Proud mummy moments

Today Nico is 2 years, a month and a day old. I have less than 2 months till the big day.

Went to a shop yesterday and the Asian attendant pointed out that Bean could have been born the year of the Tiger had Bastiaan and I had waited another 2 weeks. So I guess we'll have a little ox on our hands (better start reinforcing the furniture), and either a Capricorn or an Aquarius.

She's still quietly bubbling away under my skin. I'm starting to think that I've watched way too many horror movies. Watching my abdomen freakishly move like this, there just isn't a single time that I don't think of one movie or another where some monster parasite rudely bursts out of its host's body (anyone ever wondered why they always come out the front of the chest or the stomach, and never sideways or through the back?).

Dreamt last night that I gave birth at 29 weeks. Funny (or worst?) bit is that I was so focused on eating some foie gras (which I didn't even get round to before waking up!) that Bean's prematurity didn't really register.

Reflux is getting bad, it only takes 2 chocolate biscuits now :(

Joined the Growing Up in NZ study. Not really off to a good start, they called me so often even before the first interview it was painful. Better be worth it.

Nico's learning his manners pretty well. It only took a banana smoothie to teach him to say 'More' and a handful of grapes for him to understand that 'Pwease' goes a long way when 'More' by itself doesn't work. Cheese cubes took care of the 'Thank you' bit.

When Nico was a few months old we signed up with the Mangere Bridge toy library, and one way or another I ended up being the Committee's secretary. Had an interview with one of the journalists to promote the library, and of course we needed a model to show that the toys are fun. Yes, even stunned mullets have fun.

In the latest edition of Little Treasures magazine (Dec 09 / Jan 10). Even with the toys, it was incredibly hard to get Nico to stay on the green screen by himself, he just wasn't up for collaboration that day.

Daddy and I were cooking (well to be accurate I was cheffing and Bas was kitchen aiding) when every so often we heard in the background a little voice going 'bloow...' 'bloow...'

It didn't even occurred to me that before one learns to blow one's nose, one should first learn to tear off toilet paper.

Oh well you've got to start somewhere.

Apparently he should have 50 words to his vocabulary now. I wonder whether counting to 10 in 4 languages counts as 40 words, and the alphabet as 26, or would that be cheating? Let's count...

1. Family members: Papa, Mama, Ngoai, Oma, Thijs, Babiche, Karin (ok Karin's not a family member per se, but Nico sees her often enough to recognise her name)
2. Animals: dog, cat, fish, bird, frog, bug, chicken, horse, sheep, cow, duck, pig, butterfly, elephant, crocodile, snake, spider, bear, zebra, giraffe, bee, lion, monkey, rabbit, wolf
3. Food: cheese, grapes, banana, apple, pear, chicken (whoops I don't think he quite realises what it means), kiwifruit, dip
4. Objects: car, truck, slide, socks, shoes, shirt, phone, book, doll, tree, fork, toothbrush, bubbles, nappy
5. Body parts: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, tummy, teeth
6. Common words: hello, bye bye, yes, no, more, please, thank you, up, down, baby
7. Verbs: sit, drink, pipi, caca, sleep
8. Plus whatever word he manages to mumble when singing along. But I can't quite make them out.

I think that should cover the 50 words. Too late to count, I'm going to bed while Bean's asleep and won't keep me awake hugging my bladder.

Happy 2nd birthday Nico!

Today Nico is 2 years, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

77 days to go till Bean stops playing havoc with my internal organs and starts working on my external bits (nipples, eyelids, ear drums,...)

Checking out the quilt that Oma Yoke made for his 2nd birthday.

On his actual birthday (29 October) we got him a little monkey moonchair, which he snuggles into to watch DVDs.

Last Sunday we celebrated Nico's 2nd birthday at home.

We had friends & family over, and of course more food and drinks than we could handle.

Fletcher, Elisa, Eliah, Nico and Finn discovering the bubble machine

and how not to shampoo a carpet.

Eliah couldn't find falling snow flakes to eat,

so had to make do with bubble solution.

Elisa trying (and failing) to teach Nico the value of sharing his ride with the girls.

Ohmygosh look at all the colours!

Nicolas had a genuine try at helping me ensure that there would be no leftovers.

Briar got the idea - one plate in each hand...

Felt some pity for the parents, so we let the offspring out loose on the driveway with chalk and bubbles to work the sugar and colouring out. Failed abysmally with Catherine who didn't go to sleep till midnight despite her arm-flail (tm) workout.

Nico's got so many toys that we've decided to gradually open the rest of his birthday presents - at the rate of about a present every two days and so far he's loving the ones he's opened. You can tell by the fact that they're scattered throughout the house.

Still loving staying at Oma's, learning Dutch songs, feeding the chickens and going for swimming lessons. Oma (sorry - Oma Yoke) has discovered the hard way that regular disposable nappies are meant to absorb and retain large amount of liquids. Seems I missed out on the sight of a Nicolas dragging a water-logged nappy inside his swimming shorts. Lucky for her, Nico didn't eat prunes or kiwifruit the night before.

Nico's been staying at Oma's every Monday night while Mummy and Daddy learn how to cook Thai dishes. His favourite so far is the money bags - like fried wontons. Separation time seems to get easier as time goes by. I'm sure that the fact that he's occupied with dessert when we say bye-bye has got nothing to do with it.

Bean is being way more active than Nico was. It's pretty distracting and dare I say disturbing to look down at my beer gut and see ripples on its surface every so often. Must not think of Aliens... Must not think of Aliens...

She's growing so well that when Nico comes up close to my legs and hugs me, his first words are not Mama, or even Cheese. Instead he says Baby - that'd be because that's all he sees when he looks up...