Baby Has So Much To Do

Vlissingen 2009

With half of their children and grandchildren living in the Netherlands,  my parents decided to spend their summer holidays here this year to explore North and South of the country for three weeks. They strapped their bicycles on the back of their car and are first staying in the most South-Western part of the Netherlands in Vlissingen for two weeks and then coming to stay in Monnickendam to spend another week close to us. They have been cycling around, exploring Zeeland and since Cherrie and I have never made it that far South, we thought it’s a good opportunity to make the trip down to Vlissingen and meet up for a family day at the beaches. 

I always wanted to go to Vlissingen anyway. I’ve learned allot about the place during my Nautical and Radio License courses and know about its rich maritime past. The city is at the last large port on the way down to Belgium, the Bretagne and of course to make the crossing over to the UK.  Its maritime atmosphere is also determined by shipping and pilot services at the roadstead just off the seafronts.

We’ve had a great lunch of fresh fish together and then went down to the beaches. It’s just such a joy to swim there watch the wind, water and clouds continuously at play. The huge commercial ships are passing by so closely you hear their engines if you dive. The grandparents, Cora, Cherrie and I had a great time but were literally washed away from the beach by the strong incoming tide with its currents. Within half an hour the water level went up so quickly that we had to pack up and leave quickly. We found a fantastic playground with lots of things to do for our little girl and finished the day with a dinner at the harbor. By pure coincidence (really!) one of my sailing friends put in with his boat coming from Oostende in Belgium. It was great to see him but unfortunately sooner then we liked a great day came to an end and we had to catch our train back home to Amsterdam. Cora was a real trooper the whole day. She stayed up until we came home but collapsed completely exhausted in her bed and fell asleep immediately. She is already looking forward to see Oma and Opa again next weekend.

Here are the pictures

Enkhuizen

Cherrie’s cousin Stephanie has finished her University degree in Germany and will start her new job in Stuttgart in autumn. Her student life is over and she has some time to spend this summer so she will be staying with us for a while in Amsterdam. Cora is happy about “Tante” being around as well. Now we have two people speaking German to Cora in the house. This weekend we’ve driven up to the North and visited Enkhuizen. It’s a place I always wanted to visit. It was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC (Dutch East India Company), just like Hoorn and Amsterdam, from where overseas trade with the East Indies was conducted during the golden age around the mid-17th century.

Nowadays, Enkhuizen is still a place that oozes maritime tradition. It has one of the largest marinas of the Netherlands and one of the largest fleets of historical vessels. I guess you can see why I always wanted to go there.  Unfortunately the Zuiderzeemuseum, an open-air museum reflecting life in the villages around the Zuiderzee throughout history was closed today and we could only peak at some of the buildings. It was still a really nice day walking around through the old city center and letting Cora play in the sun on a local playground. We’ve had some of the best “Kibbeling” (freshly deep friend cod) I have eaten so far in NL and just a really relaxed day out in the sun. It was definitely worth the visit. I know I come back, quite possibly under sail.

Here are the pictures

Dancers Go To the Library Too!

We live not far from the Amsterdam Central Library. It's an impressive 8-story building just opened 2 years ago. Furnished pretty much entirely of designer furnitures and decorations down to the toilet signs it combines two of my biggest wordly passions; designer chairs and books. On a hot summer day, it also have the added bonus of air conditioner (and a cafe that sells ice-cream on the top floor).

I've been taking Cora to this library for the second time now this summer. It's got an impressive space for the juvenile section on the ground floor that allows for some running around, very comfy chairs and cushions, a 'tree house' to climb to for quiet reading, and a big collection of books in all kinds of languages, DVDs and games.

When reading gets a bit too stationary for Cora, she likes to go up the hall area where there is a piano where anybody that can play are invited to play. She loves listening to them and then to dance around on the shiny floor (well, a bit marching to her own beats, but it's the happiness that counts).

And when Cora found the books she'd like to bring home (she can pick from the English and the German shelves), or if we felt a bit thirsty, we all went up to the cafe and get ourselves some ice cream and cold drinks, and then walk over the canal to take the bus home. It just feels so nice and wholesome, and at least she doesn't come home covered in sand with cuts and bruises.

For the rest of the pictures, click here.

Baby is Not A Baby Anymore, She's Now 3

Last week, the 29th of March, was Cora's third birthday. She spent her second birthday being quarantined inside since she had chickenpox, but this year she was in mint condition to party.

Cora has started to be invited to other children's birthdays, and she was always excited to go. Some time before her actual birthday I also told her that her birthday is coming soon, and she seemed to understand it. A couple of days before her birthday she was heard constantly saying 'Ik ben jarig!' (I'm having a birthday). So we decided to throw her a small parties, inviting her closest friends from the daycare and several other children we know.

