11 November - St. Maarten

This year on November 11th, Kevin joined in his first St. Maarten celebration. St Maarten is celebrated in some areas of the Netherlands, (The province we live in is one of them). While the holiday has a religious background (you can read about here on Wikipedia: ) the modern celebration would be closest ( I think) to an American Halloween. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin

We met up with Winnie and Lars (from the 'Sprookjesbos' post, remember?) and we went to Winnie's sisters' house in Almere, about a 35 minute drive away, who has two girls, aged 4 and 7. It was a nice group of 4 children and 3 moms to go out together through the neighborhood.

While the kids don't dress up, they do make paper lanterns and set a candle in the middle (or the safety version is a little LED light on a plastic fishing pole apparatus) which they carry door to door, and then ring the door bell and sing a little song in exchange for some kind of treat.

It's a little rhyming song _ there are many versions, I guess, but we went simple, and the translated version goes something like this:

'Here comes St. Maarten

the cows have tails

the girls have skirts on

there goes St Maarten'

(it sounds cute in Dutch, really!)

Kevin enjoyed getting the candy, (although when they put a bowl in front of him, he can't seem to choose...he just stood there and looked overwhelmed by the decision of choosing just one treat out of a big bowl of treats, especially when there were different candies in the same bowl!) but no so much the singing until we were at the end of the hour and 3 houses away from where we started....then I heard him sing for the first time. Of course, at 2 1/2, with a home made lantern, he got candy just for showing up and being the cutie he is :-)

It was a fun evening, and much more enjoyable for mommy to join in with other Dutch families. I don't know that i would have taken Kevin on my own around even our small neighborhood. It was definitely a case of the more the merrier!

A day at the Efteling

In October, Jan-Kees' company had an outing at the Efteling, a disneyland style fairy tale amusement park in the south of the Netherlands. I've been twice before in my 10 years here, both times before Little Man. Even though this was something that should be a 'papa' event, I wsa asked to come along becuase the entrance covered two adults, and the thought of J-K on his own with Kevin in an acres big, crowded park made me more than a little nervous, so I tagged along for my own piece of mind, and to enjoy the day through the eyes of Little Man.

It was on a Sunday, which meant getting up at 6.00am, meeting up at 7.30 and driving the 1.5 hours south to get the park at around 9am. It was a very cold but clear morning, and after some warm coffee and a donut welcome session, we were allowed to hit the park at the 10am opening time, to be first in line for everything we wanted to do at that time of the day.

First we did the boat ride attraction '1001 nights', which was a bit freaky even for my taste and Kevin seemed to not like at all. His verdict: A little scary. Sso, off we went to a water ride where you get splashedby rapids and bump into other boats during rapids and mini waterfalls...kevin had a blast, (and the only one to stay dry) but it was still quite cool in the morning and both J-K and I ended up soaking wet.



From there we walked (Kevin ran, of course) to a different section of the park, then it was time to ride the carousel with papa so I could take pictures. From the carousel it was time to have a coffee, and by then Little Man (having been awake since 5.30) was getting quite grumpy, so for the first time that day he was strapped in the buggy (under loud and public protests, of course) , and feel asleep 5 mins later in mid whine about how he wanted to walk.


For the next hour, Kevin dozed in his buggy while we wandered through the rest of the park and formed the battle plan for the rest of the afternoon. There was the pagoda that takes you 100 feet in the air and does a slow turn so you have a view of the whole park, then we did the outdoor boat that lets your turn and wander through a man made lake/lagoon for 20 mins, and then it was time to hop on the choo choo train for a tour of the outer edge of the park, then back to the buggy and the long walk from where we were to the exits.

We stopped at the gift shop and turned a 5 cent piece (which looks similiar to a US penny) into a stretched and stamped souvenir, then he was allowed to pick one something as a reminder of the day and he chose a turtle from one of the rides he liked the least, but the animal he loved.

By then it was 3.30 in the afternoon and mommy at least was done for the day, but I still had the drive back to do. Kevin watched a DVD and talked to himself (and us) about the day, the cars we passed, the cows we saw......1.5 hours of running commentary from a wired 2.5 year old...it makes the time and kilometeres pass, that's for sure :-)

Bad Mommy!

I know, I know.....It's been a while. Life has been especially hectic (which isn't a good excuse, but there you go) but I have been taking photos occasionally. So, here's the first in a series of what Little Man has been up since the last couple of months:

1) Playing outside whenever possible:

There is a park nearby the house (It's one house away close) where Kevin likes to play. The summer was one of the worst on record here, but September and October had more nice weather days (as in, it didn't rain) than May, June, July and August combined, so we took advantage of it every chance we got.

