Late Night in Amsterdam

LLC started off 2012 with a few more imaginary stamps in her passport when we packed our bags and drove to The Netherlands for the PhD Conferral of my dear confidant, wedding photographer and friend TVC.  She's Dutch, and now she's a Doctor!

TVC's folks kindly offered us a room in their house just outside Amsterdam.  Kind, generous, and as experienced short-term foster care providers for babies and young toddlers, they welcomed us with open arms and we could not have asked for a more child-friendly and relaxing base.  LLC received scores of attention and food, discovered the joys of the iPad and made a great friend in TVC's sister D.  Chris and I were gifted a child-free outing to The Hague for some history (Peace Palace, home to the ICJ), art (Mauritshuis) and hot chocolate.  We also visited the interactive natural history Museum Naturalis in Leiden with LLC where she posed with a gorilla and clambered over rock and earth exhibits.

Then to top off all the excitement, LLC attended her first academic ceremony in the company and saving grace of raisins and partied until late in Amsterdam.  Not too shabby for an almost 2 year-old.

I really enjoyed catching up with TVC, her boyfriend, family and friends that I've gotten to know over the years.  LLC drank in the experience with her usual adaptability and interest in the new.  I've always said she is spirited, but with this phase of toddler-hood this spirit seems continually on the rise.  I'll leave you with this image.

It's after 9pm and we are in a bar in Amsterdam post PhD officiations.  LLC has had a long day of ceremonies and celebration and is full on couscous and apple pie but showing no signs of tiredness.  Chris and I turn our backs for only a moment and turn around to find her charging at TVC's boyfriend's grandma with wielding a balloon and roaring.  It's a friendly but aggressive roar and we need to move quickly to restrain her.  Fortunately grandma takes it in good spirits.  We choose that moment to bundle a protesting LLC into her stroller and break through the bar's buzz into the crisp January night.  It takes a 20 minute walk down and around one of the Central Canals for LLC to drop off.  Chris and I smile at her defiant lips, pursed in sleep and enjoy our quiet family moment. 

Then baby #2 starts to pummel me from within and I need to pee, so we dash back to the bar.

Trip, Teeth, Tears, Toddling, Time...

We’re fresh off a holiday to South Wales with Chris’ folks and I feel much refreshed for it. The end of April was a fun but busy muddle and it was invigorating to step away from daily life and into the undulating serenity of the Welsh coast. We stayed in a self catering cottage near to Llansteffan, which lacked both mobile phone reception and Internet access (shock, horror fellow bloggers!).

It was actually pretty refreshing to switch off from all online activity and chill, potter, read, explore the beautiful area and enjoy each other’s company away from every day stresses. The cottage where we stayed was very clean and well maintained, so if you are considering a venture to this part of the world let me know and I’ll pass on the details.

Aside from relaxing, here’s what we got up to:

Discovery
This part of the Welsh Coast is full little gems and following Easter and April bank holiday madness it was fairly un-crowded. Some of my highlights included a cliff/cave walk from Wiseman’s Bridge to Saundersfoot, walking with LLC in the water along the beach at Tenby (a delightful town full of mostly non-chain shops) and climbing up the ruins of the castle at Dinefwr. Llansteffan beach had a pokey looking fish & chin van that produced the finest of chips (when it was open), and there was a sheltered children’s playground with a unique see-saw-esque structure that I really enjoyed (picture to come). One evening Chris and I took a walk along Llangsteffan Beach around to Scott’s Bay. Overlooked by the mighty ruins of Llansteffan Castle and edged by deceptively serene mud flats for as far as the eye could see, this part of the beach remained hidden from the ocean and an all encompassing whooshing sound, similar to that you get when putting a sea-shell to your ear, were our only signs of the nearby sea. Magical.

Teeth & Tears
LLC’s first bottom right molar popped through right after we arrived in Wales, but by mid-week she had three more teeth cutting through her gums. We’ve been really lucky to date with teething but as multiple larger teeth made their entrance LLC clearly felt the rub. She kept sucking on her finger, drooling a bit and crying. She wasn’t herself and was clearly in pain. I had a little tube of Dentinox in my handy dandy bag of baby lotions and potions, but this wasn’t really doing the trick. In the end I visited a pharmacy in Tenby where they suggested I try Ashton & Parson’s teething powder. I had a few friends mention this is the past so we tried it and that, along with some cold cucumber and much loving from all parents and grandparents gradually did the trick.

Toddling
Since my last post about knee walking, LLC has been feet walking more and more, but still regularly speeding around on her knees. This changed when we arrived in Wales. Like the flick of a switch, she started more regularly toddling around and for the first time, seemed to suss that she could move just as quickly on her feet as on her knees. I took this moment to take her to a local children’s shoe store to have her fitted for shoes (when we went about 2 months ago her feet were only size 1 and too small for all the Clarks and Start-Rite shoes.) It transpired though her feet have grown, they are still too small for most of the shoes on the market. Has anyone else had this problem? If you have any suggestions of where I can source small shoes (or should I just wait) that would be great!

Time
Well they say time flies when you are having fun – in the midst of this all I officially joined the 30 club!