So we invited people to come on Sunday afternoon for cakes and drinks. This was actually the first time we invited that many people to our house, since we were never officially done with the interior (but I don't think we will ever be anyway). People came, and at first Cora was a bit whiny; being a mix of tiredness of skipping nap and the panic of seeing other children straight away started to play with her toys. But as the little guests shed their shyness and started to play, Cora was soon enjoying the crowd, and especially the new toys she got for presents.

It was not a complicated party, really, and I was happy to have kept it that way. The little children seemed to just enjoyed themselves with Cora's toys and each other, and there were no need to whip out special party games.

So I guess Peanut is not a little baby anymore now; she's talking, she's out of diaper, she's a happy little girl eager to do 'big girl' stuffs. To tell you the truth am I too enjoying this phase so much, so much more than when she was a helpless little baby. Where I lack the patience for the monotonous routine of a baby's life, I am quite surprised how I actually have more patience with her demands of interaction, answers to her questions, and just to simply spend time with her and relate as two people (as opposed to a person and a clueless infant).

Happy Birthday, Cora. Mummy's very looking forward to your next birthdays.

Pictures of her birthday bash can be found here.

The Protegé

This is Cora. 

She is 2 years and 10 months old.

Her daddy plans to teach her to sail as soon as possible. 

First lesson starts this spring.

Maybe one day she'll sail the world.

She definitely looks eager for the adventure!

Baby Curls Are Gone

Just after the holiday I realised that Cora's hair had grown so long. It looks so cute when we have it brushed and clipped away from her face, but most of the time it's simply allover her face. It got into her mouth while eating, not to mention how the food got into the hair itself. If you need more prove on how chaotic it can be, just go and see it here.

I finally decided that I need to trim that gypsy hair soon. So one weekend morning, while she was intently watching Dora, I draped on an inside-out poncho (hood folded inside), whipped out a pair of scissors, and aimed. I said aimed, because it's the kind of precision work that actually needs to be done fast, and on moving target (she kept turning her head left and right, trying to see what I was doing - and at one point wanted to take part in).

I cut the front part of her hair shorter than the back, just enough so that it didn't get into her mouth too easily. The back part I leave longer, just below the shoulders. I could honestly say I'm proud of my work.

The only regret was that all her baby curls were gone. Apparently she wasn't meant to have wavy hair after all. The baby curls she had was simply baby hair. But her new hairstyle makes her looks even more like a big girl now. To see more pictures of her and her new hair, click here.

To see the full new head in motion, you can watch the video of Cora singing "Olifantje in het bos" (little elephant in the woods). She can also be seen together with her new favourite toy, the 'Diego yuka' (Diego computer).

The Little Helper

Cora is always eager to help. Partly from the sweetness of her toddler heart, partly because she wants to do whatever mummy/daddy does, and partly because she is always curious on how things work. Her absolute favourite is the hoover. 

More pictures of Cora in action with the hoover are to be found here.

(Apologise, these set of pictures are rather out-of-date.)

Sun, Sea and History - Malta 2008

Our initial plan for September was to visit our Scottish / Indonesian friends in Edinburgh. Their little boy is pretty much Cora’s age and we wanted to come and visit them for a long time already. We last met in Bali and in Amsterdam and it’s been a long time since then. Unfortunately this all didn’t go ahead because my company changed their leave policy in a drastic way. To make a long story short, discussions around this took so long that Cherrie missed her chance to secure a UK visa in time so that we could not go. The week we had planned was cut short to 3 days. So what better to do with just a few days at the end of September and a long winter just around the corner then to escape to the southern Mediterranean? Cherrie fancied Malta for quite some time already and just recently Malta joined the EU allowing us to travel there without all the Visa hassle. We did some research and decided to stay in a small guest house in Marsaxlokk. It is a small fishing village located in the south-eastern part of Malta. The village’s name comes from marsa, which means "port" in Sicilian, and xlokk, which is the local name for the dry sirocco wind that blows from the Sahara. We’re both not really into touristy places and are quite happy to sacrifice luxury for a more local experience when we go places. With our little girl we’re not really in for nightlife either so all we wanted was great seafood, some swimming in the sea and to soak up the atmosphere of the island. Our little guesthouse was situated directly on the quay with lots of colorful fishing boats called luzzus anchored right in front of it. Even though there is no car rental office in the village, we managed to get one via our host. It was new for me to drive on the left side but it was actually less complicated then I thought it would be. As with most European cars, it was of course a proper stick shift so shifting with the other hand took a bit of getting used to. I’m glad we had the car, it allowed us to explore the island at our own pace and to let Cora take her naps in the car while we moved on to the next destination. The whole island oozes history and it has been an important outpost for the last couple of thousand years. We managed to visit some ruins that date back to 5200 BC and where settlings built by Stone Age farmers from Sicily. The Italian (or Roman), Arabic (Moors) and ancient Greek can be seen everywhere and despite the Maltese being Catholics, many of the buildings look Arabic. I won’t bore you with all the details but there really is allot to discover if you are interested in ancient history. The whole island is very rocky with most of the coastline being cliffs that are great for swimming if you are an experienced swimmer and don’t mind some climbing, jumping and diving. There aren’t that many sand beaches for little children and finding a spot to play in the sea was not an easy task. We did succeed though. Our little girl liked it all so much that she didn’t want to come out even when she was already jittering with blue lips. She was excited to walk around with us visiting Valletta and the ruins and excavation sites and we actually managed to fit in much more sightseeing then we thought. Sometimes we had to take turns though. One place we both really wanted to see is the medieval city of Mdina. Cora was taking her nap in the car with the airco running and Cherrie and I had to take turns to sneak out for half an hour to take a look at it all. It has been all great fun and it was nice to see how much more we are able to do with Cora now. She is a smart, curious and active little girl and I think we’ve been successful to make the trip a big adventure for her.

