Eliot and Chris search for birdies

I have spent some time working on uploading videos - and I put a link to our Youtube page at right. Eventually I will embed many of these videos into the blog, but if friends and family want to keep up with Eliot's activities faster than I can get them on the blog, go to the Youtube sight.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jenmbdunn

About this video - It's back in the fall and we were at the Foret de Soignes. Eliot was looking for birdies, which he calls "weewees." He is very good at reapeating almost anything we say.

Today

This is how the day began - well, after we all got dressed and made it downstairs. Eliot invited Chris to "tea" and then Chris invited Eliot to breakfast.

Then we went to the town hall and got our Belgiand drivers' licenses. Odd not to use my Illinois one.

Chris took the car to work and Eliot and I took the tram to playgroup. Eliot was content to sit on my lap and watch the world go by as the tram shuttled towards our destination. The changes in our time at playgroup are amazing since we came. Playgroup is at a facility called Imagine that the group I belong to, Brussels Childbirth Trust (BCT), rents space in. They have play equipment like a slide, trampoline, and teeter totter. They have ride-on toys, a play kitchen, and so on. There is free play for about an hour with a craft that kids can do or not. If I think Eliot would sit still for it, I show him the craft and see if he wants to do it. Today's craft was using Qtips dipped in food coloring-imbibed water to paint a rainbow on absorbent paper. Eliot did well but he decided after a few minutes that the smock was not for him. Since we have no pictures/photos on our walls, we are taping up Eliot's artwork with painter's tape all over the house. (Well, I do have a picture of the kitties taped to the wall in the family room.) Eliot and I sometimes read from the selection of kids books at Imagine. There is also a parenting library that lends to members. After the free hour the kids snack and then sing. I like the singing part. I have learned new songs - a lot of them British since most of the members of this group for English-speaking families are British. Almost every time I ask where someone bought a particular toy or baby contraption the answer is "in England." It is a relief, though, to meet other parents and talk freely without first translating from English to French in my head and hoping my verb conjugation is right when I start talking. Or just hoping a Dutch-speaking parent doesn't mind speaking English because my Dutch vocabulary is limited to a mere 10 words or so. At playgroup this summer, I followed close behind Eliot because he would often fall or need help climbing up the slide but now he is so independent I actually drank almost all my tea and glanced away from him enough times to read a few pages of a book before he needed me today. He gets excited about certain songs, including the BCT cult favorite, "Sleeping Bunnies." He is also so much better about sharing. Today he wanted a toy someone else had but was easily convinced to wait his turn!

In the afternoon, Eliot and I played with blocks and looked at photos on the computer. For his evening bath, Eliot insisted that all his farm animals, African animals, foam fish, and kitchen accessories (measuring cups, funnel, plastic bowl) accompany him in the tub. He wanted two stories and then snuggled down with his blankies, pacis, kitty, and Pooh Bear. Today was a blissful day to be a mommy of such a great kid.

Delft

The Monday of Patrick's visit we drove him to Delft, Netherlands for some work he was going to do there over the next few days. Pat and Carol lived in Delft for a number of months. Here are Patrick and Eliot outside one of the places Carol and Pat lived in Delft. Eliot's mouth is open in a full-throated roar! for the lion.
Here is an impressive building on the main square which is crowded with a market once or twice a week.
Here are Pat and Eliot by a canal. One of the buildings along this canal says that Bill Clinton ate there.
A town gate and bridge. We had a pleasant visit to Delft and it was nice to see where Carol and Pat lived.

Knokke-Heist

Knokke-Heist is a conglomeration of five towns along the coast. We strolled the "boardwalk" which, despite the gloomy clouds, was active with families, couples, dog walkers, etc. We were certain it was much less crowded than it is in the summer, when Belgians flood their coast for holidays.
Many modified bicycles were available to rent. This one just said, "I'm waiting for summer!" to me. I think it's a great way to reuse merry-go-round horses.
Brave souls kite surfing (not sure of the proper terminology, here).
A poster in a Knokke-Heist store.

The Belgian coast

Since we couldn't reach the beach on foot, we took a short drive to it after we left the reserve. It was grey but pretty. Here is some of the flora at the beach.
The mussel shells fascinated Eliot. He liked the beach in the summer; he likes it in the winter (or is this still fall?).
Chris narrowly missed a wave dousing. Here he is beating a retreat.
Windmills and the port on the horizon.

Het Zwin - The Nature Reserve

After the bird "zoo" we took a little hike. On the way out to our goal - the ocean, we noticed that all the other walkers sported rubber boots. We soon found out why when we hit a mud and muck-flanked small river. Although we had to turn around before we wanted to, we enjoyed our hike in the nature reserve.
Eliot still likes the backpack! He is the only one of us who had an extra pair of shoes and his feet did not touch the ground!
Eliot, Pat, and Chris hike in the reserve.

