On the Slopes

One of the highlights of our trip to see cousins Sophia and Mathias and Auntie Sarina and Uncle Markus was our days up on the sunny, snowy slopes around Lake Zurich. There are small sledding and beginner skiing slopes all over, many within 20 minutes from their house. Each park has rustic little restaurants which serve basic Swiss faire, most complete with 90 year old grannies working in the kitchen. Lu had a great time sledding and was really brave on the long slopes. She was squealing with delight!

Je suis Lulu!

Lu said her name for the first time today. It's funny how her self recognition has added a whole new dimension to her personality. She's now little Lulu and now longer the bebé. We are a family of babbling double syllables; Mama, Dada and Lulu. She also calls herself and other little girls, la petite, which is the French for little girl.
With Christmas just around the corner I've especially enjoyed our tree and the advent calendar that Gramma Jan made for Lu. She seems to recognize Santa, often calling him papa. There isn't as much commerical presence of Christmas here so she doesn't see much outside the house. We are showing her some of the classic shows, Rudoph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and Santa is Coming to Town on DVD.

Sinterklass

The Belgians and the Dutch have a wonderful tradition on Dec. 6 which celebrates the arrival of Sinterklass and his helpers Zwarte Piet. Children leave their shoes near the fireplace or the door with carrots for Sint's horse and a note telling him that they've been good. During the night Zwarte Piet sneaks down the chimney and replaces the carrots with kruidnoten cookies, candy, clementines and little gifts for well-behaved children. If children have been bad they are whipped with a switch carried on the belt of Piet. Sinterklass makes a long voyage from Spain each year to bring the treats for the children by boat. When he arrives in the low countries (a different port each year) he mounts his horse and heads out to do his work with many Zwarte Piet helpers.

The fun continues when families work to create poems which poke fun at each other, in the most harmless way, teasing about habbits, love interests or mannerisms. The poem is accompanied with a home made gift which is sometimes only found by decifering a treaure map or series of clues. I love the fact that everyone, young and old, is involved and much work goes into working out the perfect poem and special gift. Kevin and I organized a Sinterklaas treat for Lucienne this year. The carrots and shoes were temporary play things and the cookies and chocolate were a big hit, not to mention the clementines which she loves!

Yada yada yada

Lucienne is quite the conversationalist these days. Some of the new words are coat, tree, boat, cookie, flower among many others. She also tells us when something is "gone" or she wants "more" and is forever asking if we are going to "go" in the "car". We love the cute names for things that aren't quite accurate, but make sense to her. Meemo is for fish, mee for money and due to the shape of her piggy bank, for pigs too. If Lucienne hasn't found the right word for something she will do a little sound effect. Bunnies are a flip of the tongue which is the sound of munching on carrots, she flaps her arms for a duck and meows for a kitty. Lu is learning her colors and can identify and say red, purple, green and blue. It seems each day a new word comes out of her mouth.

Around the house

Lucienne has been developing in leaps and bounds. She also seems to have an organizational streak which becomes obvious when she sits at her table and uses her pens. It's very cute how she makes sure the cap is back on before she picks up a new pen to draw. Even when it's time to put the pens away and get ready for lunch or bedtime, she'll put the pens neatly back in the box, all with the caps point up!



Her skills of matching and identifying are very strong. We brought her a book in which pictures have corresponding sticker and she is able to match them every time...even orientated the right way. She is very good at her puzzles, in fact we need to get her some more complicated ones.



She's talking all the time now and can ask questions, "Where dada?" and is endlessly trying to make conversation with her limited vocabulary. I can see her expanding the meaning of words when she recognizes when something is empty by saying "gone". Blue's Clues has become a favorite, in fact it's the only show she watches. When Lucienne asks to watch it she opens and closes her hands saying "Clue, Clue" or sometimes "Joe".

Lu is forever imitating us and she understands basically everything I ask her to do. In this picture I had removed the batteries from her toy to recharge them and after watching me she was determined to used the screwdriver to remove the screws herself. Luckily she wasn't successful. She loves to look at her books and will study them for quite a while. Her favorites right now are the Dr. Seuss books, specifically "Go Dog Go" which she can say...well short of and "I'll Teach My Dog A lot of Words". It's not surprising that both have dog characters since that seems to be her favorite animal. Kevin and I are daily waiting for something new our little Lulu will come up with!

