School

M started "real school" in September.  He's in what the Dutch call "Group One," which I think is what we would call Kindergarten but they start at age 4.  With a fall birthday he missed the cut off date by 4 days, so he's the oldest kid in the class.  This used to bother me, but now I'm fine with it.  I recently realized that my best friend from high school missed the cut off by 5 days and that may have been one factor in her academic success.

M not so thrilled
on the first day of school.

M and his cousin both complained about school in the days leading up to it.  I think they must have seen an episode of Berenstain Bears in which Brother and Sister Bear complained about school.  They have both been in daycare since they were babies and seemed to really like it.  On the first day of school M publicly announced to his class that he didn't like school.  But, by the time I picked him up, and every day since, he has loved it.  His school is much more academically demanding than nursery last year--he has math, phonics, PE, and Dutch.

Spontaneous writing attempts at the playground.

A portrait of two ladies on a bench.

A portrait of me with our friend's baby.

Within 3 days of the start of school I discovered him writing his name and drawing "portraits" in the sand at the playground, and within a couple of weeks of the first day M didn't even want us to enter the building with him; instead he happily walked in to line up with his class by himself.  He loves school and is excited about learning.

Summer Wrap Up

M and L enjoyed a special treat trip to an ice cream shop but elected to get candy rings instead.

M enjoyed the Edward Gorey house, where he listened to stories...

...and got his face painted.

M also enjoyed stories his grandma read...

and playing Native Americans with Papa.

He climbed some trees...

and made some forts.

He even went fishing with his cousins and caught a fish!

It was a great Summer!

New Bike

We have an exciting new addition to our bike collection: a family tandem!

I have been looking at them for the better part of a year now and been searching for a used one for a few months. My search included trolling Marktplaats, a Dutch version of eBay I didn't really understand (and which turned up the occasional tandem in some town nowhere near Amsterdam), contacting rental shops and putting notes on tandems in my neighborhood, in both English and Dutch, asking people if they were interested in selling. Just when I was about to give up and buy a new one I decided to check Bob Orange Cycles and they had this beauty, loaded with extras, for half the price of a new one.

Back in the 'Dam

I was about to write that after about 6 weeks our life has returned to normal and we are back in the 'Dam, but then I realized that P just left for New York this morning, so I guess it's still another week until things return to normal.
That's the same time M goes back to school so I guess I will have successfully gotten us through summer vacation.

After 4 weeks on Cape Cod, we spent last week in Dublin with P's family.  M loves spending time with his grandparents and we all had a good visit.  Since we have returned M has had half-day gymnastics camp every day (and will through next week) and as a special treat we went to the circus yesterday!  It was a small tent circus, just one ring and we were in the front row.  The show was over 2 hours long and included every act you can imagine.  My favorite was the tight-rope walkers and P liked the trampoline guy.  M loved the clowns.

This morning M and I tried out the family tandem.  Last year I considered buying a bakfeits but ultimately decided M was getting a little too big for that.  Instead I bought some time with a 10 Euro second-hand bike trailer.  While the bike trailer isn't exactly the Dutch way, we figured we'd get a family tandem as our Dutch bike.

We were both a little nervous at first to ride such a huge bike, but after a few minutes of riding around Vondelpark we were used to it and loving it!  We road through 2 downpours and didn't mind.  We'd love to find a used one but I'm beginning to think that won't be easy.

Sailing

Some members of my family are natural sailors.  The jury is still out on me.

From the time I was a little girl my parents liked to sail.  I most decidedly did not.  I think it had something to do with never getting used to the combination of speed, rocking and heeling.  Feeling strongly about continually challenging myself and since my husband and son both like sailing I figured it was important to give it another go so I signed up for a week of sailing lessons and decided to bring my mother along as her birthday gift.

