REady for Tour de France

this is an old one...taken back in october.

'Breakdancing'

The boys are quite obsessed with breakdancing, incorporating various styles of modern, tap, ballet, gymnastics, jazz into it!

Joy!

When they are not pulling each other's hair or landing a mule kick to the face, they play quite nicely together!

Nelson, we are in love with him! He's cheeky and lovable, loves people and extremely kissable. He regards blowing raspberries as his solemn task, responding to the request with a grunt in accordance 'mmp'. When douwe gets home from work, he is often greeted by an insistent Nelson who is clear in his wordless demands to lie down, pull shirt up and let the belly out...

Kaemon's started at a new (his first preschool is closing down, hence the switch) preschool- and loves it! Sometimes he falls asleep unexpectedly...

Head, Toes, Nose nose nose

Nelson's nasally orientated version....

My Child Prodigy

He takes requests and improvises with the best of them. (thanks again to Ingrid for taking care of his musical career!)

Holiday week...episode 2

Parenting tip: Assuage feelings of guilt and inadequacy by material compensation.
Case Study: We relieved our guilt at abandoning the kids for the weekend by buying them presents.

Outcome: It worked!

Just kidding, of course we don't spoil the kids to make up for leaving them. But when the parents are on holiday, we do put them to work

Nelson GET TO WORK!!

The glassy look in their eyes is not due to drugs but the TV. Well, that's the drug of a nation.

Not afraid...

A (dubious) tribute to Sister Kathleen, our violin teacher (Jen, Ingrid and myself). I hope she appreciates the fact that we're still playing since it's impossible to appreciate anything else... Warning: turn the sound DOWN. C'mon, it's been 5 years since we've played together and our fingers aren't the nimble ones as when we were 10 year old prodigies scratching out Bach (at least ingrid has the advantage of having perfect pitch!! sorry ingrid, couldn't resist one more dig ;). Now we're just nearly 30/30-somethings scratching out Bach. Anyway it was fun (despite douwe and tom laughing about us going to band camp. Band camp was fun too). The musical equivalent of a not-too photogenic photo:

Ingrid visited and I had such a good time talking Australian, and meeting the backpacker that led her to go AWOL in Belgium. Jen, she's entering our competition (Denmark vs NL vs Belgium) but she's already lost a point since Vlaams-Dutch sounds much nicer than Dutch!

kaemon meets the big chicken, kaemon loses chicken

Apologies to the vegetarians, a chicken was harmed in the making of this film.

Panic ensues when the chicken time is over...methinks he's got a little touch for Drama.

First Encounters

planes trains and automobiles

Note the vehicle-appropriate noises and gestures. Budding Genius...

FIRST WORD!!!

Not mama, papa, milk, but..........

if you missed that, that was TRACTOR 3x, and then Ta-ta (the horn). The jury was undecided for a few days, but there is distinct enunciation and we are in agreeance: TRACTOR it is!!!

Oh yes, and a new hair-do! with the second one on the way, the old hairstyle was too high-maintenance!

Bedtime

Text book instructions: create rest, a calm environment, and quiet time before going to bed...otherwise kaemon gets hysterical!

CARS

long one but too lazy to edit. he's obsessed with wheelie things, he loves this book from uncly hanoi and aunty afern

Not exactly first words but nearly!

Coming to get that raisin!!!!

The first contribution after his long absence from the computer screen, and it's a cracker! His father says, exchange the raisin for a football and he's going to make us milions!

Don't knock his style, he's only been walking for a few days!!! Let the record show (as parents will tend to forget these things after a few weeks) that his first steps were 1 year and 1 week after his birth!

just like daddy

Blllllllllth

Road Rage

Still must learn turning, 3-point turning, reversing, rage control!