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!