Learning

Ice skating in Central Park

Thomas is learning a lot from Anna the super nanny. At least one hour a day he has one to one time with her whilst Jasper is asleep. They do all sorts of learnings together. Recently he has learned the whole Alphabet song and now they are starting to put the letters with it. Capital and small letters are explained as well. What I like is that he applies it when we are out and about. The lift for example when he asks which button he can press like M for mezzanine or L for Lower. Its really nice to see how eager he is to learn. Today we went ice skating. He has heard me talk about this and although he has never done it before he says, mummy I can ice skate as well! So there we go and let him have a go as well. At first he cannot even stand up straight but he is not afraid and learns whilst we show him, hold him and push him.

On deck of the Intripid

Obviously Jasper is learning a lot too. Last week he suddenly starts saying WHY? I thought it was a joke at first as he is not even 2, but it seems to persist after a few days. Animal is another new word and he is learning some colours as well. Most words in English but the colours in Dutch. His favorite colour is blauw (blue) whereas Thomas used to be yellow at that sort of age.

So even though they are not going to school at the moment, they are learning so much from the nanny and just pure life experience together with their parents.

74th street. 2 Anglo Dutch boys with their new cars

I want to do it

Jasper is rapidly approaching 2. In the last few weeks he is starting to show this. Terrible two's they call it and I am hoping not too lose my lovely comedy always cheerful son. He hasn't had any tantrums yet but is just showing he can do things himself now. Added to that is that he can now put all sort of words together and 'I want to do it' is a favourite! The fridge here in our New York apartment is big, takes up 1/3rd of the kitchen and is also very accessible. So Jasper takes your hand, leads you to the kitchen and open the fridge door to point to apple juice, chocolate milk or normal milk (never to the water tap strangely!). Then once I figure out what he wants to drink, I get a cup but he protests - no other colour cup! Then I want to do it.. We all the the oversized bottles here in America, and my 22 month old says he wants to poor this himself into a cup... should I? But if I don't we get crying. Ok then, let's do it together. It works for now but for how long before he really wants to do it all by himself. Just one of the many examples. Today in the park, he wants to go down a 2.5/3m slides all by himself and climb up and down the stone display. It's great to see him growing up and moving forward in life.

Jetlag

So its not all great and wonderful here. Jetlag is hard to cope with for kids as they don't know what is happening to them. At 4 years old Thomas is suffering the most. Up in the middle of the night or very early morning and wanting to play, strange eating times (again the middle of the night or just after having had breakfast), and just general misery are some of the signs. Only now at the end of the week I can see that really it was all jetlag and luckily he has returned to a lovely boy again (with occasional outbursts of course). Jasper at 22 months is not suffering too much. As he still sleeps during the day he quickly went back into a routine, I think even during the first day back. The only thing he suffers from is waking up a bit miserable as he probably wanted a few more hours sleep.

It feel like we are back to normal again now, and thankfully we have another 5 weeks here before we have to start all over again with another jetlag!

The travelling duo

Travelling in style from airport to hotel in Las Vegas

In the last month the boys have done another 4 flights. Las Vegas and UK both return. In fact on half of these journeys it was just the three of us; Thomas, Jasper and mummy. They certainly get to see a lot of the world at the moment. They actually really enjoy travelling as there is always a lot to see. I also think they are getting used to it which helps. The trick is to give them the right amount of attention, invent some games for the queues and also a new toy, I have found out recently, can go a long way. I have noticed attention is key as there is so much to see they have lots of questions, even if they don't ask them. Explaining what we are doing, have just done and what is next helps. It does help I speak Dutch to them as its great to talk about what you see or even who you are seeing! Little games that you invent are good as well. Even a small one like counting to twenty in at least two languages works (my Spanish is not as good as Thomas' so we have to work on that one). The best game is, of course, to get the Ipad out. That goes a long way. Games, videos and endless ways to press buttons. Usually gets a few looks especially when they see how Jasper (not even 2) manages to find his way around the options. Buying a new toy has worked very well for Thomas. It doesn't have to be expensive but the fact that its new works for quit some time and is especially helpful when you are not allowed to use electric device (and have to keep the little one entertained). Finally a friendly neighbour on the flight (so you can go to the loo with only one child or maybe even alone) and a nice stewardess with Calpol definitely helps! I am really not shy to ask for help anymore and at least you know on a flight that kids have limited options of where to go if they do run off! 

So there you go, some tips if you are flying on your own with kids (they may work for annoying husbands but I am not sure) - or alternatively just ask Nelly to do it for you!

Building Blocks

We have had a lot of fun building this week. We went back to the Imagination (http://imaginationplayground.org/parks/) playground with the blue blocks as it had been such a success a few weeks ago. As the weather was still nice this was perfect as they were playing with the blocks in the water making their own boat, as we had just been on the Staten Island ferry. Building blocks are so great for them to re-enact what experience they have had.