The park has two sets of playground equipment: One for small children with safety everything, then a section for bigger kids with a big slide you can can only get to the top of by climbing a rope-net ladder and a big see-saw. There is also a soccer (football) field and in between the two sets of playground equipment: a basketball hoop and ping pong table. Something for everyone I guess.

He always starts out at the age appropriate playground, but the lure of the big slide is just too much for Little Man. The rope net ladder one needs to scale to reach the top of the (I guess) 8 foot tall slide is spaced too big for his height and legs (as it should be) but that means mommy gets to 'help' him climb the ladder each time he wants to slide. The slide at the other end of the playground that he can do all by himself is too short and easily conquered compared to Slide Everest. I love to see the sense of adventure he has, and the total lack of fear when it comes to these kind of things. I'm not sure if that makes him crazy, or just incredibly trusting of his mommy's ability to cure everything with a kiss (in which case: crazy!)

Santa's Head Elf

Just some photos of Kevin starting to work on his Christmas presents for all the Oma's and Opa's.........

First Day of (Toddler) School

September 5th was the day we officially didn't have a 'Mommy Day' each week anymore.

Here in the Netherlands, there is a kind of toddler school that they start from the age of 2. Since Kevin turned 2 in March, and there was a waiting list for the school I wanted him to go to, he started instead after the summer in the 2007-2008 school year.

The most exciting thing by far for him was his own special backpack, packed with a change of clothes, diapers and wipes, and of course a special drink cup (winnie the pooh, of course!) with his name on it that's just for Wednesdays.

The idea that he has to stay on his own (Mommies and Daddies are only allowed for 15 minutes between 8.45 and 9.00) is still causing some minor drama when I have to leave, but the teachers assure me his eyes are dry almost before I'm out of sight. It's part of the larger issue right now he has with letting me out of his sight period (see the posting ' Change is the Only Constant'. I hope it's something that will get better on it's own as he realizes that I always come back.

A Trip to the Zoo

Has it already been a month since my last update?! Bad Mommy! :-)

There has been so much going on here with Mommys work, that while I've been getting better about taking pictures, I've been less attentive about creating new blog entries, it appears.

At the end of August, it was Kevin's last 'free' Wednesday before he would start the Peuterspeelzaal (loosely translated: toddler play center) in September. I decided to mark this last whole 'Mommy day' this with a trip to the zoo in Amsterdam, Artis.

We spent a good three and a half hours at the zoo, with Kevin walking almost the whole time (he had his first heel blister the next day). There was so much to see.

Highlights had to be: the Aquarium (complete with Nemo's!).......................

............Feeding time of the Elephants and Lions..(he got a great view of the feeding time by getting the high level view on Honey's shoulders, photos above)..........................

.......the Pengiun exhibt (or 'Happy Feet! Happy Feet pengiuns mama!' as Kevin called them) , the monkeys......

......................and the giant turtle.

The picture shows the giant turtle with his 'little buddy', but just to give you an idea of how big the big guy was.....they had a shell outside the exhibt that children could crawl through like a tunnel. Two or even three children could fit in the shell at a time. This is a big, old turtle. They can live to be well over one hundred years old, and they estimate this one is close to 100 itself.

We ended the day with pizza in the Marriott hotel in the center of Amsterdam (one of three or four places in all of the Netherlands where you can get Pizza Hut pizza) for the delicious end (pizza is 'Lekker!') to a perfect but busy day!

Weekend Play

I don't know how it happened, but Kevin is a little boy through and through. Cars, construction sites, trains.....all of these are endless sources of entertainment and excitement.

For his first birthday, Kevin got a wooden train set from IKEA. the wooden tracks can be made into a circle, oval or kiney shapes with the curved pieces, or a figure eight when you use all the parts and the bridges. there are four little train cars that connect to each other with magnets. The whole system is simple...no batteries, no noises or lights.....just imagination and play. At the time, it wasn't very interesting, except to take apart the tracks once mom or dad had put everything together...........

The original set ended up with Dad in the divorce, but a few months ago I picked up the same set to see if Kevin was ready to play with it on his own. it's been played with a total of three times in the last six months or so, but this past weekend it was rediscovered in the cabinet, and Little Man knew exactly what to do with it!

He can't use all the pieces on his own just yet (the bridge pieces and making the figure eight are a bit too complicated), but he can play for long stretches of time once the tracks are assembled. It's wonderful to watch him play, pushing the trains along the tracks, crawling along on the floor, making choo choo noises.

Some days it truly amazes me what a complete little person he's already become. The advances he makes seem to come in leaps in bounds. There are days for sure he embodies the 'terrible two's', but mostly this is just such an amazing time to watch him develop and grow.

