Guus Bosman

We're taking care of 5 chicks this weekend -- Stella, a larger chick, and four recently hatched chicks. It's been really nice to have them in the house, very cozy.

It has been raining for several days in a row, and yesterday when it cleared up we went to the Bluemont creek so see it after all the rain. As expected, the water level was high and it was fun to watch.

Nora asked: "Kun je in dat water zwemmen?" and I explained no, it's not for swimming because of the current ("Er staat een flinke stroming.").

The next day over breakfast, we were talking about this again and Leo told Sasha that the water wasn't for swimming because има кабел -- there's a cable. Later he told me "er was een kabel".

It took us a while to figure out, but Leo translated "stroming" into "stroom" which goes through a cable (кабел)...

For the first time, I made it to a pitstop on Bike to Work Day. The event ends at 9.00 am, and at 8.45 am I was in Ballston.

The weather is amazing -- spring has really arrived -- and we went for a walk to the 'ver wegge speeltuin'. The kids hadn't been there is a while so that was nice. It's a beautiful walk over Key Blvd and through Lyon Village.

Tuesday night we had dinner outside and Judy joined us. Friday after dinner we went to the taverna for a while.

We also went to Home Depot to get new play sand; it ends up in the yard quickly. Told the boys that "feeding the plants" with sand isn't necessary.

It's good to be outside again.

I went to the civic association's meeting tonight. There was a presentation about the new property on the corner of Washington and Kirkwood. Looks pretty good.

I parked my bicycle next to another bakfiets.

Adrian bumped into the handle of the gate in the yard yesterday. His eye was red and we took him to the eye doctor today.

Thankfully it was a small scratch, and will heal by itself. He'll need some antibiotic drops for a few days.

Adrian and Leo don't have much of an attention span yet. Not surprising for 3-year olds, but it's easy to forget after doing a 75 minute teaching session with Nora. Nevertheless, we're teaching them all sorts of things.

In the past few weeks they started understanding the colors ("een tomaat is rood. een babaan is geel"). And they know 10 to 12 letters already. "S" van Sinterklaas, "P" van Piet...

The boys went for their 3-year check-up. Things went pretty smoothly, though Leo was quite nervous.

The nurse took their weight and length, and we showed Leo a YouTube video (Als je van beren leren kan) so he was distracted.

The doctor confirmed that they are in good health, but she was worried that Leo's length was so short... so we went back to the nurse. After she re-measured he was 1,5 inch taller all of a sudden.

Leo is at 50% for weight and height, Adrian at 75% for both.

The photo here is from a few days ago when their was roadwork on 13th Street and we went to check it out. They love construction vehicles.

It feels like things are easier now. The boys are slightly more independent, and need us less frequently for basic stuff like picking up fallen items. They also talk more and more, which is wonderful. They are so cute!

Leo likes the routine we have for going to bed. First brushing of the teeth, slokje water, then potty, the hands, schone toet and then voorlezen.

This afternoon I skipped a step and he corrected me: Ik heb niet water gedrinkt. Ik gaan zelf!

When the boys are discussing something, they are so funny. Here is an excerpt of what they discussed in the car today -- listen to the whole conversation (MP3).

Leo: "Adrian zegt sleepwagen! Kiepwagen is dat!"
Adrian: "Geen kiepwagen."

Nora vraagt heel diplomatiek: "Leo had het een bak erachter?" "Leo: kiepwagen. Ja een bak." Adrian: "ja, het was een bakker".

A little over a week ago I was a little annoyed with Nora in the morning -- she had disappeared downstairs just when I wanted to get her dressed. She showed herself down the stairs with a big smile and said: dat heb ik zelf al gedaan pap! She had dressed herself, and she has been doing that every morning ever since. Which is great because that saves another step in the morning.

She also showed me, proudly, that she can now reach the rope of the light in her closet: papa, kijk! ik kan er nu bij!.

It's quite amazing to hear her speak English also. Last weekend she translated her Dutch book for Judy -- a perfect translation in perfect American English.