The first day went well.  It was really easy, mainly because there was little wind so the lesson went by at a very slow pace.  I was proud of myself that I was feeling fine on the launch and was able to steer the boat.  Today  I was pretty proud of myself that I steered the boat despite livelier seas and actual wind.  The lesson was a bit more nerve-wracking, but I'm proud of myself by reducing my stress by talking about it with my instructor and sticking with the lesson.

As for Peter and M, they had a nice afternoon out with my parents, Rey and the cousins.  The kids did really well on the boat, despite flying over the wake of a sport fishing boat early in the journey.  M was unfazed:  he later fell asleep!

My little Amsterdammer

So, he had to come to Cape Cod to learn, but our little boy, not even 5, is a true Amsterdammer:  he now rides a two wheeler!

Food Friday: Our Boy Makes Us Breakfast

A couple of weeks ago M decided he was going to make us breakfast and there was no talking him out of it.  Basically, he scrunched up a tortilla in his hand and served it with a little peanut butter spread on it, garnished with some apple slices.  This is a variant for "breakfast burrito" which we often serve to him, a lover of the tortilla.

It really wasn't that bad, but we did bin some of it when M walked out of the room.

Looking pretty proud of his breakfast creation.

Food Friday: Beer Can Chicken

I've never made that thanksgiving dish with the winter squash and marshmallows.  My favorite white trash food is Beer Can Chicken. I saw someone make this on the Today show about 10 years ago (it might have been Bobby Flay, but then again it might not have).  He had special seasonings he used and did it on the grill, but basically I just adapted my regular roast chicken recipe and use a half full, opened-with-a-church-key beer can as an upright roasting rack.

My delicious roasting chicken, next to the pot of brown rice I also cooked in the oven so we could go to the playground while it cooked.

I hadn't made this in a while, basically because in the States we didn't often buy beer in cans.  I made it Monday and it was delicious!  I seasoned the outside with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and paprika, removed the top of the beer can by punching it about 4 times with a church key, poured out about half the beer and plunked the chicken on top.  I roasted it for about 90-100 minutes at 175'C, which is about 350'F.  Served it with some brown rice and green beans.

And here's  a big Thank You to my friend Devina, who watched M on the playground for 15 minutes so I could get it started.

At dinner, when I told M how it was cooked he said, "I'm not eating THAT," but when I reminded him he already tasted it and seemed to like it, he changed his tune and said, "I get to taste BEER!"

Rain

Pardon my French, but it's absolutely pissing down with rain. I'm not usually one to complain about rain, and good thing, since I live in Amsterdam.  But this isn't any ordinary rain; it's the kind that sounds like a freight train from inside the house and gets you soaked to the skin outside the house, especially if, like me, your 5 year old Gortex jacket took this week to stop being Gortex-y.  Gortex has a shelf life, and once you are past it, the jacket becomes as rainproof as a dress shirt.

Anywhoo, I took M to school this morning and forgot my intention to stop by Blocker to pick up garbage bags.  Last night I took out the trash (I almost never do this but Peter wanted to iron some shirts for a business trip to Paris today and it was already 11, so I decided to be nice and take the trash downstairs).  I wasn't nice enough to put the bag in the trash, however, and when I woke up this morning I thought, "how nice, Peter put the trash back together."  Fifteen minutes and three particularly messy bits of trash later I realized he hadn't put a bag in, and since I never take out the trash I didn't immediately recognize that the reason was we are completely out of trash bags.  And, thanks to our environmentally conscious bag-bringing, we don't really have a whole lot of plastic shopping bags in the house, either. So, I'm waiting for a break in the weather to head out to Blocker.

The view from my window when I started this post.

I haven't quite identified my relationship with the weather here, but it's shaping up to be one of mostly ignoring it. I don't know if it's a regular thing or just lately, but it seems like the forecast is almost never right. Case in point last week, which was supposed to be rainy all week.  Actually, we had some really gorgeous weather with a few sprinkles.  We even attended an outdoor birthday party on Saturday, which was forecast as a wash out.  For a forecast of about 10 rainy days, we actually got to the playground a whole lot.  A friend here recommended not paying much mind to the weather forecast and carrying on with whatever you want to do.  I've been following that advice for about 6 weeks now and haven't really been disappointed (or significantly rained on).

