Guus Bosman

Leo can now truly crawl. He also started pulling himself up on the fence of the baby pen. That come with the problem that he doesn't quite know how to let go, so we might need to rescue him now sometimes. If the gate is open, he'll maneuver himself to there and when I then say "nee!" he'll start laughing. He laughs frequently.

Adrian can sit up very well and likes to sit by himself for a long period of time, quietly playing. He likes trying out various Duplo bricks that Nora brings into the baby pen. He is very persistent. When someone takes his toy away, he can get angry and will keep looking for that specific toy -- Leo doesn't do that as much. When I put Adrian in bath he'll immediately look around for the rubber ducky. From very early on he makes this cute move with his neck: stretch out looking back, in order to see what was happening behind him.

They enjoy spending time in the play pen. When they're in their high chairs for too long they get bored and cranky.

They both start saying or repeating words. It's very early of course, but the beginning is there. When they are sitting in their chairs, and we come to them to pick them up, they'll lift their arms in anticipation. Leo loves clapping his hand and seeing people's reactions. He responds to both kun jij klappen? as well as плашкай рьчички which is quite hopeful. Pretty sure he says "klap" too. On 12/19 Adrian clapped as well, after we were talking with Leo and he was showing his skills.

Nora thinks she can understand the boys saying various words. Tonight she told Sasha: той каза Елай! Adrian loves it when Nora plays with him and the big beach ball.

Sometimes they "talk" together, or repeat each others sounds. Very cute. They absolutely love it when we read to them. Adrian in particular likes Het ei and I'm pretty sure he said "ee[n]tje".

When I take one of the boys out of his bath I'll lift him in the air and gentle shake him. Leo loves that -- he likes it when things are 'scary'. Adrian is a lot more cautious. He might give a careful smile but I always feel he would be perfectly happy without the scare, thank you very much.

What a wonderful day. Nora was bouncing off the walls from excitement yesterday and this morning and finally, at 11.00 am, we left for the Embassy.

We were welcomed by four Pieten -- Nora immediately wanted to hug me and hid herself in my shoulders. But a minute later, after discussing the prospect of pepernoten, she gracefully accepted a handful of the Dutch cookies and we went inside.

The ceremony was the same as last year, and as always very well organized. Sinterklaas arrived, spoke a few words with the Ambassador and then made his way to the reception room. Nora went on stage with Sinterklaas all by herself and she had a long chat with the Goedheiligman. It's great to see how she isn't shy. She received a nice gift: a tractor and a Dutch book.

I took the day off on Wednesday and it was great. I wanted to cook some new dishes for Thanksgiving and that was fun. Nora helped me measuring and scooping. For the boys I cooked beets, they really liked that but I had to laundry their clothes afterwards.

I also tried to make gravy but that didn't really work out. I was suspicious of the turkey meat I used so I threw it out and decided to get a ready made container from Whole Foods.

Around 2.00 pm I got them all ready and we went for a walk. We met Sasha at the Metro station and went to the store together, then the playground at Clarendon Commons and then back home. Late in the evening Jonathan and the kids arrived but we were still asleep. A good thing, because at 6.30 am Nora was ready for a new day.

The weather was great today so we went for another long walk in the afternoon. We drove to Court House where we parked and from there we went down the hill to Rosslyn. We had coffee at the Starbucks in the new Target and then continued over the bridge to Georgetown.