All Saints and Pink Eye

With Kevin in Morocco on a mountain biking trip for the school, Lucienne and I had grand plans for the mid-term break. Unfortunately this was not to materialize. Monday it became apparent that Lu had conjuctivitis and from that point on we were battling that and colds. The only hightlight was a trip to London, Wednesday on the Eurostar. It looked like we were on the mend so I decided to go ahead, but throughout the day Lucienne's pink eye didn't get better, it got worse.
The borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a fantastic place to walk and window shop. Very stylish cafés and shops with maticulously kept rows of apartments painted perfect white. I was on the lookout for Cath Kidston's shop where I hoped to find some modern print fabric for some sewing projects.

In the afternoon we had a nice stroll through Kensington Gardens. The fall color was vibrant and the day was clear, though cold. I had planned on having lunch at The Orangery, but there was quite a wait. We then walked the length of the park, then the length of Hyde Park looking for a place to duck into for lunch. Finally at Oxford Street we came across a Starbucks where we shared a cheddar and pickle sandwich. At that point Lu had had it so I hailed a taxi to take us back to St. Pancras Station.

The Eurostar couldn't have been more convientent with Lucienne. I arranged to sit in the family section of the train where the doors didn't open automatically and the handles were out of toddler reach. The other passengers sitting around us were also families so this kept the annoyance factor to a minimum.

Je parle français!

It seems the benefits of sending Lucienne to a French speaking créche are beginning to evolve. As her mother it's difficult for me as my French if very limited and the women who work at the créche have very little English. Luckily though Lucienne loves going there, seldomly giving me a backward glance when I drop her off. Best of all, she's showing me up with her understanding of French and even speaking a little. The other day when I dropped her off, she went running to play with the other kids when Melanie said to her, donné ta maman un bisous au revoir (I think that's how you say it...) and she turned around and kissed me good bye! She's also said bon jour to several different people who have also responded back to her. Her accent must be better than mine! Lucienne often peeks from around a corner saying cou cou! It's really cute.


Look at me with my Barbapapa backpack!

Music Together

Lucienne loves music and has figured out how to get music out of all our electronics, so I signed her up for a weekly class called Music Together. We have a CD of songs from the class that we listen to at home and in the car. She especially likes, She's Comin' Round the Mountain which she enthusiastically adds a whistle pull motion and "Choo, choo." In fact she made the connection when we took the train to London yesterday. I told her we were going to ride on a train, and at the station when she saw it she said,"Choo, choo". The parents and kids all join in together with routines for each song. The teacher, Mariëtte has many props like egg shakers, scarves, and sleigh bells. A big treat was when Papa Dan visited us he came to class and sang and danced along with us. It's obvious that the musical instruments portion of the class is Lucienne's favorite. She doesn't do much singing yet, but moves easily to the music. In fact any time she hears music she starts dancing. A couple other CDs she likes are Catch the Moon by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb and Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George by Jack Johnson.

Halloween Brussels Style

Wanting for the traditional pumpkin patch to harvest our jack-o-lantern pumpkins we had to settle for the local Rhino fruit and vegetable stand. Lu didn't seem to mind and found her favorite right away.
We had to rush home to get ready for the big trick or treating night in Overijse where American parents had set up a trick or treat of sorts on a few streets. It
was packed with kids, but Lu was very excited and got lots of attention in her puppy costume.
Unfortunately for Lu, most of the candy she picked up was hard or taffy so like a good mother saved her from choking and disposed of it myself.

Papa Dan's Here!

