Gramma and Grampa arrived today and we enjoyed some club time where Frunts went to Karate and Pit played soccer with my folks. Afterwards, Grampa took the kids swimming while Gramma rested in the quiet room and I baked out in the sauna. Grampa said that Pit asked the following, with the innocence of childhood but with an adult size, question,

D:"Grampa, can I ask you a question?"

G:"Sure you can ask me anything?"

D:"Why don't you have any children?"

G:"You mean, like you?"

D:"Yes."

G:"I do."

D:"What are their names?"

G:"One is Kim, your mother. The other is..." and he said,

D: "Uncle Chris."

Grampa said: "this guy is burning holes in you with his gaze, they are like coles of coal, bam, you can't avoid him, you could never think of Pit or Frunts of trying to deflect him or get rid of him with some kind of aside and are too skilled...you can't fool with him...in thirty years of teaching, these two kids to me, I've said it before, they are great!"

Frunty had a day off today. Un jour pedagogique so I kept Pit home too so we could have fun together. The kids really wanted to stay home and I respected that, given that it was quite a rainy day anyway. We started with Hooked on Phonics and Pit sat beside us on the couch and repeated the sounds too, "ch", "sh", "wh" etc. Very cute.

Later in the day, Lisa came to get Watson as we had been babysitting him this past week so I took the opportunity to ask L to babysit while I did some errands. That was really helpful. I put a movie on: The Three Musketeers. I heard Pit later call them the Three Musketbeers in the park. After L left, I encouraged the boys to get on their horses and go to the park as they were dressed as chevaliers and doing sword fights. We took off, stopping at the butcher to get some "saucisson Billy" (cold cuts with teddy bears on them which they inhaled right then and there in the shop) and then went to Paradis Enfants despite the rain.

I was Princess Buttercup and the Musketbeers protected me from dragons and trogladytes and galloped around, hiding in bushes and the bamboo. They went through the magic tunnel, killing rats and spiders on the way, thus making the journey safe for future townspeople to travel through. Later we returned to the home of the trolls (chez nous) where it was safe and we could warm up and the kids helped me make rice balls, Japanese style.

I am glad that we got out for that hour and they were ready at that time to get some fresh air. Better get some rest now as Gramma and Grampa are arriving tomorrow morning for a week's holiday with us before they go on their boat cruise from Prague to Berlin. Guten Nacht.

We went to our neighbours for dinner tonight. We brought the dinner that the Mommy had been busy preparing all day and it was fantastic Thai cuisine. The boys really enjoyed playing with all the fancy toys of the other kids and played really well. But, we brought the little dog that we are babysitting and he was not as well behaved. He went number one and number two in the few short hours we were there!

I'm travelling for business in Italy (just 1 day). I spoke to Pit this morning by telephone - told him to go wake up his brother. Since this blog is about children - I wanted to share what I just experienced at the coffee bar this morning. It's 9:30am - in walks a man with his 2 young boys, he orders 2 cappucinos and a "Stravecchia" (grappa). The man chit chats about family with the barista - he explains that his boys are 12 and 8 years old and that he has 4 other boys at home and 2 girls. No wonder he needs to start his day with a shot!

Snow! This morning we have clear skies, a crisp wind, and a very light sprinkling of damp snow. Walking to school, the kids were happy, but there was so little of the white stuff that they didn't even try to make snow balls. The Mommy, on the other hand was less than pleased, and grumbled, "What's with this snow, man!". Pit's immediate response was, "Where's the snowman?".

Sunday, 8 March 2009

Written by Unknown at 17:34 0 comments

Today was actually sunny! And we made the best use of it parading around the Grand Place. After lunch with some Canadian friends, we walked around town enjoying the sights in sunshine. As usual, the boys run circles in the Grand Place and enjoy polishing the brass statue for good health. We even saw some special event at the Manneken "penis" where the little boy was peeing "beer" and some local group was pouring out beers from a keg in the street. All in all, a fun day out in Brussels.

Saturday, 7 March 2009

Written by Unknown at 13:28 0 comments

Today Frunty went to see the Disney Princesses On Ice. At the last minute, Pit and The Mommy were able to join him. They said the costumes and skating were beautiful. They saw Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Snow White and Belle meet their respective princes. And of course Minnie and Mickey were there too! What fun!