Guus Bosman

software engineering director


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dailylife

Working hard

Opa and Oma are busy during the day. They take care of the kids, make meals and also find time for things around the house. We're very grateful and they are having a good time.

Tonight I brought a spade, I actually borrowed it from the library. We've been doing some yard work and now we hope to plant two small trees.

I brought the spade home on my bike, that was fun.

dailylife

Vocabulary at 18 months

At the checkup the pediatrician asked us to estimate the boys' vocabulary. I said "30", which the doctor thought is respectable, but when we came home I wanted to be sure. So here it is, in all its glory -- the Dutch words Leo and Adrian know so far. Their Bulgarian is a little behind since they've been immersed in Dutch for the past month.

Leo actively uses 32 words, Adrian 27.

dailylife

The girls are back

Sasha and Nora are back -- I'm very happy. Their plane landed at 7.00 pm and an hour later I met them at the international arrivals. It was so great to see them.

Last year when Nora returned from her summer in Bulgaria, she had forgotten a lot of her Dutch. Not this time.

She talked and talked and described how she had made a cake (we heard the whole recipe), how she had a kyufte with fries in Kopritsita, how she liked the trampoline... it's wonderful to talk with her. Some of her words are a little rusty. Instead of "speelgoed" she said "de dingen voor spelen" en instead of "verdrietig" she used "muchno" but otherwise she was fluent.

When we came home she was "shy" for maybe 5 seconds with Jaap and Mieke, and then she started talking about the ferryboat.

dailylife

Oma reading a book

After dinner we went to the library where we picked up a book by Raymond Briggs.

When we came back home Leo was very tired, and Adrian didn't want to be alone either. Oma started reading "Bas", and they liked that, while I made them their bottles.

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Udvar-Hazy Center

We were playing to go to the Frying Pan farm, to show the boys farm animals. When we arrived we saw that there was a big fair and the field that normally houses cows and horses was now a parking lot for fair workers. So we decided to skip the farm, and instead we went to the Air & Space Museum a few minutes down the road.

The museum was great; we all five loved it. Initially we had the boys in the stroller but then we let them walk. It's probably the biggest indoor space they've ever walked it and they liked roaming around. They also learned how to push their own stroller, mostly without falling.

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Sushi

We had sushi for dinner. The boys first had their spinach/potato/beef soup, and then tried the sushi.

They loved playing with the sticky rice.

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To the dog park

Jaap and Mieke went to a concert at the Netherlands Carillon tonight. I talked with Sasha, made dinner for me and the boys and then we went for a long walk.

I always forget that the library closes at 5.00 pm on Saturday but we returned my science fiction book and then continued to Clarendon. We finished off our walk with a stop at the dog park. There were three dogs and we only saw them from a distance but the boys loved it.

It's so cute to walk with them now. They point out everything they see. "Doto!" (Leo) "Car!" (Adrian) "Bieee!" (for bus), "wafwaf!" (for dog), "ma!" (for cat), "boom!" for tree. We come across a lot of cars and trees during our walk, haha. Tonight Leo had a new one: "maan!". In the evening, when Adrian was waiting in the crib before his turn for a bath, he pointed to the ceiling fan and said "bij!" -- indicating that he wanted to be picked up to reach it.

dailylife

Saturday with my parents

This morning we went swimming, a little earlier than usual. Later Mieke and I went to Michael's and Home Depot -- we're doing small projects in and around the house today.

The Dutch indoctrination of the past few weeks is paying off, the boys are saying more words and even when they talk in their own language it definitely has a Dutch sound.

The only exception is that Adrian is stubbornly saying "car" instead of "auto". Leo started saying "doto", so cute.

Some of the words they've recently started saying:

- uil (with a beautiful "ui" sound)
- boom
- lekker (A)
- vlag (L)
- dicht (A)
- "hiiiii" (sound that a horse makes) (L)
- beer
- peer
- haar
- aai
- wow!
- In English: "bye bye"

They also learned how to tear paper. They can also both get up and off the sofa. Adrian learned getting onto the sofa maybe two weeks ago, Leo a few days later. Sasha bought shoes for them and they've started wearing them.

dailylife

Friday night taverna

We had a big taverna last night. Judy and Ginny prepared dinner, Jaap and I made moorkoppen for dessert.

The boys had dinner at home -- mashed hutspot -- and then joined us in their highchairs. They happily chewed on a piece bread and loved the watermelon.

dailylife

Walk at the World War II Memorial

When I came home dinner was ready -- sate and Indonesian green beans -- and at 7.00 pm we drove downtown.

It was a beautiful evening and we went for a nice walk along several monuments. Mieke enjoyed seeing the baseball games, the boys saw ducks and geese.

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