We had a special visitor in October who came to stay for two weeks. Lucienne had a great time with Papa and recognized him right away when he got off the plane. She ran up to him and yelled, "Papa!" when she saw him. The best part of Papa's visit is when he took Lu and me to Haarlem and Amsterdam. We even did a tour of the Red Light District! No visits to any Coffee Shops...Lu's still a little young. We had some great meals, including Mexican food in Haarlem at Popocatépetl restaurant. Lucienne got a pair of wooden shoes as a reminder of our trip. We also took a trip to the Champagne region of France, this time Dada came too. We were a little late for the Vendange, but got to tour Moet & Chandon Champagne house in Epernay. The Reims cathedral was a highlight even though it was very cold and windy that day. It's so great that Papa's retired now and can come visit any time! We were so sad to see him leave. Lucienne still talks about him all the time.

Weekend in Paris - Jour Deux

Day two in Paris started with breakfast at La Salle á Manger on Rue Mouffetard. The spot is lovely on a sunny day and perfect for kids. The tables outside are surrounded by the liveliness of a market Sunday and right across from a small playground. Kevin and I took turns sipping our coffee after we'd finished our basket of breads and spreads while the other played with Lucienne on the playground. The street performers were a hit as well, giving Lu a chance to shake her bootie and for their trouble she tossed the band a Euro coin after.

Not a long walk away is the Jardin des Plantes which includes a menagerie which is fascinating for the kiddies and quite historical (the price is right too at €7 for adults; >4 are free). If you have less time, like us we opted for a ride on the dodo manége. It's not your ordinary carousel, at least dodo birds, armadillos and a triceratop weren't on the ones I rode as a kid. Other carousels around town are at the Jardin des Tuileries, Parc du Champ de Mars and on the hill at Sacré Coeur. There is supposed to be one in Luxembourg Gardens too, but we couldn't find it.

Luckily we didn't need to resort to our rainy day plan, although next time rain or shine we'll give the Batobus a try. The biggest lesson I learned from this trip is that if the baby's happy, Mommy and Daddy are happy. As I'd visited Paris many times, seeing it from a toddler's point of view was definately a fresh perspective.

A Weekend in Paris

A weekend in Paris with an 18 month old may seem like we hadn’t really thought the idea through, that we may have a death wish or just were plain crazy. Well, none is true and we had a marvelous time with our little bundle of energy. One big plus of travelling in Paris with kids is that the sidewalks are wide and paved. It’s a perfect environment for pushing a stroller around all day. We have a large stroller that Lu can sleep in which allowed us to stay out instead of running back to the apartment to put her down for a nap in the middle of the day.
I’d researched plenty of things to do with a toddler before we left, with plans for rain or shine. So after having driven down from Brussels the night before, we were able to get an early start Saturday morning. Lucienne is happy with a croissant for breakfast so this made the first meal of the day very easy in Paris. We went to a great bakery called Bread and Roses, just outside Jardin du Luxembourg. I wouldn’t recommend it strongly for kids as the tables are very close together, but if you can sit outside junior can eat in the stroller. Regardless of the close quarters, it is a fantastic bakery.
Lucienne needed to run off some energy after sitting still through breakfast, so we took her to the Poussin Vert playground in the Jardin du Luxembourg. There’s a small fee to get in, but the bonus is that it’s completely enclosed and very extensive. There is a separate section for kids 7-10 and a sandbox for toddlers. The Jardin du Luxembourg also has pony rides that we thought we’d save for next time.
Shopping for kids is irresistible with many unique and chic shops. One of my favorites is Du Pareil au même near the Hotel du ville. Its creative styles look much more expensive than they are. One of the most unique shops in Paris is Celis located in the Marais. Upon entering this tiny shop you are surrounded by finger puppets hand knitted by the proprietor. She creates at least 100 different characters which sell for €6.90 each. Leaving with a miniature Snow White we rushed to make our 14.45 appointment at Coup’ Kid for Lucienne’s first hair cut. The salon caters to children and is a colorful riot of toys and cartoons. Coup’Kid is located in the Joué Club Village du Paris complex which is a shopping mall devoted entirely to toys. Lu wasn’t too happy about getting her hair cut, but she looked very cute with her new do.

We found that stopping for lunch in any of the cafés is great with kids as most serve crepes or croque monsieurs. Also two restaurants recommended for kids are Chez Clement, a chain and Cremerie-Restaurant Polidor. We tried the Polidor which dates from 1845, but even this place which claims cuisine familie doesn’t have high chairs or a children’s menu. There were however many families with young kids eating at the long tables. We ordered Lu oeuf mayonnaise which she liked with some bread and frites. Not the most balanced and nutritious meal, but the service was very quick and the prices were good.

