Guus Bosman

Today Nora and I spent 45 minutes doing language exercises and it was fun for both of us. She enjoys writing letters and we did a variety of learning drills.

She's four years old now and I've been considering whether to send her to the Dutch language school on Saturdays next year. But our Saturdays are important family time, and I don't want to give that up lightly.

For next year I've decided not to send her to Saturday school -- we'll continue our "homeschooling".

Spring is now truly here. It was nice and warm this weekend and we set up our deck for the summer. On Saturday morning we bought flowers and potting mix and the next day Sasha and Nora planted them, while I assembled our new furniture.

Saturday evening we had dinner with Ginny and last night there was a big taverna dinner.

Last weekend we installed the children's gate in the door to the kitchen.

The boys are getting more mobile and we let them roam around the dining room after dinner sometimes.

The boys are starting to say more and more words, which is very cool. Yesterday we went to Giant and they were excited about seeing balloons and said "ba, ba".

Leo likes the "b" sound and often says "buh, buh". He calls many things "bebe" -- including Adrian and Nijntje. And of course he still says "mama" all the time. Adrian is quite good at the animal sounds -- "wat zegt... de koe?" "boooeee!". A running joke Adrian and I have is about his socks. When I ask him, "Adriaan, waar is je sok?" -- he'll look at his foot and laugh.

They are socially quite aware. Something when I bring them upstairs they wave and say "dag dag" by themselves. And Adrian often says "ne" or "nee" when something questionable is happening in the household.

Sasha and I are now in the final stages of recovery from cold number 10; Nora and the boys have been fine for a few days now.

Last night we saw Leo standing by himself for the very first time. He liked it a lot, and we're very proud.

This morning before we left for work Adrian was in the play pen, looking outside through the window when suddenly he yelled: "waf waf!"

And sure enough, there was someone walking a dog outside. I love how he says "waf waf", with his soft gentle voice.

When I brought Leo upstairs he started waving and saying "taaa taaa" [dag dag]. It's so much fun to see them start communicating.

Sunday afternoon I brought Leo for a haircut. His hair was growing long over his ears so it was time.

Adrian's hair is still in good shape so he calmly stayed in the stroller, playing with a book, while Leo and I went to the chair. Leo was very calm and looked around with interest while his hair was being cut.

Adrian is trying very hard to talk. We're not quite sure what he's saying but he's very passionate when he talks.

Recently he started using "luhkuh-luhkuh". It's very cute.

Listen to him here after he just woke up from his second nap.

We used the weekend to recover from cold number 8. Sunday evening Leo started having a sniffy nose and sure enough, number 9 is here.

The poor little dude is quite miserable, and unhappy all day. but he's finally sleeping now.