Guus Bosman

software engineering director


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dailylife

Fun together

Every now and then the boys are smiling at each other, especially now that they're in highchairs. And when they drop a toy, Nora will pick it up and give it back: "hier, jongen!"

The colds are mostly over, thankfully.

dailylife

Sunday morning

We're all pretty tired. Nora had a cold first, and then slowly but surely all of us. Lots of interrupted nights.

On Wednesday I woke up at 4.10 am and was back home at 10.30 pm, and on Saturday I worked from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm.

But last night we went out for a nice dinner. We went to Woodside Grill -- the first time since the boys were born. We had our favorite outside table near the door -- separate from the other diners so we don't bother anyone and with lots of space for the stroller.

This morning Nora woke up at 7.00 am. After I brought her downstairs etc we agreed that she would play and I would go back upstairs, and so we did. She played for at least 45 minutes by herself, making a big convoy of her Lego and Playmobil. One of the boats she made from the Duplo blocks reminded me of the boats I used to make when I was little.

Hippo House

First days at school

Yesterday was Nora's first hour at school. She was in class from 9.30 am to 10.30 am and we brought her to school together. At 10.30 am Baby Lilyana picked her up and they played a little bit on the playground.

Nora seemed pretty happy about her first "day". She played with the blocks again and had a snack (сос не беше сладко не беше солено, беше за деца).

She didn't want to go to bed last night and woke us up around midnight again, with a lot of drama. Turns out that she has a runny noise, proving all our preconceived notions about going to school, haha. It's always a relief to find an explanation for why she didn't want to sleep though. This morning was pretty hectic but we managed to leave for school on time. We walked together with Eli and Lori.

She started at 8.30 am today, her first regular schoolday. The drop-off is very effective and I only had time to yell a quick "dag meissie" before she disappeared inside. A good thing.

Hippo House

Going to school

My little girl is going to school tomorrow. I am very happy for her, but I'm sad too. She is growing up and somehow I feel that she'll be gone to college in no time.

Her "school" is wonderful and she's looking forward to it (though we didn't mention today that she'll be going tomorrow). It's a wonderful and loving environment and she'll have a blast. She'll learn about waiting for her turn, about interacting with other kids, speaking English and she'll have many new friends.

It's important for her to spread her wings and explore the world and going to school will be fun and rewarding for her. But I wish I could freeze time!

dailylife

High chairs

Last weekend we brought back Nora's old highchair and Nora and I assembled the second one yesterday. We haven't seen them next to each other yet but they both enjoyed sitting in the highchair -- there's so much more to see and they're now part of the family conversation, especially during dinner.

dailylife

A stick and a dog

Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk and Nora picked up a stick "for the fireplace". On 13th Street a big but friendly dog passed by us and the owner said: "he's jumpy but very friendly". When the dog passed Nora he saw her stick... and grabbed it. Nora was very surprised and didn't want to let go, but the dog was stronger. The owner apologized and returned Nora's stick.

After Nora left for Bulgaria we cleaned up the various piles of sticks near the front and backdoors. Well, they are back.

dailylife

First teeth

Two weeks ago Oma Mieke discovered that Adrian had his first tooth.

Now he has two little teeth. Quite sharp.

bicycling

Shopping for a bicycle

Two weeks ago I went to a bicycle store on H Street to take a second look at a bicycle that I had seen there. Jaap was there also and it was nice to get his advice. Nora looked around at everything and I had her sit on the Dutch bike for a little bit.

The bike we looked at was an Oma bicycle from Gazelle. It was a 51 cm frame -- too small for me -- but already felt awesome. So much nicer than the leaned-over style of riding. The largest Oma frame Gazelle has is 57 cm which is still a little too short for my 6'2 length, so ultimately I decided not to get a Gazelle. I found a store in Amsterdam that builds great bicycles and ships to the United States for a reasonable cost. So in two months or so I'll see the new bike appear

dailylife

Calming her brothers

I was making some noise in the kitchen this evening, and Leo and Adrian were sitting in their bouncy chairs nearby. They didn't like the noise but their big sister came to calm them down. Nora to the boys:

"Dat was vader! Dat is niet erg!
D'r is nu helemaal niet meer geen herrie."

"Rustig jongen, dat is vader.
Ik ben jullie de grote zus."

By the way -- we never use "vader", only in a joking sense, but we do have a few books where the father is called "vader", mostly older books. Nora used it quite seriously though.

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