Het Zwin - The Bird "Zoo"

The weekend of Nov. 14 Chris's father Patrick visited us. We had been telling Eliot all week that his grandpa was coming but it did not prepare Eliot for seeing his grandpa come around the corner while Eliot and I were out for a jaunt with Eliot's tricycle. I think I would describe Eliot's expression when he saw Pat as extremely confused. What is Grandpa doing walking around our neighborhood? The confusion turned to extreme excitement and bouncing up and down on the tricycle. On Saturday, the four of us traveled to a nature reserve and bird sanctuary called Het Zwin on the Belgian coast. Here are some photos from the sanctuary. The owls were the most striking. I have never been so close to an owl as I was to this one. His feathers were amazing. We were all amazed, including Eliot!
Het Zwin is home to a lot of storks, like these. I don't think I have ever seen a stork. Note the nest atop the post at the right hand side of the photo.
Eliot hatched from an egg at the bird "zoo"!
I bought Eliot a little stork to commemorate our visit. He wanted to put it in some water immediately. Grandpa Pat thought fast and instead convinced Eliot to build the stork a nest from the myriad leaves in the parking lot. Eliot was happy to do so and the stork soon had a bountiful nest. (Which he eventually sat briefly in after much convincing of Eliot by all the adults that the stork had more than enough leaves cushioning his nest.) Note Eliot's look of thoughtful concentration as he builds the nest. Love it.

Coming back south Day 5

Eliot at a shop window in Groningen. We had a fun time walking around.
Eliot liked this doggy on the boat.
After leaving Groningen we stopped at Deventer, which was billed as a non-touristy but quaint town. The book was right. The local specialty - honey gingerbread - pleased Chris. We got some from a bakery that has been in business since 1593.
The weigh house in Deventer where goods were weighed from 1500 or so.

This was a great trip - we were all healthy and we saw lots of fun things. We hope to get back to Amsterdam before we return home next summer.

Northern Netherlands Day 4

We spent just a bit more time in Amsterdam the morning of Day 4. We ran into this heron just in the heart of the city. THis photo also shows off the challenges of parking in Amsterdam. Don't back into the canal and don't fall in when disembarking!
We drove up north stopping in Edam and Hoorn - which is featured in this photo that demonstrates how windy it was that day. One photo below is Chris carrying Eliot through the streets of Hoorn. The other is him doing a puzzle with Eliot at the B&B where the owner gave us a nice bucket of toys for Eliot. The B&B was in Groningen where we had a fantastic dinner in a warm and cosy restaurant, made cosier by the dog someone brought in with them and was at their table.

Amsterdam Day 3

Day 3 was a bit less sunny but still amenable to walking around. Here is a nice shot of a row of canal houses.
Here is a photo of the big city park. We saw a lot of joggers but not the sheep and cows the guidebook said were here. It is a big park....
Eliot liked this horse at a playground!


We also saw the main collection at the Rijksmuseum - the Dutch equivalent of the Louvre in Paris. We were in the long line to get in when we were plucked out of line by a security guard and brought to the very front of the line - just because we had Eliot! We knew he was cute, but..... It was fun to see the musuem and some of the famous Dutch paintings. We made our way to the Amsterdam History Museum which we toured while Eliot slept. That evening we went to the Anne Frank House. It was moving to see the rooms where her family lived in hiding and the actual diary encased in glass.

Our last two nights in Amsterdam we dined at pancake houses that both gave Eliot kiddie toys with his meal. One was supposed to be a car so I was expecting a Matchbox car or something but it was quite a sizeable car!

Amsterdam Day 2

The second day dawned bright and beautiful to my surprise since it had been forecast to be rainy. We headed out for some touring by foot and canal boat but stopped at this market to look around.
Eliot got in some playtime!
Perfect day for a canal boat tour. We have lots of photos up on our slideshow linked above or at http://picasaweb.google.com/jenmbdunn/AmsterdamAndTheNorthernNetherlands#
The Begijnhof area of Amsterdam - a community of single women who want to be in service but not in a convent. An oasis in the city that's been around since 1300 or so.

Amsterdam Day 1

Over the long weekend (which really was for Belgians only and included All Saint's Day moved to Nov 11 since the real one fell on a Sunday and Armistice Day which is celebrated differently in different countries) the Dunn family took a great trip to Amsterdam! We stayed at a B&B in the Jordaan neighborhood, which was formerly "working class" and the site of potato riots during WWII and housing riots in more recent years. Now it seems like a great place to live with cute houses, restaurants, and shops. Here is a part of a neighborhood playground, which houses rabbits and chickens.
Here are Chris and Eliot posing by some canal houses.
Many of the bridges have their names posted. Brug means bridge in Dutch.
Here is Eliot having Okonomyaki - a japanese pancake. Chris and I liked these when we were in Japan and haven't seen them since so we took the chance to have some in Amsterdam. Eliot liked them and also liked playing with the chopsticks. He used them to stab at his food and as drumsticks but did stop long enough for me to give him some food with them. Yummy! He also liked watching the chef cook up the pancakes.