is what I want.
It is a warm spring day. But I have to complain about the bath tub. It is really getting too small for me.
When mama and I return from our saturday morning shopping, there are garlands!! Yeah, now I really have my birthday. And look the gift my papa gave me!! It must come from papa, because I was away with mama when he put it in our house. Mama couldn't have done it!
This is a good day, but also a bit of a sad day. I get to celebrate my birthday at day care. I have been looking forward to this day for ages, and it is great: the hat, standing on the chair, delivering out the treats. But then we say good bye to my friends and the ladies. I am not quite sure what to think of that. Never here again?
