Guus Bosman

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My parents and the boys are having a really nice time together. There is always something to two with two little babies, but sometimes they are just hanging out together and they play. Leo keeps bringing new books to Oma to read, and Adrian was repeatedly looking at the same picture with the ball and the car tonight.

Jaap and Mieke have been taking care of the boys for three days now, and they are getting along very well. In the beginning the boys were shy, or pretending to be shy, after their naps, but that is over now.

Adrian is getting a new tooth so he was quiet today and spent a lot of time on Oma's lap. Leo started walking a lot a few days ago and the boys are crawling less and less.

This morning we took Leo and Adrian swimming. We had a great time and spent 45 minutes in the warm water with them. They're not afraid to go under water -- though they don't quite know to close their mouths -- and Leo is even making some swimming motions. They swim with a blue hat against the sun.

When they went to bed Sasha and I both swam individually. In the afternoon we went for a walk and early dinner at the Four Sister's, after watering the plants at Nora's school. When I went there to switch off the water I took both boys with me on the bike, that was fun.

We also learned that the glass table behind the sofa will need to leave the living room. We had put it there from it's original location in front of the fireplace so the boys could crawl on the big carpet there. I was sitting on the sofa and all of a sudden I saw Adrian's head sticking out above the sofa -- he was sitting on top of the glass table and trying to crawl on the couch. When I pulled him up, he then tried to crawl back the other way. Clearly dangerous, so the table needs to go downstairs. Slowly but surely there won't be any furniture left.

Yesterday before we left for Ingrid's party we saw Leo making his first steps and caught it on video. Just like Adrian the day before, he was laughing while he was walking.

Here is a short video.