OK, so it's not incredibly sunny, but it is noticeably brighter and nothing is falling from the sky.

So, now it's brightening up and I think it's my chance to head off.  Here 10 minutes can make a huge difference with the weather here.

Back With Big News

Ever notice that people fall out of touch for a while, then re-emerge with big news?  Haven't seen your neighbor for a couple of months? Well look at that, she's pregnant!  Haven't heard from the college roommate in ages?  Uh oh, he's getting divorced.  Coworker been unavailable for lunch?  She's found a new job.  I think people tend to turn inward as they make big decisions or maybe even to digest news before they are ready to share it with the world.

Well, we have some big news here.  No, no babies or divorce.

We're staying in Amsterdam!

A few months ago there were some changes at Peter's company which created a great opportunity for him.  At the same time, the more perspective I got on my job the more I thought it might be time to leave.  And, of course, the more time we spent outside of New York the more we realized how hectic our life was there.

Since our little guy was born almost 5 years ago we have made many different choices to be sure that he could have the best quality of life possible.  When he was 7 months old and I returned from maternity leave I used my vacation to work a 4 day week until his first birthday.  For the next year I worked one day 3-11 so M and I could have a midweek morning together.  We lived in a one bedroom apartment for two-and-a-half years so that we wouldn't have an extra minute of commuting to keep us away from him.  Once we did move Peter and I both adjusted our schedule to pick him up from school once per week.  So, naturally staying in Amsterdam is yet another choice we are making for our kid. Living here gives him a better quality of life.  And believe me, he appreciates that we are staying.


And with my renewed commitment to the blog there will be even more adventures posted for your reading enjoyment.

Speeltuinen: 5 Stuks!

Last week we had beautiful, sunny spring weather that seemed like it would never end.  Monday morning we made plans with a school friend of M's who also has Mondays off.  For a variety of reasons we decided to go to Beatrix park.  M doesn't love Beatrix because, unless the kinderbad is open, the playground is designed for younger children.  M and I had the idea that we would visit all 5 of Vondel Park's playgrounds (speeltuinen) and decide which one we liked best. 

The "wire playground" (as M named it) was fun, but the climbers were more appropriate for kids a bit older.  

But, he could easily climb the dome.  The playground has definite possibilities with its adjacent outdoor cafe.

 

"Treetopolis" was our next stop, with a climber about 10 feet up.  

The next playground was promising but M was too tired to try it,
so I smartly rode around until he fell asleep in the trailer.

Once he fell asleep we visited playground #4, which is the usual Vondel playground we have visited a million times.  Good thing, because M slept through it.

M woke up after an hour with some serious sleep marks on his forehead.

Then we headed to the Kinderkook Cafe to decorate cupcakes with his friend D.

I was proud of M for not eating all of his decorations, although he ate a few spoonfuls of the frosting.

Then we went back to Treetopolis, the undisputed winner of the playground competition, to burn off the cupcake!

Food Friday: Fast Food French Style

The day we arrived in Paris we were all a little tired to consider finding a restaurant.  Luckily our hotel was not only equipped with a kitchen and dining table, it was also located a couple of blocks away from a market.  We bought a delicious rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, some green beans (which I microwaved for the adults and served raw to the kid) and a bagette and voila!  Dinner is served.

OK, messy table but delicious food (and yes, Dr. Torgovnik, I am taking my anti migraine vitamin cocktail, even while on vacation).

For a kid who prefers the crust cut off his peanut butter sandwiches, M has a very surprising love of baguette.