The other thing we did was go to the Lego store at Rockafella centre. They have some great New York landmarks that they have made out of Lego. The Rockafella Ice Ring, some statues (don't ask me all the details) and the/a big apple itself. We spend quit a bit of time just playing with all the Lego as there was a nice table there for them to explore what you could do with the Lego. Also the other kids were a good inspiration. We couldn't get away without buying some but then I did realise it's still cheaper than going to Legoland for the day!

Weekend of sightseeing

We had a busy weekend sightseeing. So busy in fact that on Monday the boys just wanted to play with their toys indoors. I just wonder what pleases them more is the activities or just playing together? I guess its a bit of a mix of both as they do get bored if you just keep them inside.

Central Park Zoo is only 10 streets away from our house so we decided we ought to check it out. We liked it so much we now have a year membership so we can go all the time or the nanny can take the boys. There were sea lions, penguins, monkeys and a leopard but where were the lions, zebra's and giraffe? We were sure these were in Central Park Zoo as we had watch Madagascar...! Anyway we enjoyed the animals and also the people watching. A hot Saturday afternoon with the family is enough pressure for some arguments (not our family of course) so there was lots to see and hear!

Long Island Beach was our second day trip last weekend as it was hot hot hot. We weren't very prepared so we had no beach towel, no lunch and most importantly no buckets and spades. Thomas managed to find a digger and some spades that some other boys must have left at the beach so we used those. It is amazing to see how quickly he makes friends as well. Is it the blond hair or do all kids do this? I just cannot remember from my youth! Lunch and beach towels were sorted out by our guest Jon. He apologised as the pizza's only came in one size... enormous! Exhausted after the a long day at the beach we did manage to lose daddy and his friend at Penn Station. This was not a nice experience as its such a busy station and hardly any taxis but luckily I had money so was able to take the boys home.

No wonder they were a bit tired on Monday.

So many playgrounds to explore

Imagination Play ground

We have been very busy this week exploring all kinds of different playgrounds. Last week I was disappointed because it took a long time to find this one play ground / field in Central Park. Obviously when I found it I was very happy as there was water play, sand and slides. But after some chats with people here and a run in Central Park I discovered we had misread the map (turned out playfield is not the same as playground) and there were lots of playgrounds. We explored 2 on Monday and they were both great. Thomas even managed to find a friend who followed him everywhere. Jasper got lost and I ended up having to follow him through the tunnels (not designed for adults, especially not wearing white trousers!). Later in the week we went to the much talked about Imagination playground where they let children design their own playground (http://imaginationplayground.org/). Whether it was the blue building blocks or the water and sand combination (always a success) this was a great day out. They build a water way which then turned into a ball maze. Jasper loved the horns which he used to play cars. And in the same week we also visited a playground by the River and there were 3 more trips to one of the playgrounds in Central Park. And I wonder why they are so happy this week and being so nice to their mummy?

Quiet please

My boys make a lot of noise but I can honestly say I haven't been able to hear them today. Well at least not on this trip to Times Square and Soho. Times Square is truly mad and very loud. I don't think I will visit again, especially not on my own with 2 small children (tried out the new buggy board which works very well). Maybe on a nice date to go and see a show but not like this again. I was so overwhelmed by all the buildings, people and of course mainly the ads. I cannot even begin to imagine what the boys thought. They seemed to make sense out of the chaos by looking for familiar things close by. I was told by Thomas not to walk in the water (ie blue painted pavement) for example. We went for lunch in Soho in a very lively trendy place. The music was so loud it was brilliant as we couldn't hear the boys. At last one lunch where we could focus on our food. But now back at home, can everyone please be quiet?

Water play in Central Park

Scootering on 74th Street

Once upon a time... there were 2 Anglo - Dutch boys who moved to New York. Thomas is 3 and a half and the youngest Jasper is 19 months. I am Nelly their mummy and would like to tell you all about their new adventures. They were both definitely aware there was something big going to happen. Thomas was talking about it a lot and knew he was going with daddy who had been to America so many times. Jasper also senses something was going to happen not at least by helping (un) packing the suitcases. They have both loved the adventure from the moment we left the house in the UK. They have so far loved exploring all the new spaces they have been in (the airport lounge, the airplane, big shops etc) and all the different buttons they can press. I have been amased how they cope with changes but then I guess as a child in your young life every day is a change. The kind of changes they have had to cope with are: jetlag (fine for the little one but a bit harder for the older boys - I include daddy in this), the streets (actually very easy to cope with as a child as they are so consistent, go fast and then stop at the traffic light) and the friendliness of the New Yorkers (they like the attention but I still have to get used to it). I wonder how long it will take before they don't see it as an adventure anymore and start asking about their toys and friends???