Going Dutch

Well, we're here in Holland and it's great. Still suffering from jet lag but that's just part of the package.

I'm sitting on Sjoerd and Gerda's couch in this lovely neighborhood with blooming trees and the only thing that I hear are the birds. Lots of cars parked on the street by hardly anyone driving them. Bikes going silently down the road side by side, sometimes with parents pushing their kids on a separate bike along. Sometimes the riders are holding hands. Lots of youngish kids playing at the local park having fun yet, no parents around.

I like it here.

I get frustrated when I see things that have been shown to work like narrow streets (easier to do when not a lot of snow...), lots of public transit, protected intersections, pretty dense homes, walkable and pleasant to walk neighborhoods, yet these things are not adopted at home. Why?

*sigh*

The birds are quieter now, so that must indicate that I should end this post now.

My evil plans are obvious

Apparently I'm an open book. For instance, the other day I sternly walked into Alice's room and demanded she come over to me because I needed help. She refused citing that she "knew what I was going to do". She said that I was just trying to hug her. So I insisted that she come over in my Sternest Dad Voice™. When she came over I picked her up and gave her a huge hug to her protests of "I knew it! Ahhh!".

I am not an evil genius (or the regular kind either). I'm not so good at the strategy or hiding my intentions. But my children know that I love them, so that will have to be enough.

I'm forgetting everything so fast

My brain is broken. I try to remember all the moments with the kids, all the cute little things, but they are leaving my brain. I can remember the now, which is something I guess. The other day Facebook popped up a post I had done from a year ago and it was Isaac with "Kevin" - he couldn't say "penguin". I remember that he did that when I saw the post, but I had forgotten it. And as much as I try while sitting here, I can't actually hear how he said it in my head.

Forgetting anything about my family makes me sad.

And I will forget. I know that. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

I will miss the moments how the kids were, but I love how they are now. I want it all.

On falling into ice cold puddles

Yesterday I was at the park with Isaac while Laura waited with Lucy for Alice to get off the park. He was "chasing" me, so I went up the tall slide and waited for him to climb up. Well, he had a stick, "squirt gun", and even after he wasn't holding it, had a little trouble climbing. I don't know if it was the mittens, the winter coat, boots or what, but he pivited off the hard ladder, stepped onto the platform and then fell flat on his back into the deep icy puddle at the bottom.

He wasn't happy. You wouldn't be either if your t-shirt was soaked 1/2 up your shirt at the back with near zero water.

I hugged him and worked to calm him down by doing things like hugging him and asking if he wanted to play on the swings. After about 4-5 minutes he took a couple of gasping breaths, stopped crying and informed me that he "calmed his body down". Then he asked to go on the swings, no wait, the tire swing!

He informed me that he would say "Weee!" every time that I pushed the tire, and he did. Then he said "I love you daddy. And I love Alice. And I love mommy. And I love baby Lucy. And I love everyone in the world because they are so nice to me. And I even love the bad guys because they are nice to me like Kylo Ren."

Our little guy is very much full of love.

Wash, Rise, Repeat

Things right now are in a repeating loop. Get up, get the kids food. Let them play, get them out of the house, or snack. Play. Lunch. Play. Think about dinner. Play. Make dinner. Play. Eat. Bath, bed, ba-story (sorry, I wanted another B word).

There is nothing wrong with it, but while being on leave there are no milestones. No weekends, no "Oh, I have a meeting on Wednesday" or anything. So when I can remember if something happens with the kids, I have a hard time remembering if it happened today, yesterday, or a couple of days ago.

Lack of sleep could be a contributing factor to my memory issues.

I feel so lucky at being able to be off. I can help get Alice to / from the bus. Help with activities for Isaac, and help do all the baby stuff with Lucy.

Another thing that it allows me to do is take my time planning on what I'm making for dinner and be able to do things like fresh bread and stew. These aren't things that I'll be able to make after picking kids up from daycare / aftercare and getting home at 6pm. Well, not for that day.

Things are good though. The kids are great. I think that we're all having fun.

Warm weather brings out the bikes

It's been a while, but today the temp was around 11 C and sunny. What does this mean? It means the road is (mostly) clear and the kids bikes come out. Laura even got out the family scooter and was gliding around.

Isaac was out biking with Laura while Lucy and I got Alice from the bus (with a stopover at Faith's house for some playtime). When he saw us he shouted "Look I have my bike! HAHAHAHA!". Yes, he loves his bike. It was another one of Laura's brilliant ideas to get it.

It brings me great joy to see the kids enjoying being outside and biking. It makes me think that they'll develop healthy habits and have a good quality of life.

Less fratricide, more friendship

I have to admit, but it snuck up on me. Alice and Isaac are playing well together (most of the time). They love each other so much. They love sharing what they do (as long as no one is hungry, sleepy, sick, or [insert reason here]).

Today Isaac explained to me that Alice is his best friend.

Isaac listens to what Alice says, and then he (mostly) does what she'll ask him.

It's been a nice change. It gives me hope.