The walk of life

A new mile stone for us, and especially for Esmee: she has taken her first independant steps! Walking has become her goal in life it seems! Not only has she been using almost anything in the room to walk along, walk behind, walk next to, or walk with (ie, our fingers, our legs, a stroller, a chair, Zoey)...she has now started braving the sense of balance! Wobbly as she still is on her own two little feet, she stands for alomst a minute without outside help, and braves up to ten steps in any direction, as long as someone is around to catch her if she falls. She's happiest with an adult finger in one hand as support, and a toy (knuffie) in the other... as such she'd take us miles if we let her :)

We took some new pictures this weekend:

Esmee with her two tiny pigtails (which aren't her favorites to have done), and playing with her toys (as you can see almost everything goes into her mouth), crawling around, and walking around the table

Zoey (after taking our her own ponytails has a wild due, in her African apron and chef's hat her hair seems ok again

Potty trained?

a real mommy's kid-story...if you're interested

I was wondering...when do you know to start potty training...Around here people say a kid takes its own intitiative and actually leads the way...As if a kid will say "mommy, I'm ready to be potty trained now!"
In our case I think we listened to Zoey's signals a bit too lightly. Around summer time, after we got back from our trip across the pond for Stefan and Genae's wedding, Zoey started wanting to use her potty, or sometimes the "big toilet" as she called it. We would let her do so before her nap and before bedtime, but didn't really encourage it for the rest.
After a chat with a friend who is an experienced mom with four kids of her own, and a bunch of nephews and nieces, and the fact that Zoey was wanting "to go" on the toilet more often, we took the plunge. And in no time she was diaper-free when awake! The first 2 or 3 days we had to remind her a lot, and at the end of the morning when she'd get really tired, she'd forget and be standing in a puddle of fluid, but after a week she did really well. She's now a dry three-year old! The next step will be figuring out when we need to start experimenting with nights! We'll postpone that for now though!!

Zoey's 3rd Birthday (Dec 14th)

photo 1: poppenhuis gekregen van papa en mama
photo 2: mijn kwarktaart, zelf versierd!
photo 3: African apron and American ovenmits. thanks opa en oma!
photo 4: flink verwend de hele dag: heel veel cadeautjes opengemaakt!

December shots: stoere meiden!

Sisters having fun, with their matching scarves,
made bij their aunt Sandra in hothot Sierra Leone!

Sunglasses in the winter?

We know they're upside down, but isn't she adorable anyway??

oh christmas tree oh christmas tree, how lovely are your home-made decorations!! Believe it or not, the tree managed to survive through 3-4 weeks without being crawled or walked into or plucked out by our youngsters!

photo update november 2007

Esmee met grote vriend Daniël (ennuh...zie je mijn ienieminie staartje?)

Chefs in the making!

Big sister Zoey loves helping out, and feeding her sister (when we let her)!

Oma heeft Sinterklaas ons niet voorbij laten gaan! Dan je wel oma! Vanuit Afrika heeft ze'm in Spanje ingeseind!