Carless Brussels

One of our favorite days of the year is Carless Sunday in Brussels. If you can believe it, a city of over a million people park their cars for one full twelve hour period from 7 am to 7 pm on the third Sunday of September. We dust off our bikes and head to the streets, unhasseled by horn and exhaust fumes. The focus is on sustainable energy, organic products and healthy living. A little fair is set up in front of the Royal Palace complete with sod carried in that transforms the normally busy street in from of the Palace into a verdent parkland. Lucienne had her first whirl in a bike carrier and really loved it.

Our perpetual motion machine...

Well Lucienne is almost 18 months old and a lot has changed! She's running now and is interested in everything. She loves to see how things work and is extremely social. It's rare that we take a walk now and don't make a friend along the way. I think she thinks she's part of a parade, waving at people from her stroller. Lu has quite a vocabulary now too. She says 'puppy' and 'kitty' and will point when she sees one. A favorite role play that she's picked up is talking on the phone. She will use anything as a phone; a bookmark, remote control, or of course her play phone. Another playtime activity is putting together puzzles, stacking things or filling items in a cup. Lucienne loves books and will bring me a book and say 'story' which is asking me to read it to her.

It's especially amazing to us now how much she understands. We can tell her it's time for a walk and she'll crawl into her stroller. A favorite thing for her to do is put money in her piggybank. Lu has developed an attachment to her soft green blankie and likes to take it to the créche.

Apparently she's learning some French at the créche too. The other day at le Pain Quotidien she repeated 'bonjour' back to the woman at the counter. She also will say 'caca' about her poopy diapers. Lu loves to give kisses too. She will kiss the women at the créche goodbye for the day and loves to kiss mama and dada good night.

One of Lu's antics that really make us laugh is when she wants a bite of something we're eating she'll open her mouth as wide as she can and stand right in front of us. She also tells us she's hungry by moving her fingers to her mouth in a sign language motion.

As a baby of the 21st century, Lu loves Skyping. She know the ring and runs over to the computer and wants to talk and see who's calling. DVDs are another favorite. She will walk over to the TV and tell me that she wants to watch a particular movie. Lucienne is very responsive to music. She can turn on the iPod herself and likes to dance. We've signed her up for Music Together classes, which we're really looking forward too. Lu especially likes songs with hand motions like 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and 'Pattycake, Pattycake'.

Kevin and I are having so much fun with her now. She is such a bright, smiling ray of sunshine.

North to the UK

We began our summer vacation in the UK. We took the ferry from Belgium to England where we camped near Cambridge the first night. Lucienne loved playing on the jungle gym there at the campground. She slept very well in the tent, bundled up in her fleece and thick blankets. Summer hadn't completely arrived in England, but at least we avoided the rain (for the most part). Lu got the hang of eating dinner at the pubs and loved HP sauce with her 'chips'. It's an added bonus that the UK has outlawed smoking in public buildings. Since Lucienne has recently learned to walk she was able to practice at the campground. After a night in southern England, we made our way up to the beautifully stark North York Moors.

The historic town of Whitby proved to be a pleasant stop on our way then to Edinburgh our ultimate destination for the big wedding! Whitby was the site of Capt. Cook's departure around the world and the setting of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Lu had her first fish and chips with mushy peas and loved them. We realized that we are now in a new phase in our travels with Lu. She doesn't like to sit still anymore and we must do a lot of running around to keep up with her. She likes to explore and is always asking, 'dat?' It sure is more exhausting, but great fun. She garners much attention from people because of her smiling disposition.

