Budding Artists

I am sure most mom's (dad's too, maybe) can commiserate with the the amount of artwork done by our children. Sure, it is adorable and oh-so-creative, but what on earth do you do with all the paintings and drawings? Like most moms, I keep the good ones, toss the not-so-good ones.

Here are a few of the "good ones." In my mind, that is.

Katie's rainbow. She wrote Kathryn and Mom.
In December she announced that in January she would be Kathryn. When it turned February, she was back to Katie. We shall see what March brings...

Andrew's rainbow. Katie wrote his name.
So far, he only knows "A" for Andrew.

Katie drew a random picture of a camel. Not bad.

Self portrait. This is the first picture I have seen Katie draw that has a body. Complete with kneecaps, belly button and socks, of course. Before this, the legs came out of the head. From my education, I remember this is a developmental milestone. Cant recall what it is called...

Andrew's self portrait. This is the first drawing that resembles a person.

Birthday Pictures

Andrew requested a Race Car party and by 'race car' he meant Lightening McQueen. The one and only, in his mind, race car. We had 6 of his best friends and a few siblings come to his party this past Sunday. At first he was timid and unsure...not quite like him, but once he warmed up, he was the life of the party!

We played Pin the Tooth on the Tow Mater, a hand crafted mom-invented game. Each child had a tooth with their name on it. Andrew came in first place. No, it wasn't rigged!

5 ft. tall Tow Mater

Andrew pinning the tooth

Opening presents

The cake. Ned gets all the credit!

Andrew seeing the cake for the first time

Waiting is SO difficult

Happy Boy!

Tired boy...At the end of the party

His actual birthday, Monday Andrew and his three best buds, Lauren, Ian and Henry went out to lunch at a cool cafe in Belgium that has a big play area.

Playing Air Hockey at the cafe

At school on Tuesday, the day after his birthday, he celebrated with his classmates. It is a school tradition that the birthday child gets one of these teacher-made personalized hats. Katie still has hers from when she turned 4! The kids love them.

A proud mommy singing Happy Birthday at school

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew is three years old today! When I look back over the year, it amazes me to see how much he has grown up.


Andrew is a happy, spunky little guy. As his teacher told me the other day (when talking about Andrew and his friends), "you have to keep your eye on him." Very true. He is a little sneaky and funny and finds ways to seek out trouble. For example, jumping off furniture because he is 'flying' or making sticks into swords to fight the dragon. Creative, yes. Trouble, oh yes. He really enjoys laughing and making people laugh. Another teacher told me about how they were in line to come in from outside and Andrew was just dancing, really shaking his bottom and getting down. Music, nope. Just happy to be outside and was expressing himself through dance, I guess! His laugh is contagious. He will try to make jokes (at a three year old level) and then just laugh, a good belly laugh. You can't help but laugh with him.

Innocent? Yeah right...

Jan 24...today. Just an example of his 'creativity'
Unattended Andrew + stamp pad

If we don't stay in his room while he falls asleep, this is what happens.
Fell asleep in the Tonka Truck

Andrew absolutely loves school. He started in May at 2 yrs and 4 months. A little earlier than most US kids start school, but here they start preschool at two. Andrew was ready at two, but it took me a few months to get used to the idea. Katie goes 5 days per week and every morning we took Katie to school, he wanted to go too. He now goes 3 days per week and still wants to go everyday! When he wakes up one of his first questions is: " do I have school today?" A negative answer usually ends in whining and pouting followed by, "what are we going to do fun today?" He has a lot of friends at school. His favorite thing to do is paint and eat snack.

He loves to read books. His favorites at the moment are Richard Scarey's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go and Smash and Crash by Scieszka. They go in phases that typically last a couple weeks. Same books every night...Argh. Glad we got a few new books for his birthday!

He can recognize his name in print. He (finally) knows all of his colors. For the longest time I was convinced that he was red/green colorblind but, honestly, I just don't think he could be bothered to learn them. He still confuses orange and yellow from time to time still but much progress has been made!

He is 95% potty trained. Over Christmas break, he decided on his own to use the toilet. He hasn't has an accident in days, but he cannot master the #2's. He insists on hiding from me which results in yet another pair of underpants in the trash bin. So far my approach of "oh well, there goes your favorite walle underwear" isn't working...he just cant be bothered.

He still loves to climb. At two years 1 month, he climbed out of the pack and play. At two years 3 months, he climbed out of the crib and has been in a toddler bed since. He can now climb any play structure and usually goes to the top. Sometimes so far in the rope type climbing structures that his big sister (or mother) has to go and rescue him! And, no gate can stop him!

Silly pose

He is the best cuddle-bug in the world. He just sinks right into you. And, when he hugs, they are the best. Included in his hugs are the hand patting you on the top of your shoulder. They make me melt! He is an empathetic little boy. When Katie is in trouble or someone gets hurt, he is the first to ask if you are OK and give you a hug. The other day I hit my shin on the open dishwasher door. Ouch! He very kindly asked if I was OK and then asked if I wanted a hug. He put his arms out to take me in. What a love.

He is 35 1/2 inches tall and 27.4 lbs. I dont know where that puts him on the US scale, but we compared this to Katie and she was the same height and 25 lbs at three.

Pictures of his Lightening McQueen Party to come soon!

How did I go from this?....

January 24, 2008

...to this? check our silly boy! THREE YEARS OLD!

