Sinterklaas

It is that time of the year again - Sinterklaas. All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas (the name is a corruption of Sint Nikolaas) lives in Spain. Exactly why he does remains a mystery, but that is what all the old songs and nursery rhymes say. Whatever the case may be, in Spain he spends most of the year recording the behaviour of all children in a big red book, while his helper Black Peter stocks up on presents for next December 5th. In the first weeks of November, Sinterklaas gets on his white horse, Peter ("Piet") swings a huge sack full of gifts over his shoulder, and the three of them board a steamship headed for the Netherlands. Around mid-November they arrive in a harbour town - a different one every year - where they are formally greeted by the Mayor and a delegation of citizens. Their parade through town is watched live on television by the whole country and marks the beginning of the "Sinterklaas season".

The old bishop and his helpmate are suddenly everywhere at once. At night they ride across Holland's' rooftops and Sinterklaas listens through the chimneys to check on the children's behaviour. Piet jumps down the chimney flues and makes sure that the carrot or hay the children have left for the horse in their shoes by the fireplace is exchanged for a small gift or some candy. During the day, Sinterklaas and Piet are even busier, visiting schools, hospitals, department stores, restaurants, offices and many private homes. Piet rings doorbells, scatters sweets through the slightly opened doors and leaves basketfuls of presents by the front door. How do they manage to be all over the Netherlands at once?

This year we made it to the Holmatro Sinterklaas party for the children. It went on for around 2 hours. Owen loved it. On arrival he had chocomel and a floor filled with ballons to play with. A while later Sinterklaas & the Piets arrived and each child had the opportunity to sit on Sint's lap. Owen preferred to try to fiddle with the PA buttons & knobs, see how many pepernoten (tiny ginger biscuits) he could find on the carpet and stuff in his mouth at once. A time of hide and seek was enjoyed by him and the daddy for some variation. At the end of event each child was given a gift. Owen got a fire engine with made 4 different siren noises. He was in his element.

Summer has arrived

The past week has been sunny, hot and most days have had 100% humidity. We have had to sleep with the shutters open a bit which means that the sun starts to stream in when the birds start singing which is around 4am. Owen has been waking up really early due to the heat and light, between 4.45am and 5.30am. He is encouraged to play with his small box of toys strategically placed on the table at the foot of his cot, so that the parents can gather strength to get out of bed.

It was every toy stores delight that the weather has been so hot. The sales of sand/water clams must have reached an all time high. Brendon and I bought Owen 2 clams for a sand pit (and the other as the cover) as he was beginning to use the garden as his sandpit. He loves his new activity. Our garden is becoming even more cluttered with all his stuff. We have put the sprinkler on a couple of times to water the grass and to cool him down. What a joy.

We have also been cycling in the evenings and he has loved this too. There are so many people, dogs and birds out and about which entertain him. He loves all the activity around him.

Queens Day

It is day 12 of Brendon's business trips which was split into 2 trips with 1.5 days of that being spent here at home. He is due home tonight with Evelyn and Evangeline. I cannot wait! I need to be left alone by the grubby biscuit paws of the little "sausage". During the 1.5 days home Brendon was jet-lagged and I was Owen-lagged. We were all a bunch of zombies with bad moods. Owen has 3 new teeth, I have 2 sets of matching luggage. I feel like I haven't sleep in weeks. Just when I shut my eyes it seems 2 hours pass and Owen is wailing in his bed. Yip, every 2 hours from 8.30pm to 5.30/6am. One has to love moments in life like this when you begin to question the reason for having children. Anyway, this stage too will pass.

Today is Queens Day. One of the two phenomenons in Dutch history, according to Wendy Morris. The other phenomenon is the annual pilgramage: camping with the caravan.
On Queens Day, which is to celebrate Queen Julianna's birthday (30th not being her birthday anyway), the Queen has allowed free trade. Now the Dutch don't need a big carrot to try to earn an easy Euro. All and sundry were out with their "spulle" aka "stuff" that is no longer needed. Wandering around this enormous flea market one cannot help but think Holland has a luxury problem. So much stuff! Maybe the recession has prompted many more to join the tables but I think making an easy Euro makes some of them tick. I was keen on the idea of doing this once before we left, if we ever do, but came to the conclusion 10 minutes later that this could be more energy draining than keeping Owen out of mischief on our outings. I've vitoed that idea. Anyway, I decided that Owen needed to have this experience as it is only once a year and after all he is a Dutchie himself. So off we went. He loved the loud noise and music and joined in unharmoniously with his dolphin decibel screeches much to the amusement of the old toppies hanging about. We passed stall after stall of stuff and by the time we got to the end I was pushing a bead and Owen was like "ok, this is boring now". We watched a bit of dancing and chatted to a couple of friends and then made our way home watching the flags waving in the wind as we walked.

Owen becomes the proud owner of a toy laptop

Owen is obsessed with our laptops. If one of them are open he prods and pokes every square inch of the machine and loves pressing the on/off button. So, on Brendons trip to America, he was bought a toy laptop that is for 3 year olds. He loves it. And guess which his favourite button is - yes, the on/off button. But this one has sound that you cannot switch off. We constantly hear "Hi there, lets play" or "Bye Bye". This is one more item that is added to the lounge decor. I have made a concious decision to scale down but it is difficult!

Our back garden - Owens paradise

He is still a very energetic little man who still LOVES the outdoors. He plays in the garden and looks for his friendly neighbours, Peggy and the Cat, through the slats in the fence. We spend more time at the local shopping area that has a pedestrian safe area where he can run around in, at the Liesbos where there are interesting leaves and sticks and bugs to investigate, and of course in our back garden where toys abound. We are enjoying the spring although some of the days feels like summer. The trees all have their new leaves and look really beautiful. The flowers are blossoming so there are lots of bees and bugs around now. Owen loves to pat the plants and has eaten all the petals off the one bush in the back garden. I do feed him, I guess he just needs another sort of texture!