The Little Artist

Friday when I picked up Kevin after work, he came bearing gifts. He'd made an aquarium. He decorated the fish, painted the tank, laid down the shells and pearls on the bottom...it was amazing how much of the project he had done on his own with just a little supervision (and someone to hang the fish so they were 'swimming').

With his day care provider, Kevin has made some great gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc....but this was the first project he'd really done on his own without any special occasion attachted to it. His Mommy thought his 'fishies' turned out great!

Change is the only Constant

When I stop to think about it, it has been a very full and probably 7 weeks or so for little man. First, I was gone for almost two weeks while he stayed with his dad and went to daycare, then I came home and he was with me and going to day care for a week.

Then, the vacation period started. Our normal daycare provider went on holiday a week before we did, so Kevin was off to a replacement provider for a week, and on that week Friday I picked him up and we drove to the vacation park for 10 days.

He had a blast - and not much of anything that was like his normal structured schedule during the days. After that, it was back home, a week with just mommy at home (and the pool and the fairly tale woods, and the zoo with daddy) ....... then this week, back to his normal day care, but at a new location .

As a result ( I think) he's decided he doesn't want to go to daycare anymore. Each day, the crying starts as soon as we put clothes on. 'Nee, Kevin gaat niet naar Anky toe!' (No, Kevin will not go to Anky!) Yesterday was a very loud tearful goodbye when I finally left to go to work, and this morning he started again almost as soon as he was awake and he realized mommy was getting ready for work.

So, today was all about bargaining. I admit I'm weak. It was so unlike him to cry and carry on like he did yesterday that I really felt like an afwul mother, abandoning her child for 10 hours a day. I didn't think I could handle a similiar scene again today so when he started in with the 'Nee, Kevin gaat niet naar Anky toe!' I countered with: 'Today you have to go to Anky, but not tomorrow.' 'Today yes, tomorrow no.' I just kept repeating 'today yes, tomorrow no' everytime he started to fuss.

We got in to the car without too much hassle as I explained (well, I tried) that, 'When mommy goes to work, Kevin goes to Anky. But, when mommy doesn't go to work, Kevin stays with mommy.' All he got out of it was 'morgen niet naar Anky, morgen Kevin niet naar Anky' which he made into a little song as we drove to Anky.

When we arrived at Anky's, he shot me a look that clearly said 'What are we doing here?!' but he got out of the car and went inside. When he started to fuss, I told him 'today here, tomorrow with mommy...... today yes, tomorrow no' and he quieted down and even walked me to the door to open and close it for me as is the normal morning ritual. I avoided a blow up today, but who knows how next week will go? :-)

Vacation Part 3 - SprookjesBos (Fairy Tale Forest)

The last week of our summer holidays, Kevin and I met up with a friend and her son to go to the SpookjesBos in Enkhuizen (up in the north of the country). Lars is just 6 weeks older than Kevin, so it was great to go on an outing where Kevin had someone his own age to run around with.


The 'forest' part of the park is filled with these little houses and areas from fairy tales and children's stories (some Dutch specific, but not all) They are done on a scale that the windows are the perfect peeking height for children between the ages of 2 and 5. Each little house is a new scene, and some have songs or part of the rhymes spoken when you walk up to them.

The house pictured below, for example, is the one from Hansel and Gretel, and when we walked up to it, a bit of the story was read to us by the witch. The magic woods took most of the morning to wander through.

The cave that held the elf village was one we had to drag them crying from after we'd been there 15 minutes and heard the story 4 times...when the village gets dark, and all the elves go inside for the night, thunder and lighting started and a witch flew over the village on her broomstick.

From the woods, we went on to the Wizards lake, which didn't interest the duo near as much as the water surrounded by big boulders and the cicrcular layout which meant they could run around and around and around and climb on rocks, and point at the water, and run around and......

Of course, playgrounds with slides are always a big hit, and this park had a lot of slides. We stopped at lamost every one we came across. Small slides, medium slides, twisty slides....slides in tree houses, across bridges, you name it, they slid down it.

One highlight was the ladybug boats they could 'drive' all on thier own. That one we had to do again, even thoug Kevin wasn't too sure at first about mom getting out of his sight for a few seconds at a time the first go-round. He did enjoy it, and after a break at the slide play area near by, it was back for another boat trip. The first ride was included in the admission price, but for extra rides you had to purchase coupons for €.50 each and go to the back of the line. the price for the coupons was ok, but after the second trip, the line had gotten awfully long to do it a third time, so we called it good at 2. It was just over an hour drive each way to get to and from the park, and we were there for a good 4 hours at the park itself before calling it day with two very tired little men to guide back into their car seats!