Loopfiets

Loopfiets in dutch means balance bike or walking bike. They are very big here. We got one for Katie this fall and one for Andrew for this birthday a little early. They do not have peddles and what is so amazing is that both kids, after just one or two minutes on the bike can pick up their feet and cruise. Now they love sailing down hills! It truly teaches children to ride a two-wheeler.

Watch and see!

Antwerp. Check.

Woke up Saturday morning after a wonderful "lie-in" (lie-in: an English term meaning letting someone stay in bed and be lazy). Came downstairs and Ned said want to go to Antwerp? Sure, why not. That, in a nutshell, is one of the most fantastic things about living in Europe on a temporary basis. The continent is your oyster!

So off we went to explore Antwerp. Just an hour and half drive. We started with the Antwerp zoo and then took in a few sites.

Kids at the entrance to the zoo. Yes, the zoo.

Katie loved watching the penguins. She could have stayed for hours.

Andrew and the orange flamingos

Both kids loved the Sea Lions.

Downtown. The Onze Lieve Vrouw Plein cathedral

Just another run of the mill castle...

Rome

The kids were off from school for three weeks so we decided (and by "we", I mean "I") it was WAY too long for the kids to stay home. So, we decided to head out of town and check another city off our list. If you are keeping track, we have been to Paris, London, Kos (Greece), Luxembourg, De Heeg (Netherlands) as well as smaller cities in Germany and Belgium. And, in just 20 months time.

Rome is warmer than the Netherlands by about 6 or 7 degrees Celcius and there are so many sites to take in! We booked it somewhat last minute. We left Jan 1 for 4 nights.

We started with the Vatican in Vatican City. Did you know that the Vatican is not in Rome? Nope, in its own city, Vatican City. I learned something new. Being raised Catholic, we appreciated the sites we saw. I think I was most impressed by St. Peter's tome/shrine in the Crypt. There were dozens of Pope's tomes, but Peter is the foundation on which the church is built. Anyone remember the song "Peter built the church on the rock of our faith, his banner over me is love! ? Well, that song stuck in my head for days!

We timed our visit to the Vatican with mass said by the Pope. We didn't go into the mass but were in the same building and could see it. We were too far to pick out which one the Pope was, but it was interesting to hear mass in Latin. (I took 4 years of Latin in high school....couldn't decipher a word!). The Pope also makes and appearance after mass in the courtyard. He waves out the window. We waited about 20 minutes and pumped the kids up to see the Pope (the Poke, as they kept calling him), but the angle we were standing at, we couldn't see him. Oh well. We heard the crowd cheer so we assume he waved.

Walking towards the Vatican

Next stop was the Colosseum. Gladiator movie was all I could think of. We learned that the wild animals used for fighting as well as the men were kept below the flooring in the cells/rooms until it was tine to appear. We also learned that the crowd often determined the fate of the warriors. With a hand motion (sort of a thumbs up or down), they decided if the looser should be finished off.


Andrew's favorite part of the Colosseum was climbing on the ruins and jumping off. Katie, like most ruins throughout Europe, envisions where the knights and princesses lived a long long time ago. Her theory, I believe, if it is old, princesses MUST have lived there.

You can see the new flooring to the left of the arena. It used to be entirely covered. And, you can see the walls of the cells/rooms where the animals and fighters were kept.

This slightly scary looking man with a hole in his mouth is the Piazza Bocca della Verita. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. Both kids were sort of scared to put their hands in his mouth. They watched cautiously as Ned and I stuck our hand in. Nobody got bit. Guess we are honest!

There were so many beautiful and typical (of what I envisoned) restaurant lined streets in Rome. Cobbelstones, red and white checkered tablecloths. Just, simply, Rome. This particular area was Trastevere.

There are so many ruins in Rome, that they didn't know what to do. So, this one (below) is a dedicated cat santuary. The kids liked finding and counting how many cats there were.

We sort of stumbled upon this Piazza. Piazza Navona. And, we lucked out. There was a big carnival with games, rides and lots of fair food. It was a perfect break from sightseeing that all of us, especially the kids, needed. We got cotton candy, played an overpriced game where the kids won a junky toy, and rode the carousel.

Next big attraction. The Pantheon, a temple to the gods that was rebuilt in 126 A.D. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It was magnificent.


The Spanish Steps, Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti, climb a steep slope between two piazzas. The steps are the widest staircase in Europe.

Ned, with the kids, is waving halfway up

I love this picture. Katie was whining so out of nowhere, Andrew gave her a big kiss. Awesome.

Sitting on the steps

All throughout Rome, there were these running fountains. I saw various people washing their hands in them. I guess that is what they are for.

The last big tourist attraction was Trevi Fountain. it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. A reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. Another reported version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder.

Katie and Andrew threw plenty of coins into the fountain. We started with 5 cent pieces and finally empty my purse. (Euros have 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, and then 1 euro and 2 euro coins). We all had fun and hopefully will have a very lucky 2011!
All in all we really enjoy this mini-break. Katie LOVES Italian food so she was in heaven. (Good Italian food is hard to come by in Holland). It sort of became a joke. She would order pasta at every meal, usually ravioli, and then rate it. As in, "this ravioli is the best in Italy." Andrew who loves (much to my dismay) typical kid food - mac and cheese and hot dogs - made a drastic change to a diet based soley on pizza with cheese. And, can't blame him. It was delicious. Thin crust, amazing tangy sauce, melt in your mouse mozzeralla.

Chow!