3

Oskar is turning 3 year old today. It's hard to believe that this little baby we brought home is now a little boy full of energy and attending a big school.

He now understands what a birthday is so he was expecting cake with candles and more importantly gifts.

We made sure not to disappoint him. I baked a cake and brought it with three candles on it for him to blow. He barely ate any cake as he was too busy opening the gifts.

Our house is turning into a Duplo store. Today there were two new additions: a fire truck and a construction set. He was delighted and wanted to play with it right away.

He also received a stuffed rabbit from Aggie. A friend of hers makes those and she got one for both boys. Oskar immediately put it into his bed. 

But this was not over. The best was yet to come as we got him a bike. We had him close his eyes before we revealed the bike. He couldn't believe it and it was incredible to watch him discover his bike.

We took it down for a little try once he was ready to let go of the Duplo.

He had been totally spoiled and we haven't even pulled out the electrical train we bought last December... Wolfram will have to wait until he can finally play with it. 

Dolby surround

At night, we have the monitors of both kids on and they are on their charging base, one on each side of the bed.

On nights like tonight when both kids are coughing, it feels like Dolby surround in the room with one cough echoing the other one. 

It's 3am and I wonder if I will ever get some sleep. 

Thomas is attending the pre-zouzous class

Thomas is now old enough to attend the pre-zouzous class at the Alliance francaise. Following the footsteps from Oskar, Thomas had his first session today. He was the youngest one of the group and clearly a bit unsure about what to do but he didn't cry of complain. He observed quietly and kept on trying to sit at the table. 

It will get better as he attends more classes and start to interact. It's the sand teacher as for Oskar so she is very attentive to him which is nice. 

I'm really happy those classes exist for toddlers giving us the chance to expose Thomas to more French and hopefully have some fun in the future. 

My only regret is that now only one parent can go, which makes it difficult to take pictures while participating. I'll try to do better next time. 

The art of sleeping...

... Holding an ipad.

Happy birthday Thomas!

Thomas is one year old today! 

Our baby is not a baby anymore. He has changed so much in his first year. It's incredible how much they learn in the first  year. 

He is already enjoying his new toys. 

As per tradition we tried to take a family picture which as usual was not easy. Getting two toddlers (yes, Thomas is now a toddler) to smile at a camera at the same time is nearly impossible. We know that but we keep on trying.

Joyeux anniversaire Thomas!

Starting the French school

This week Oskar started at the French school. 

They have a soft start with first one hour with the parents on Thursday followed by one hour without the parents on Friday. 

We told Oskar he was changing school and he was quite excited about the idea to go to the big school as we described it to him. He also liked the new uniform. 

He liked even more than we took a double decker bus to get there.

The first hour went well. Oskar played in the classroom pretty much not caring about anything else than the toys. I talked to the teacher, the assistant teacher and the English teacher to clarify a few points as well as get to know them.  The default language for the teacher is French which makes things a bit harder for Wolfram to follow but I did my best to translate. 

Oskar enjoyed the toys so much he didn't want to leave.

The second day was a bit different. When he understood that we would leave him there alone he was not happy. Teacher had to take him from me and we walked away from a crying Oskar. He was the only one really crying and making a scene. We knew it would be difficult but it doesn't make it easier to let go with a smile when your child is crying as if you were abandoning him. This was the third time for me to do so and it wasn't easier. But we were strong and left. 

It took half an hour for Oskar to join the rest of the class. It might have been faster if the teachers had left him alone at the beginning so he would calm down by himself instead of talking to him. But as the teacher said, they need to learn how he functions and what's important is that he played with the rest of the class in the end. 

Monday he will take the bus to school and spend half a day there. I'm curious to see how it goes. 

Until then, I have to fill in all the paperwork. I had forgotten how much French administration likes paperwork. 

Le roi et la reine

A day at the white sand beach

In most resorts, you can get a day pass to access the beach and the pool. Today we made use of this system. Wolfram arranged for passes for the Laguna, the resort where we stayed a few years back. The place has not changed much. We arrived there a bit before 10am, sun was not too hot and in no time everybody was in the lagoon. The day simply passed by with time in the sea, playing in the sand, having a long lunch while Thomas took his nap in the improvised bed from Wolfram, and some ice cream.

It is somehow stressful to do a day trip like that with the kids as it takes some planing and logistics to make sure everybody will have food and drink, changes of clothes, swimsuits, toys for the beach, and so on.

But it's totally worth it.

We are in the car driving back, stuck in traffic. Both kids are sleeping. We will be home late, they will be grumpy when they wake up but it won't matter because we had such a great day. 

A lazy day

While Alice, Ante and Amelia went to explore rice fields and a couple of temples, we decided to take the day easy and simply hang by the pool. We do have access to a pool at home but we never get to do so.

Thus we had a slow easy going day playing with the kids. Wolfram even managed to organize a massage at the villa for each of us. This was a bit unorthodox as massage table was one of the long beds placed in the living area. Once I managed to forget the maid doing the cleaning, the gardener, the pool boy and the kids, I did manage to relax. 

Wolfram catching a frog

Last night there was a frog in the kitchen. 

Tonight there was one in our bathroom which created excitement with Oskar and Amelia. Later there was one in the kitchen. We found out that Aggie is afraid of frogs. She can catch geckos like no one else, but don't show her a frog.

Out of the blue, Wolfram cut a bottle of coke and caught the frog. He made it look so simple. 

So simple, even the third frog which was bigger was not a problem either.

From that moment, every evening became a game of who would catch the most frogs between Wolfram and Ante as those little guys became very frequent visitors. 

I had no idea I had married a frog catcher

This is how I picture Alice in vacation: with a glass of watermelon juice!

First time at the beach

This area of Bali is known for surfing and we somehow overlooked that it meant nice beaches but windy and wavy beaches. The villa is indeed very close to the beach and we walked there in 10min or so at toddler's pace. We arrived to a long dark sand beach with a sign saying "no swimming allowed". The sea was very agitated so we move further to find a better spot. We found a slightly quieter spot with a big less waves but still this was too much for the kids and they preferred playing in the sand or in the small pool that the fathers nicely kept on filling in. Wolfram negotiated a good deal on renting two long beds and an umbrella for half the price as we would only stay half a day. 

We went back to the villa for lunch and enjoyed the pool the rest of the day.