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.