Hier enkele recente favorieten:
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| Family picture on Santa Monica Beach |
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| Lily loves hugging Ennio... in the bathtub... |
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| ... on the couch... |
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| Walking hand in hand... |
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| Ennio loves to brush his teeth! |
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| One of my favorites: Lily decorating "her" Christmas tree! |
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Nog een paar leuke Instagrams...
Met mijn iPhone maak ik zoveel foto's dat ik het gewone cameratoestel bijna niet meer bovenhaal. De kwaliteit van de foto's is natuurlijk niet hetzelfde... Maar met de Instagram-app valt dat niet zo op, integendeel!
Hier enkele recente favorieten:
Hier enkele recente favorieten:
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
What more could you be thankful for if you have this?
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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| Ennio |
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| Lily |
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Lily's class photos 2012!
She changed so much since last year! From the cutest toddler to a pretty little girl! (pardon me, that should read BIG girl!!!)
And here is her class picture. She has a new teacher: Ms. Catherine (top right). There are a lot of new kids in the class. About half of last year's kids left for Kindergarten. The majority of the kids is now 3 to 4 years old (only a few 5 year olds).
And here is her class picture. She has a new teacher: Ms. Catherine (top right). There are a lot of new kids in the class. About half of last year's kids left for Kindergarten. The majority of the kids is now 3 to 4 years old (only a few 5 year olds).
Lily's class - October 2012
vlnr: 1e rij onderaan: Felix, Isabella, Lena, Ashby, Lucas, Harlem, Julian, Isadora
2e rij: Peyton, Morgan, Tesla, Daphne, Jackson, Rocky, Maggie, Lily, Benito
3e rij bovenaan: Assistant Teacher Lisa, Jasper, Everett, Lola, Sofia, Nahla, Carlos, Teacher Catherine
Thursday, November 15, 2012
18 month & 4 yr old check-up
We went to the doctor's office yesterday for Ennio's 18 month and Lily's 4 year old check-up.
Stats:
Lengte: 87,5 cm (94e percentiel) (ruim 4 cm gegroeid op 3 maanden)
Gewicht: bijna 15 kg!!! (98e percentiel) (1,5 kg bijgekomen op 3 maanden)
Hoofdomtrek: 50 cm (90e percentiel) (+ 1 cm erbij)
Ter vergelijking: Op 18/19 maanden was Lily 86 cm groot, woog ze 12,2 kg en was haar hoofdomtrek 48 cm. Ze woog pas 15 kg toen ze 3 jaar oud was!
Length: 34 1/2 inches (94th percentile) (he grew almost 2 inches in 3 months)
Weight: 32 pounds 8 oz (98th percentile) (+ 3 pounds 4 oz in 3 months)
Head circumference: 20 inches (90th percentile) (+ 3/4 inch)
Conclusion: A very big boy! But length and weight are in proportion, so it's all good :-)
Skills:
Ennio has been walking since he turned 16 months.
He is drinking his own bottle and (trying to) feed himself with a spoon (--> big messes in the kitchen!!!) The doctor wants us to get him off the bottle and have him drink everything (water AND milk) from a sippy cup. Not sure why the bottle is sooo bad... Lily had her bottle for ages... And Ennio really LOVES his bottle before going to sleep. It is such a big part of his nighttime routine. We will see how we will tackle this...
Talking about sleep. We cannot complain on this front. He goes to bed easily (between 7 and 7:30 PM) and usually sleeps through the night until 6:30 AM. Yes, we have another early bird in the house!
His language skills seem a little bit behind. His vocabulary is still very limited. It's still a lot of "da da", "mama", "papa" and "nana" (for food), but this may be because he is exposed to several languages at home (and Spanish at the daycare) and because boys, apparently, are slower than girls. (Lily indeed did have a much broader vocabulary at this age, when I read back my blog!). The doctor was not too concerned about it (yet?) but advised to TALK TALK TALK to him - all the time - so he would pick up as much as possible...
I also had to fill in a questionnaire to assess Ennio's risk for autism spectrum disorder (M-CHAT). Everything looked fine, except the one fact, as mentioned above, that he does not fully understand yet what we tell him. But - as it was just this one fact - the doctor was not too worried about it.
Vaccines: He got his hepatitis A and Flu shot.
Stats:
Lengte: 107 cm (94e percentiel) (bijna 10 cm gegroeid op 1 jaar)
Gewicht: 17,2 kg (78e percentiel) (+ 2 kg)
Length: 42 1/4 inches (94th percentile) (she grew almost 4 inches in the last year)
Weight: 38 pounds (78th percentile) (she gained 4.5 lbs)
Perfect growth spurt and weight gain! The doctor was happy!
Blood pressure and Vision were also checked and tested normal.
