The Orange Maple Leaf

Fun with friends

2008-09-25T14:36:00.011+02:00

The week before Ilianna's birthday, I took some really nice pictures. Helena's best friend, Joke, was here after school, playing with Helena. We had some real fun trying to get everyone to simultaneously look at the camera and without goofy looks on faces or stuffed animals in the way!

The next morning when the girls came, I had to take a picture! Ilianna is really learning to play with other children, and enjoying it! What a difference a year can make!! We are really thankful that she is doing so well!

More birthday fun

2008-09-22T14:44:00.011+02:00

Birthdays are always celebrated in school here, and the birthday boy or girl always brings a treat for all of the kids in their class. Ilianna's birthday was celebrated in the last half hour of her school day on Thursday. I was also invited and when I arrived, her group and another group were playing outside. When I was taking a picture of Ilianna, alot of the other kids ran over and wanted to have their picture taken as well!

Once inside, we had a drink and a cupcake, and Ilianna was given a couple of presents from her classmates and leaders of the group. The first present was two cars, so once she had opened that, she didn't want to open the second present, but a few minutes later she did. It was a puzzle with different animals.

Above, in the beginning of this blog, is a picture of the poster that was hanging on the door to the classroom. It has a picture of a sheep in the balloon, which is Ilianna's symbol. Every child has an animal symbol that is repeated within the group; on their chair, their personal cupboard, and their coathook. The poster is telling people that they are celebrating Ilianna's birthday today, a fact that all the children in her group had been told throughout the day.

When we came home that afternoon, Ilianna opened up her last presents from the day before, which were from her Pake and Beppe here in Holland. It was an ironing board and an iron. Right away she got to work ironing her pyjama's!

In the weekend we had more company; Omme Germ and Tante Esther, Grytsje and Miriam, Omme Klaas, Tante Sigrid, Femke, Frerik and Tjisse, all on Saturday afternoon.

Friends of ours, Marc and Geke with their boys Jesper and Matthijs came on Sunday afternoon, along with Sybo and Jantine and their kids Ryanne, Sigrid and Robert. Ilianna played nicely with all of the kids and opened the presents almost quicker than we could grab the camera! She's getting the hang of it now!! Christmas should be a breeze this year!

A Piglet-filled birthday for Ilianna

2008-09-18T20:16:00.016+02:00

September 17, 2008: Ilianna's 4th birthday!

We had a quiet day, with a few presents, and Ilianna seemed to understand that she was turning 4 and that all the decorations were for her.

The first of the company, Johanna and her mom, Sjoukje, arrived just after 3 in the afternoon.

Followed by Hendrika, Grytsje and their mom, Bertha.

A few minutes later, Gerjella, Justina, Helena, with their mom, Sofia and Beppe Gerda arrived. They of course were also bearing gifts for Ilianna.

Later on Pake and Beppe arrived, and then Omme Sjouke and Tante Janneke, but by then Ilianna was so busy playing with her new toys and the other kids that she didn't want to open the presents that they brought. Oh well, no pressure, tomorrow is another day...

New pics of Ilianna; post summer holidays

2008-09-03T15:52:00.006+02:00

Here are a few post holiday pictures. First, with her cousins, Grytsje, and Miriam.

Here she is, watching her favourite movie: The Sound of Music.

And finally, a couple of really nice pictures of Ilianna. No explanation required.

One more week...

2008-09-03T14:55:00.011+02:00

These pictures are the last of the ones we took while my parents were here. While they were here they celebrated their 40th anniversary. My brothers and I treated them to a very unexpected surprise, a plane ride in a 4-seater over the Frisian countryside. Here is a picture of the town where we live (Kollumerzwaag):

My parents really enjoyed themselves, and since I got to go along, so did I!

The weekend before my parents left, we enjoyed a day out with my Mom's family. We went to a town nearby and visited a museum and then a windmill there. Everyone seemed to have a good time, despite the warm weather. Even Ilianna had fun!
In the evening we went out for dinner with everyone and everything was nicely decorated for the couple in the spotlight.

But then it was time to say bye-bye (da da). The evening before Pake and Beppe left, Ilianna spent some quality time with them.

Then came the big day, and goodbyes in the airport.

We had a good time with my parents and we all really enjoyed spending time with each other.

Vacation Photos

2008-08-27T07:27:00.014+02:00

While my parents were here this summer, we also spent a week in Belgium. While we were there we also saw a couple of places in Germany and in Luxembourg, both countries about 15-30 kms away from where we were staying in Belgium. We had a nice time together, and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful scenery and old buildings and castles in the area. Here are a few of my favorite photos of the vacation.