Here are the pictures from the trip

Uitmarkt 2008

The Uitmarkt festival is the grand opening of the new Dutch cultural season. Three days with over 400 previews of different artists, performing on 34 stages. The festival is held always end of August as the new season and therefore all the theaters open in September. This year the city council moved the event away from the Museumplein / Leidseplein area to the place where we live meaning the Eastern Harbor area in Amsterdam. Stefanie, Cherries cousin and her boyfriend Imara came for the weekend and stayed with us. The weather forecast promised a really sunny and hot summer weekend. With temperatures dropping to 10-15 degrees most of August, it seemed as if the summer wanted to say good bye one last time in full glory. Saturday and Sunday have been fantastic and Cora really enjoyed the adventure. We walked with her along all the booths and she even got a story book as a present. It was great sitting at "Star Ferry" the café in the basement of the completely new and architecturally interesting Musiekgebouw (Music Hall). The building is situated right at the water and a meeting place for musicians, music-lovers and music organizations. Right next door is a ‘black box’ on stilts which holds the new “Bimhuis”, a smaller concert hall mainly for jazz and improvisation. Both buildings have spectacular views of the old city. For me as a boat fanatic nice, the new Amsterdam Cruise Ship terminal is right beside it. If you read the blog entries regularly, you’ve seen some pictures taken from the water already.

After lunch at Star Ferry we walked over to Java Island but didn’t get much further then to a large old Freighter from eastern Germany moored there. It was build in the 1960ties and used to transport frozen fish. Nowadays the ship is owned by a non for profit organization of artists and used for all kind of cultural events, exhibitions, parties and to some extend also as a seagoing monument of the marine history of my home country. They spcialize in audio visual art and even have a full media lab on board. I found this all fascinating not only because of the unique concept but also because I studied Computer Sciences with a specialization in Media Design myself. I would love to go to one of their parties and imagine that it must be a pretty cool acoustic under the waterline inside of 2000 tonnes of steel in particular if you are into electronic music like me. If you like check out their webpage at http://www.stubnitz.nl. Nice for us, they had German beer in proper German sizes and some nice Drum & Bass sound. We just stayed there and Cora run around exploring the place. It was a great weekend and it looks as if it was indeed the last hot summer weekend. Its pouring down like mad here all day this weekend and I didn’t even get to do my weekend bike tour. Time to switch to indoor cycling soon.

Here are the pictures

She's So Sweet, I Can Eat Her with a Spoon

Cora is usually full of mischief. But when she is sweet, she can be so sweet she makes me weep.

Two weeks ago she got bladder infection. We took her to the GP, and she got some antibiotics that cleared it out quickly. No worries on my part.

Apparently, urinary tract infection is not common among children under the age of 4, so the GP arranged for us to do some tests on her in the hospital just to be sure it's not caused by anything serious. So we spent the last two weeks coming and going in the hospital for her various tests (everything is fine so far).

We always passed the souvenir shop in the hospital, and Cora would always gaped at the balloons sold there. She never said anything, but staring at them with her big eyes. Until today, which was supposed to be her last test. I asked her if she'd liked one, and enthusiastically she said "ja, graag!" (yes, please!).

She chose a Nemo balloon and was so happy about it. We walked home from the appointment going through the park. By the time we reached the last bridge before our block, she was playing with the holding stick, bending it back and forth. As a result, the stick snapped and the balloon portion went flying into the canal.

Oh, dear.

She lamented on it "My balloon!", but I showed her where the balloon was, and I guess she understood the impossibility of retrieving it back. So we stood by the canal, waving goodbye to the balloon together. She stopped crying and simply said "Balloon is gone." We went home without much drama. I'm so proud of her.

Back at home I tried to put her hair in two pigtails, and was quite surprised at how much and how long her hair has grown. The little lady herself has grown quite a bit. She has thankfully passed her tantrum-y phase and now moved on to a bossy-girly phase. "Pink jacket, mummy!"

To the album.