The doctor asked Lily a series of questions (Are you a boy or a girl? Can you count to 20? What were you dressed up as on Halloween? What color is this, and this, and this?) Easy peasy for Lily! She's developing normally for her age.
And then... the vaccination shots!!!
Vaccines: MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella booster shot), Varicella (chicken pox or windpokken), and a Flu shot.
The nurse gave Lily her shots first, and our poor girl just cried and cried and cried "AWWW. IT HURTS" (apparently, the MMR and Varicella shots are very painful, according to the nurse).
Then it was Ennio's turn and Lily just kept on crying "NO NO NO". I told her, it was all done, but Lily just cried: "NOOOO, SHE IS GOING TO HURT MY BROTHER. IT HURTS!!!" It was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time that she was so worried and caring about her brother! My mother heart was melting! Even the nurse was touched by it and felt so bad she now had to poke Ennio's little arms! Of course, he also cried, but his grief was over pretty quickly. Lily on the other hand was still hurting at night, when I touched her arms! She never wants to see that doctor again, she said ;-)
All in all, they behaved really well. So proud of my little boy and big girl!
P.S. Some additional facts:
Yes, sweetheart, 4 year old girls are big girls!!!
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| ENNIO |
Stats:
Lengte: 87,5 cm (94e percentiel) (ruim 4 cm gegroeid op 3 maanden)
Gewicht: bijna 15 kg!!! (98e percentiel) (1,5 kg bijgekomen op 3 maanden)
Hoofdomtrek: 50 cm (90e percentiel) (+ 1 cm erbij)
Ter vergelijking: Op 18/19 maanden was Lily 86 cm groot, woog ze 12,2 kg en was haar hoofdomtrek 48 cm. Ze woog pas 15 kg toen ze 3 jaar oud was!
Length: 34 1/2 inches (94th percentile) (he grew almost 2 inches in 3 months)
Weight: 32 pounds 8 oz (98th percentile) (+ 3 pounds 4 oz in 3 months)
Head circumference: 20 inches (90th percentile) (+ 3/4 inch)
Conclusion: A very big boy! But length and weight are in proportion, so it's all good :-)
Skills:
Ennio has been walking since he turned 16 months.
He is drinking his own bottle and (trying to) feed himself with a spoon (--> big messes in the kitchen!!!) The doctor wants us to get him off the bottle and have him drink everything (water AND milk) from a sippy cup. Not sure why the bottle is sooo bad... Lily had her bottle for ages... And Ennio really LOVES his bottle before going to sleep. It is such a big part of his nighttime routine. We will see how we will tackle this...
Talking about sleep. We cannot complain on this front. He goes to bed easily (between 7 and 7:30 PM) and usually sleeps through the night until 6:30 AM. Yes, we have another early bird in the house!
His language skills seem a little bit behind. His vocabulary is still very limited. It's still a lot of "da da", "mama", "papa" and "nana" (for food), but this may be because he is exposed to several languages at home (and Spanish at the daycare) and because boys, apparently, are slower than girls. (Lily indeed did have a much broader vocabulary at this age, when I read back my blog!). The doctor was not too concerned about it (yet?) but advised to TALK TALK TALK to him - all the time - so he would pick up as much as possible...
I also had to fill in a questionnaire to assess Ennio's risk for autism spectrum disorder (M-CHAT). Everything looked fine, except the one fact, as mentioned above, that he does not fully understand yet what we tell him. But - as it was just this one fact - the doctor was not too worried about it.
Vaccines: He got his hepatitis A and Flu shot.
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| LILY |
Lengte: 107 cm (94e percentiel) (bijna 10 cm gegroeid op 1 jaar)
Gewicht: 17,2 kg (78e percentiel) (+ 2 kg)
Length: 42 1/4 inches (94th percentile) (she grew almost 4 inches in the last year)
Weight: 38 pounds (78th percentile) (she gained 4.5 lbs)
Perfect growth spurt and weight gain! The doctor was happy!
Blood pressure and Vision were also checked and tested normal.
The doctor asked Lily a series of questions (Are you a boy or a girl? Can you count to 20? What were you dressed up as on Halloween? What color is this, and this, and this?) Easy peasy for Lily! She's developing normally for her age.
And then... the vaccination shots!!!
Vaccines: MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella booster shot), Varicella (chicken pox or windpokken), and a Flu shot.
The nurse gave Lily her shots first, and our poor girl just cried and cried and cried "AWWW. IT HURTS" (apparently, the MMR and Varicella shots are very painful, according to the nurse).
Then it was Ennio's turn and Lily just kept on crying "NO NO NO". I told her, it was all done, but Lily just cried: "NOOOO, SHE IS GOING TO HURT MY BROTHER. IT HURTS!!!" It was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time that she was so worried and caring about her brother! My mother heart was melting! Even the nurse was touched by it and felt so bad she now had to poke Ennio's little arms! Of course, he also cried, but his grief was over pretty quickly. Lily on the other hand was still hurting at night, when I touched her arms! She never wants to see that doctor again, she said ;-)
All in all, they behaved really well. So proud of my little boy and big girl!