What a great day! We made a 'date' to go back after the summer holidays when it should be more quiet so we get a chance to do the things we didn't make it to this time around becuase of long lines or tired little men (and mommys, by the end of the day!) The complete 81 photos from this trip (I know, I know....'only 81 photos') are on our photo album on flickr. Click here to go directly to the album

Vacation and Travels (Part 2) - CenterParcs

After Mommy's solo trip to the US for work (and the much needed play weekend with her mommy) it was two weeks of hectic work and then two weeks of holidays together with Little Man.

The first week we spent at a bungalow park in Belgium (well, 5 kilometers over the border from the Netherlands, but still, it's already my 3rd time this year. It works well right now becuase it's a max 2-3 hour drive, we can bring the dogs, and since were not at home, we actually relax instead of doing all kinds of projects and busy work. Still the accomodations leave something to be desired for the price you pay, and while all the nature is lovely, is a screen or two over the windows to keep the mosquitos out really so much to ask for?

The weather was not in our favor for this trip. It rained. Alot. It meant we spent a lot of time in our little bungalow with the faint musty smell and the mysteriously wet floors for hours after the shower, bath or dishwasher was used. During the day we could try to keep the windows and doors open, but come dusk time that was not a good idea unless you wanted to be on the menu for the approximately 50 billion mosquitos in residence at the bungalow park.....

Still, the nice 'nature' meant long walks with the dogs, trips to the petting zoo when the sun shined, and we did make use of the indoor pool complex several times. Little Man got really into it and asked every day if we could 'zwemmen kijken' ('look at swimming', by which he meant 'go play in the water')

We were at the park for 9 nights, and then the second working week of my vacation started. Monday night Little Man went to papa for two nights and spent Tuesday at the Zoo in Amersfoort with papa looking at the tigers and giraffes and other 'wow' animals.

'Nee, I Love You More'

While I was away at the end of June, I spoke to Kevin about every other day. He loves talking on the 'hello' (telephone) and some days he jabbers away and other days we only go round and round about who loves who more.

Kevin speaks a lot of Dutch right now, I'd guess about 2/3 of his vocabulary right now is Dutch, but there are some words that I just always use in English. ' I Love You' is one of those ('Ik hou van jou' just doesn't have the same ring to it) His other English words are 'please', 'thank you', 'bink' (pacifier) and 'I Love You More'.

So, when we have a phone conversation, I tell him I love him, he says 'I love you', then I say 'I love you more'. Then he says 'Nee, (do I have to translate that one?) I love you more'.

For all the other times we 'fight' about his use of the word Nee (loudly and often, at the moment) This is one time I enjoy hearing it!

When I came home from this last trip, he ran into my arms, took my face in his hands and just grinned from ear to ear before hugging me and saying 'mama, I love you too' . It was one of those moments I know I must be doing ok as a mom if this little man can love me so much.

Travels and Vacation (part 1)

It really has been a whirlwind summer this year. At the end of June it, was off to California for a week's worth of meetings with colleagues from around the world, and since I was already that direction, of course I had to stay on for a few days and at least see my mom, if I wasn't going to make it back to the hometown 'burg this trip.

So, after the work part was all done (which means long days where almost every moment is planned from the time you wake up until at least 10 pm at night, day after day) it was a quick flight for a few days of playing in Vegas! Acutally, quite a few of my international colleagues had the same idea, so it could have been like a mini convention, but I didn't see a single face I recgonized in our three days there.

The real purpose for doing Las Vegas now, this year, was that this was the last year of Celine Dion's 5 year run at Ceasear's Palace. Mom and I were in Las Vegas in January 2003, when the Theatre for her show was being finished, and we kind of made a pact that we'd be back to see that show before it ended. It was originally only a three year show, which the pregnancy and arrival of my Little Man pretty wiped wiped out the option for. When the show was extended through the end of 2007 though.....we had to go! I know no-one is actually supposed to admit to liking her music, but the theatre has 4,000 seats which were, even in it's fifth year at 4 or 5 shows a week, for 40 weeks of the year, at least 80% full. For the record, it was an incredible show!

So, Vegas was great...we shopped, we slept out, we were at the pool at 11pm when it was still 90 degrees outside.....it was hot! This may seem like a no-brainer, but I mean it was hot like 'step outside and feel your fingers swell like sausages' hot. It was a great excuse to spend the days in air-conditioned shops and theme hotels (we like the Ventian, in case you can't tell from our flickr photo album) but as soon as you stepped outside the heat hit you like a wall. Overall, I enjoyed this trip, but I'd plan the next trip for winter or spring.

I missed my Little Man, but it was also 10 days to just be me. Sometimes it's nice to remember I'm not only Kevin Daniels' Mommy (although I love having that responsibility 99.9% of the time!)