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.