P.S. Some additional facts:
- Lily is currently in her "WHY?"-phase. She asks us "but why???" at least 100 times a day! I'm happy she's so curious in nature but it is exhausting!!!
- Other phrases she repeatedly says now: "When I was a little girl, ..." (and then she makes something up, like: I didn't have much hair.) And then: "But now I'm a big girl, ..." (and I have long hair like Rapunzel!)
- It even goes so far that she gets mad at me when I call her my sweet little girl. She says: "NO mom, I am a BIG girl!!!"
Yes, sweetheart, 4 year old girls are big girls!!!
First bike ride!
We gingen maandag 12 november naar het Silver Lake Reservoir omdat er rondom het meer een fietspad is dat ons perfect leek voor Lily's eerste fietspoging (met steunwieltjes, maar toch!)
In het begin was het wat wennen. Ze keek voortdurend naar haar voeten in plaats van voor zich uit te zien en te sturen!!! Ik liep naast haar en moest nogal bijsturen zodat ze niet in elke boom naast het pad belandde! Maar na een kwartiertje had ze het door. En glunderen dat ze deed! Nu kan ze niet wachten tot we nog eens gaan fietsen!
In het begin was het wat wennen. Ze keek voortdurend naar haar voeten in plaats van voor zich uit te zien en te sturen!!! Ik liep naast haar en moest nogal bijsturen zodat ze niet in elke boom naast het pad belandde! Maar na een kwartiertje had ze het door. En glunderen dat ze deed! Nu kan ze niet wachten tot we nog eens gaan fietsen!
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| Voila. Zo was het dus: naar de voeten kijken ipv vooruit en mij dus bijna omverrijden!!! |
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| Tijd voor een pauze! |
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| Ennio en Lily! |
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| En hier is ze er eindelijk mee weg! |
Birthday Party!
Zondag was het dan eindelijk zover! Het verjaardagsfeestje! Hier keek Lily al lang naar uit. Er waren 12 kindjes uitgenodigd bij ons thuis. We hadden Lily zelf laten kiezen en zo kregen we Lola, Lilly, Daphne, Jasper, Everett en Jackson (vriendjes van in haar klas), Luka & Ilan, Zoé & Elise, en Nicki & Valentina bij ons over de vloer. We hadden ook een springkasteel gehuurd dat net in onze tuin paste (van O&H Jumpers, een kleine party-winkel bij ons in de buurt, voor 60 USD wat ik nog een redelijke prijs vind. Hier zie je dit op quasi elke birthday party - is dit ook zo populair in België?)
Het springkasteel werd rond 10u 's morgens geleverd en opgezet en Lily vond het natuurlijk de max!
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| Lily in her jumpy castle! |
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| Auntie Pamela joined in the fun! |
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| Our patio set-up. We rented a little kids table and chairs too! |
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| Ennio and Lily can't wait until the guests arrive! |
Our first guest arrived around 12:30. I had ordered sandwiches and pastries from Porto's Bakery and had made banana squash soup (to stay in the season...). There was also a selection of cheeses, shrimp, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs to make your own "smørrebrød" (since we went to Copenhagen, I try to incorporate the healthy Danish way of living into our diet ;-) Last year, it was all about Italian food. I guess that is how I keep the holiday feeling lingering into our household!)
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| The food table! |
Another typical California birthday ritual is the "piñata". A piñata is a container made of papier-mâché, and filled with candy, and then broken as part of a ceremony or celebration. Lily wanted a Rapunzel piñata for her birthday (which we found at Party City). The day before the party, we filled up Rapunzel's "tummy" with candy and she had so much fun doing that. The kids loved busting the piñata as you can tell from the photos!
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| Lola busting while her mom Lori is trying to cover the other kids! |
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| Luka is going for it! |
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| Valentina's turn! |
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| After the pinata is broken, the kids are jumping on the floor to collect all the candy that fell out! |
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| Birthday cake! |
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| Lily is going for the chocolate plate with "Happy Birthday" on it. |
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| Lola, Lily, Daphne and Zoé at Lily's drawing table. |
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| Lily with another forced smile :-), Daphne (who has the exact same birthday as Lily!!!) and Zoé. |
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| Lily outside playing with Valentina. |
Friday, November 09, 2012
Happy 4th Birthday, Lily!!!
Een leuk filmpje van vanmorgen, voor we naar school vertrokken...
Lily kreeg van ons (met medewerking van Oma en Opa) een fiets voor haar 4e verjaardag! Volledig verdiend, want de voorwaarde was wel dat ze definitief afstand zou doen van haar tut/Schnulli en dat heeft ze ook gedaan. Het is al 3-4 weken, geloof ik, en de tut komt zelfs nooit meer ter sprake. Finito!