Arriving in Edinburgh we had lots to do to prepare for the wedding. Since dada was the best man we attended the rehersal dinner. We met up with friends who we hadn't seen in a while. Kevin had to get fitted for his kilt while Lu and I hung out at Starbucks. On the day of the wedding we dodged the raindrops and made our way via taxi to the Cathedral. Lu looked really cute, but unfortunately, she wasn't ready to make her debut as a flowergirl just yet. She insisted on walking around the church throughout the long ceremony, except when she was to walk down the aisle ahead of Norah. Oh well, she still looked awfully cute in her Belgian lace dress. The reception at, The Hub, kept Lu running and dancing until way past her bedtime. She was delirious when we got into the taxi to head back to the hotel. The next day was our 10 year anniversary. Niall's sister agreed to babysit Lucienne so Kevin and I enjoyed a romantic dinner at The Witchery inside Edinburgh Castle. Our vacation wasn't over yet! We left on Sunday for the Lake District and camped at an old farm near the town of Keswick. We had just enough time to talk a walk through the Beatrix Potter-Perfect countryside along Lake Derwentwater. If Lu hadn't gotten her fill of sheep in the York Moors, she was able to enjoy the scores we saw grazing along the shores of the lake. I was expecting to run into Peter Rabbit around the next bend as Kevin carried Lu in the Ergo carrier.

With one last stop at the ultra-cute coastal town of Rye, we boarded the ferry to head home to Brussels and pack up again for our 6 week trip to the USA.

Walking

Lu decided it was time to start walking on Monday, June 9th. Of course I wasn't here to see it and either was Kevin, but it was very special because Grandma Myrna and Grandpa Larry were visiting. Lucienne stayed home from the creche to have some special time with Gramma and Grampa so I supose she thought it a special occasion and decided to show off! As Grandma tells it Lu stood up in the middle of the room and took about 8 steps! By the time her Daddy and I got home from work she was running from one end of the apartment to the other. Lu is still a bit unsteady on her legs, but we're hoping she'll be walking well enough by Niall and Norah's wedding that she'll be able to walk down the aisle as the flower girl!

14 months and still crawling

I don't know if it's because she's subborn or she has impossibly long legs, but our Petite Lulu is refusing to walk, well that is until today! She took three steps towards Mommy and felt very proud of herself. She has become rather skilled at standing on her own without the aid of any prop, but hadn't been able to kick it into forward gear.

Lu is laughing lots and finds humor in ordinary things. She's becoming an artist now, her chosen medium is felt tip which inevitablely ends up all over her face and hands too. Thank goodness for washable ink. She spent her first few art sessions interested only in removing and replacing the caps of the pens. Once she tired of that, began to set pen to paper.

Mama is her favorite word now when she wants something, or doesn't know what she wants and is deciding to just be cranky. Dada is her happy word. Go figure!

Happy Mother's Day

Lucienne made a Mother's Day gift for her Mama at the créche! It's a beautiful little tree with a sweet poem written on the back called, "Bonne Fete Maman". I tell you that it melted my heart when I picked her up at the créche and she handed it to me. What a sweet little girl.

DeeDee is the Best!

Lucienne really got to know her cousin Dylan on our trip to Collioure. She was very interested in everything that he did and they played together like best buds! We rented a cute little apartment just steps from the beach and castle. The town of Collioure is Über-cute! Gramma J spoiled us with love and ice cream and we almost couldn't bare to see her and DeeDee leave.

We ate many great French meals of fish with a Catalonian flair, but our favorite meal was crepes made a ton of different ways. Kevin was loving the wine and opportunities abounded with vineyards everywhere. In fact there was a winery in a converted monastary near our apartment. It was everything we could to not to pick up the phone and quit our jobs to retire early in enchanting Collioure.

On a day trip we visited another town across the border in Spain called Cadaqués after a long winding trip in the car during which Lucienne got sick...again! We took the plane back to Brussels from Carcassonne, but before leaving we had a chance to tour the authentic medieval walled city, one of the biggest in Europe! What a wonderful trip and a very special 38th birthday for me.

Lulu turns One!

Lucienne turned one on our vacation to the French Pyrénées. We rented a house in near the little town of Ercé with cousins Michelle and Axel and Niall and Norah. Norah baked Lu a birthday cake, an amazing feat since we had a very sparce kitchen in the cabin. It was the first refined sugar infusion that Lu had been exposed to and boy it did the job. She was buzzing around for hours and topped off with a sugar hangover. We woke up to a vomit covered baby and travel cot.