A Very British Weekend

It’s been a very British weekend in our neck of the woods. Here’s what we got up to:

The Royal Wedding – Most on both sides of the Atlantic either watched it live or have seen the footage, talked about it, blogged about it, etc. Chris had to work during the big event and though I always planned to watch it, I didn’t realize how much of an emotional chord it would strike with me. Sitting in my living room admiring Westminster Abbey in all its blooming glory and the wave of well-wishers making their way to Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to William and Kate, I felt a real pride for the British and the Royal institution. Even LLC took some time out of moving her stuffed animals around on her animal train to show her respects. My other highlights:

• Harry taking many a cheeky glance over his shoulder at Kate as she made her way up the aisle
• The locally sourced flowers / greens / trees adorning Westminster Abbey – gorgeous
• The BBC presenter that commented that “William is a very good driver,” as he chauffeured Kate off down the Mall in the Aston Martin – I don’t know if driving slowly down the empty Mall is really a test of driving skills but he could practically walk on water at that point
• Seeing two young people seemingly truly in love, pomp and circumstance aside

Then came Saturday. When the sun comes out and the temperature hits about 12 C, Brits seem to do one of three things: to the beach, have a BBQ, have a picnic. We went with the picnic option with friends in Greenwich Park. It really wasn’t warm enough for my sundress but I ploughed ahead with it, still delusional from the warm spell that came over the Easter weekend but decidedly exited this past week. So we had sunshine tempered by a slight chill mixed with friends, a ball, yummy picnic treats and bubbles followed by a drink at The Trafalgar pub on the river. A delightful afternoon for all of the family – LLC particularly liked taking one bite out of each item of our picnic food and then discarding it, along with sticking her fist into the middle of a quiche.

Next, the cricket tour. Oh yes, cricket in action. You may know that Chris used to play cricket for a league team, which consumed the every Saturday for the best part of the year and left me a cricket widow! (Though I hasten to add that he stopped this of his own accord). Anyway, Chris still plays from time to time with a mainly touring team so off we all went to Norfolk to introduce LLC to the sport. Spectator enjoyment of cricket, to me, depends on having fine chat, fine wine and other general distractions to my disposal. We had even better this weekend with all of the above integrated into a family friendly weekend that involved just one game of cricket.

The tour kicked off with a delicious seafood lunch just beyond Cromer (at a crab house manned by a fine but fierce lady – if I could only do justice in painting a picture of her hunting down a wayward smoker on her premises, or shooing out customers who headed for their table too early....) followed by a paddle on the beach and then garden sports for all of the family on the grounds of the large Hall where we were all staying. There were a few other children in the mix with LLC, and she certainly had no shortage of adult attention either as she tucked into crabs, practiced her walking during a rounder’s game, waved to daddy on the cricket pitch and sat reading magazines with the ladies.

So overall a very British weekend, but also a very social weekend, which is something that is important to Chris and me.  We promised ourselves we would try to integrate LLC into activities that we enjoy and this weekend it really felt that we are finding this new life balance where adult activity continues, enhanced by the little one we have on board.  

Misplaced fantasy…?

No, not THAT kind of fantasy, stay with me…sorry to disappoint. This fantasy was merely one of those stories that you make up in your head about people that you come across in day to day life. You must know what I mean. Someone strikes you and you put them into creative context in your head. You think up a little back story about them. For me, this is particularly fun for people I see day in day out, like fellow commuters. You can really get their vibe, and you can really think of some fun back stories.

There’s this one woman that used to always board the train with me every morning. I see less of her now working part-time, but I still see her. She’s professionally dressed but always with a bulky backpack and fluffy hat in the winter. She’s stern looking, and never cracks a smile. She’s the epitome of the commuter on autopilot who will run you down to get on the train and not give you second glance as she crushes your toes.

To me this woman screams all work, no play. She’s determined but has no softer side in sight. She probably works late hours and eats in the office. I doubt that she’s married, or that she even socializes much because of the strong standoffish air she exudes. I’m certain she’s successful, because she seems determined, but determined in the sense she puts her head down and does her thing, railroading her way to success as she does to get on the train.

But that’s just judgmental me. I know nothing about this woman; this is all just my little fantasy.

Then the other day, I saw said woman leaving a house with three relatively small children. They kind of look like her, in fact, wait a minute, it looks like they might be hers. She looks stern and un-amused as ever, but unless she’s aunt on babysitting patrol, I think this woman is their mum.

And that really surprised me, and brought me back to reality. I’m sure now that I’m in the “mom club” I find myself guessing who else is too. That lady that moved aside to make it easier for me to navigate the corridor with LLC’s pushchair – a mum. The woman that gave me a knowing smile as LLC chattered loudly on the train – likely to be a mum.

It’s like I think I have mom-dar when I don’t really know anything about these people. Is this really strange, or do you find yourself doing this too?

Back to my unlikely mum, my instincts do seem to have been correct in that she doesn’t come off as a jolly mum, even with her brood in tow. Chris and I have discussed her before and I got the following text message from him yesterday:

“Just saw that crone woman who pushes past people. She was with her family. Her poor kids were being moaned at by her!”

And that’s why Chris and I are married.