Category: Mama

  • I Can’t Talk About It Yet

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Ninety Seven] But I will soon. There are still some things going on here in Leander house that are up in the air and unresolved and have been this way for OVER A MONTH NOW but I still can’t talk about it. Because it’s still not my story to…

  • Sure, This Is The Bike Capital Of The World, But

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Ninety Three] What if I just don’t wanna? Also, my titles have gotten rather sloppy lately, hrm? I personally own two or three bikes – a ‘grandma’ bike, a foldable bike for work train trips, and a ‘bakfiets’ for hauling two or more minions around town. I say two…

  • This Is Staycation #LeanderStyle

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty Nine] All day today in Groningen, Netherlands, it hails and then the sun comes out and then it hails and then the sun comes out and then it hails. Super surreal. Kind of like how I am enjoying the next three weeks of staycation. I code and then…

  • “Can It Be For One Minute Please?”

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty Six] Every night around eight p.m. local time, we tell First Minion it’s time for bed and ever since I can remember since time immemorial he’s replied with a request for just one more minute. Of course, he must’ve learned that at some point because I’m sure he…

  • If You Can Dream It?

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty Two] Girl Twin and I went for a walk – she rode her balance bike while I walked. Sometimes she would shoot ahead, letting her legs and the wheels take her faster than my walking gait. “You must run, Mama.” And sometimes I did. But first the news:…

  • Have You Heard of Second Holiday Days?

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Eighty One] It’s a perfectly normal thing here, but it’s NOT an American thing, so you can imagine my surprise EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. when it happens for Easter and Ascension day and White Sunday and Christmas. What else happens on Mondays? Trash day. Therefore every time it’s a holiday…

  • Get Thee To Bed, Leander

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Seventy] One of the habits that I well and truly miss that has gone the way of all flesh is getting up around five in the morning. It fell away at some point when one of the kids was sick or I was stressed or some other perfectly valid…

  • Dear Girl Twin

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Sixty Three] Let’s talk about appropriate alarm clocks, shall we? Bringing me breakfast in bed. Bringing me chocolate in bed. Brining me English Breakfast tea with generous milk in bed. And now for inappropriate alarm clocks. Puke. Screaming from another room. Literally all other alarm clocks except for the…

  • Thx, Twins

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Fifty Five] Last night’s complete lack of sleep is thanks to Girl Twin using the “I feel sick” as her only weapon, she spent the night in our bed while P attempted to sleep in other places around the house but totally failing and I finally got her back…

  • Were You Born That Way?

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Forty] Deborah Siegel, gender scholar and mother of boy/girl twins, brings to life key research about the gendering of childhood in the earliest years of life. Taking us through a personal journey peppered with blunders and epiphanies, she challenges us to move beyond pink and blue and learn something…

  • How Is It Only Tuesday?

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Thirty Four] Yesterday felt like one of the longest in the world – a single twenty four hour period lasted days and days – mostly because all three children were home in the morning and only one managed to get into emergency daycare for the afternoon. We are so…

  • Due To Ice, Everything Is Closed

    [Dutch Lock Down Day Three Hundred Thirty Three] This time it’s not just school, but also daycares, at least until one o’clock. Help! But first the news: Dutch hospitals studying Covid vaccines effectiveness in cancer patients Schools, Covid test centers closed due to weather alarm How to understand and integrate into Dutch society during a…