Food Friday: St. Patrick's Day

No corned beef and cabbage at our house this year, mainly because I wasn't motivated to figure out where to buy it.  I could have been motivated if Peter seemed interested, but instead he told me he wanted bacon and eggs and Irish soda bread.  Easy enough, except in a country which hasn't yet figured out that bicarbonate of soda works as a leavening agent in addition to an antacid.  Luckily I had already thought this through.

A couple of months ago I went on a baking soda mission here.  I knew the American store sold it but, used to paying 50 cents a box, the markup was too much to take.  Then I checked a drugstore here and bicarbonate of soda was 3 Euros for a teeny tiny package.  So, on our last trip to the States we brought back the one box from the apartment.

The other ingredient I had to figure out was buttermilk, but I was pretty sure it's called karnemilk because I overheard a conversation between a flight attendant and a passenger once about a karnemilk mix up (the package is red, so Americans tend to think its whole milk).  At the Albert Heijn I verified my hunch with a worker by asking if it was "sour" and "kind of like yogurt."  He confirmed my suspicions.  I used the River Cottage recipe, and learned that after years of being a pretty good soda bread maker (it was always our go-to homemade bread in our tiny Greenwich Village kitchen) I learned that I wasn't scoring the bread deep enough.

The result was probably the most perfect (so perfect it deserved 2 pics) soda bread I ever made.  My family LOVED it.

Whirlwind Paris

Thinking we haven't been taking full advantage of our European location we took a weekend trip to Paris.  It was lovely; perfect weather, relaxing train journey and great food, even if we did only engage in kid friendly activities.

M on the train, about a 3 hour trip.

Our failed attempt at walking from our hotel to the Arch de Triomphe.
Huge monuments also appear closer than they are.

Paris is full of these little poles on the sidewalk, just perfect for swinging around.

M enjoyed picking a bouquet of dandelions (what he called "daisies") which he presented to the woman working check in at our hotel.

Parc de la Villette is an amazing place with lots of different gardens and playgrounds, and a science museum, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

M and P at Parc Villette

Cite des Enfants is an interactive science museum for kids, with areas designed for each age group.  One of the "centers" at the science museum was an interactive building site designed to get kids working together.  To my great surprise, it worked:  M was cooperating with several little French kids.

M putting on a gigantic coat...

and sitting on a teeny tiny bike.

Daddy on a teeny-tiny bike.

P and M spent a lot of time on the different sized bikes.

M in a shape teepee at the science museum.

The attempt at the hamster wheel ended badly.

Our hotel room was like a little apartment with a living room, bedroom and even a kitchen and dining area!  Look for an upcoming Food Friday post about our best meal in Paris.

Who the f%#* is Mega Toby? Evidently, My Kid

I received a note from school that M will be playing a superhero, Mega Toby, in the nursery production of "Are You My Mother?"  My first assumption was that this was a made up super hero.  Not so.  Mega Toby is the erstwhile love interest (in like 2 episodes) of Mega Mindy, a Belgian super hero.  Why they give this assignment to the American kid I don't know,  except that M does slightly resemble Toby.  M said they got to pick their super hero, which is a plausible story but can't be true because the kid playing Robin has never heard of Robin.

Dutch children frequently wear Mega Toby and Mega Mindy outfits, which are available at Intertoys (our version of Toys R Us).  Loving both a challenge and crafts, I decided to make the costume.  Materials included capri tights, his school uniform knee socks, a long sleeve T shirt, grey briefs, tin foil, a car sunshade, an Albert Heijn bag and duct tape.  Much to my dismay the materials cost more than a store bought costume would have (the duct tape alone was 15 Euro!) but it was really fun to make.  And, I think we can repurpose it for Haloween this year provided it doesn't get too trashed during the two performances.

One of the cutest things about this casting decision is that M has learned a little bit about Dutch culture, and has bonded with a Dutch classmate who is playing Mega Mindy.  After school on the playground she often invites him to play Mega Mindy and Mega Toby.  He even occasionally sings "Ik Ben Mega Mindy," when he thinks no one is listening, which his Dutch friend must have taught him.