Our first weekend of vacation was filled with celebration as the Sunday was then Easter. Norah brought Easter baskets for everyone and all contributed to making a tasty Easter brunch. We even attended the Easter mass in the little village church.

We weren't expecting to be snowed in during our visit, but it added to the ambiance of the place since the house was in fact a converted mountain stone barn. Just in time to meet Gramma Jan and Dylan the snow melted and we drove to Toulouse to pick them up. We said good bye to our mountain hut in Ercé and to Michelle, Axel, Niall and Norah and headed to Collioure and the blue, sunny Mediteranean.

I'm a Skypin' Pro

Lu is almost one year old! She is developing very fast! She crawls now like a pro all over and is very confident about standing and walking (with help of course), but she can stretch from one prop to another. She’s stood momentarily on her own when she’s distracted by something. Her language is coming along too. She barks at puppies and knows when she sees one that she makes a barking sound. She likes to chase mommy around and loves peek-a-boo. She’s always looking through her books and points at everything! She makes a little questioning sound and points like she’s saying ‘what’s that?’ Skyping with family is one of her favorite things to do and she’s started ‘brushing’ her teeth on her own now.

February Break

During the lent break Feb. 11-15 Lu learned to stand up on her own. She pulls herself up in her crib and on the couch and walks when we hold her hands. She likes to copy what we do. Really likes to make sounds with her tongue. She is also a little temperamental and can get frustrated when she can’t do something. Is the beginning of temper tantrums?

Waving Bye-bye

It’s Feb 12th and Lu says da-da deliberately to her daddy. She also waves bye-bye when we say bye-bye to her. She waved to her bath toys when Mommy said bye to each of them today. She also waved today at people leaving the café we were having breakfast at. She climbs onto her knees and can stand unassisted (holding something), but can’t pull up to sanding on her own consistently (although she has twice on the couch and once using her new car seat.) She’s been sick since Christmas off and on, but has kept her good humor. She likes to roar and copies us when we do too. She still really likes fruit and cheese and will now eat veggies if they are boiled in flavor (bouillon). She knows her name when we call her too. She will clap when someone is doing it on TV. She points at things and says, “dat” like the birds in the round-about outside the crèche.

Puppies!

Lu can play peek-a-boo now on January 23 when I was waiting in the doctor’s office waiting room she lifted up the blanket over her face to mimic me playing peek-a-boo. She really loves her doggie house with her 5 soft doggies. She scoots around like a seal but no crawling. She can stand on her own holding on to something and pulls herself up on her own. She is feeding herself now and would rather do that than be fed. She likes chicken, avocado, and especially cheese. On January 29 Dada saw Lu pull herself up to standing without help from anyone. She used the back of the couch to get to the plant behind the couch. She also will kiss the puppy when I ask her to. She’s no longer crying when we drop her off at the crèche. On the weekend of January 19 we visited Paris, Lu's second time there, for Cousin Michelle's birthday. She had fun partying at the bar with all the adults!

Here Comes Santa Claus

After our trip to Vancouver for Christmas Lu have been doing lots of new tricks. She must have wanted to keep up with her cousin Rielly. On New Year’s Eve she clapped for the first time. We have been working on this for quite a while. She always yells when she claps because when I would show her I’d always saw Yahhhh or Bravo so it seems she can’t clap without making noise! Lu can also sit up on her own from a laying position. She is also scooting forward and using her knees some…ALMOST crawling. As soon as we got home to Brussels she started scooting around the house attacking everything she could get her hands on. She is also pulling herself up almost to standing using the high chair. Boy does she have some intense upper body strength! She is also finding little pieces of lint and such on the floor and is intent on eating them! Lu still is so good natured, hardly ever crying. She loves people, and will go to anyone. The French stewardess on the plan from Portland to Frankfurt wanted to take her home. She smiles at everyone and yells to get people’s attention. She knows her name and will turn her head towards you when you say it. She goes to the crèche tomorrow since it’s my first day back. She has a little cough she most likely got from Rielly so hopefully it doesn’t get any worse.