Ook Ennio is gek van de fiets, en dan vooral de bel! Let ook op, hoe hij op een bepaald ogenblik begint mee te wiegen met de muziek. Zo schattig!
Het was een leuke dag. Kort verslagje volgt nog.
En hier is het verslag!
Ik had de dag vrij, dus konden we op het gemak opstaan en ontbijten in plaats van de gewoonlijke rush om op tijd op crèche, school en werk te geraken. Dat was al een feest! Plus natuurlijk de ballonnen, kaartjes, verjaardagscupcake met 4 kaarsjes en... de fiets!
Na het ontbijt vertrokken we naar Lily's school. We hadden chocolade cupcakes mee voor de klasgenootjes, die Lily en ik de avond voordien gebakken hadden (volgens dit recept). Ze waren heel geslaagd! Vervolgens mocht ik aanwezig zijn bij Lily's "Celebration of Life". Dit is iets wat juf Catherine organiseert telkens er een kindje verjaart. "A Celebration of Life is a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday by honoring a child's life and accomplishments. If possible, please find a picture for each year of their life and write a short life story to be brought in to school for this celebration. We ask that you let your child participate in selecting pictures and writing his or her life story for this celebration." Ik had het foto-album meegebracht dat ik van Lily's eerste levensmaanden en -jaren had gemaakt en vertelde een paar anekdotes aan de kinderen. Lily was zo trots! Na elk "jaar" moest ze in een cirkel rond de "zon" op de grond stappen tot ze aan jaar "4" kwam! Het hele gebeuren duurde maar een kwartiertje, maar het was toch heel leuk om mee te maken!
Ze voelt zich nu echt een "big girl". Vanmorgen zei ze vol verwachting: "I can go on ALL the rollercoasters now, because I'm a big girl now!". Echt haar vader, haha!
Het feesten is nog niet gedaan. Zondag is er nog een feestje bij ons thuis voor haar beste vriendjes. Happy Birthday, Lily!
Ook Ennio is gek van de fiets, en dan vooral de bel! Let ook op, hoe hij op een bepaald ogenblik begint mee te wiegen met de muziek. Zo schattig!
Het was een leuke dag. Kort verslagje volgt nog.
En hier is het verslag!
Ik had de dag vrij, dus konden we op het gemak opstaan en ontbijten in plaats van de gewoonlijke rush om op tijd op crèche, school en werk te geraken. Dat was al een feest! Plus natuurlijk de ballonnen, kaartjes, verjaardagscupcake met 4 kaarsjes en... de fiets!
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| 4 kaarsjes uitblazen! |
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| De geschenkjes uitpakken die ze van Oma Eva gekregen had, terwijl Ennio druk naar de ballonnen schreeuwt! |
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| Een heel blije meid! |
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| Op de fiets! (Er moeten nog steunwieltjes aan. De hadden we nog niet gemonteerd.) |
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| Hier bewondert Lily haar Rapunzel-ballonnen. |
Ze voelt zich nu echt een "big girl". Vanmorgen zei ze vol verwachting: "I can go on ALL the rollercoasters now, because I'm a big girl now!". Echt haar vader, haha!
Het feesten is nog niet gedaan. Zondag is er nog een feestje bij ons thuis voor haar beste vriendjes. Happy Birthday, Lily!
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Friday, November 02, 2012
Happy Halloween!
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| Happy Halloween! Tekening door Lily, tekst komt van mommy. |
Hier in de VS is het onmogelijk aan de Halloween-gekte te ontsnappen! We laten er ons met plezier door meeslepen, want de kinderen vinden het fantastisch!
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| Our little mermaid! |
Lily was dit jaar een zeemeermin. Ennio hebben we niet verkleed... hij voelde zich nl. niet 100% en was maar wat blij dat hij gewoon zijn pyjama aanmocht. We trokken woensdagavond naar het park bij ons in de buurt en genoten van de betoverende figuren en decoraties.
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| With the scarecrows and cows! |
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| Talking to the clowns... |
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| Bubble blowing clowns! |
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| Lily gets a blessing from the Queen! |
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| Ennio too. Of course he tried to grab the staff! |
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| With the butterfly fairy! |
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| Pumpkin! |
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| Graveyard |
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| Scary skeletons... sunbathing :-) |
Na een uurtje hadden we alles gezien en vertrokken we naar huis. Zo kon Ennio op tijd naar bed (rond 19u00). Ik vrees dat hij bij de onthaalmoeder zijn eerste virus van de winter heeft opgedaan... Lily was gelukkig wel goed in form. Ik maakte nog pompoenlasagne (h-e-e-r-l-i-j-k!!!) waar we allemaal van smulden en toen was het tijd voor bed!
Good night!
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