We stayed in a park that was built on a hill looking out over the town of Vielsalm, Belgium. Here is the view from the playground near our cottage:

The day after we arrived, which was a Tuesday, it was beautiful weather, so we decided to go on a boat trip on the Mosel, a river running through part of Germany. The views from the river are amazing. Here's one of them, behind Beppe and Ilianna:

On Wednesday we drove to nearby Bastogne and visited a war museum. For any of you who have seen "Band of Brothers" or any other Battle of the Bulge related movies or documentaries, the town of Bastogne will sound familiar to you. On the way to Bastogne we stopped outside of Foy, near the Bois de Jacques, where we found a monument dedicated to Easy Company, the company featured in "Band of Brothers". Seeing the monument with all of the names of the men of Easy Company who were killed during the battle of the bulge felt very personal all of a sudden, maybe because of the fact that we have seen "Band of Brothers" very often, and we feel that we know the main characters who fought and died here. It's hard to imagine, until you have actually been there.After discovering the monument, we decided to explore the woods. We had heard that there were foxholes, still intact, and went in search of them. We ended up finding quite a few!

The woods were very quiet and it was quite eerie feeling knowing what had happened in those woods more than 60 years earlier.

Later on in the week we went to another little town in Germany called Monschau. This picture gives you an idea of how pretty it was there:

Another beautiful town was in Luxembourg. The town of Vianden was once home to Victor Hugo, and on the top of the hill overlooking town is a beautiful castle. Here are two of my favorite pictures:

Our last day trip was to Durbuy, Belgium. We visited a topiary garden and walked through town. Once again we found another castle:

This last picture is also the last photo I have of our vacation. It was definitely a successful vacation with memories that will last a lifetime!

Crazy about Oranje

2008-08-15T15:27:00.011+02:00

While Dave was here and some of the time my parents were here this summer they got to enjoy the European soccer championships. Two days after my parents arrived here my Mom celebrated her "16th" birthday. Holland also had an important match that evening, so we all wore orange all day and watched the match in the evening.

Ilianna was right into the spirit of things!

And Beppe helped out with getting ready for the big game. Here she is painting Ilianna's fingernails orange:Here we are watching the game, which turned out to be a very disappointing loss...

Well, even though the results for Holland were not great, it ended up being an interesting tournament, and ever since this summer Ilianna's favorite colour has been ORANJE! HUP HOLLAND HUP, Uncle Dave!

Expected visitors and summer fun

2008-08-12T09:49:00.009+02:00

Well it's been way too long since I updated my blog and now I finally have some free moments to do so. The summer has flown by and it's hard to believe that the kids are back in school now, which is way too early in my opinion, mainly because I grew up in Canada where the kids don't go back to school until the first tuesday in September.

It has been a busy summer, with a premature visit from my brother, Dave, and a visit from my parents, a visit that we knew about since January and were looking forward to! This is the first of an unknown number of blogs with some pictures of our summer. We took over 400 pictures, so it's hard to pick out the favorites.

Here is the first one, when Mom and Dad first arrived:

One of Ilianna having fun:

Here's a nice one with Uncle Dave:

And on July 9 we said goodbye to Dave, who was leaving for Taipei:

More pictures next time...

Hup Holland and an unexpected visitor

2008-06-12T12:01:00.007+02:00

On Monday evening my brother, Dave, arrived here from South Korea. He was just in time to see Holland beat Italy (3-0) in their first Euro 2008 match.

Everywhere you go you see houses decorated in orange flags and streamers, and kids have orange hairspray in their hair. Even Ilianna's school got into the spirit and on Monday afternoon Ilianna came home with orange bangs and dutch flags painted on her cheeks!

She's really in the spirit! Oranje boven!!

Here she is with "Uncle Dave"!

Ilianna spent all day Tuesday following Uncle Dave around, saying his name, and imitating what he did and what he said. It was pretty funny! Here they are playing with the ball in our backyard.

We can definitely say that she really likes Uncle Dave! We hope to have some fun times with him and my parents who arrive in a week!!

Fun with friends

2008-06-12T11:00:00.000+02:00

On Sunday morning we had some friends over for coffee, the parents and big sister of Hendrika. Hendrika is Ilianna's friend who also is in the same group as her in school and also sits in the same taxi to school. Hendrika's mom has also become a good friend of mine, and we walk together two evening a week. Ilianna and Hendrika are total opposites when it comes to their personalities, but they really like each other and can really play well together. They also have a way of communicating with each other and they really understand one another well! It is so neat to see them play together!

We really get along with Hendrika's parents, Alle and Bertha and her sister, Grietsje is a really nice girl. They were here for a couple of hours and we had some nice conversations. It was beautiful weather so we were able to sit outside!

It was beautiful weather all day and Ilianna, happily playing outside, decided to get dirty!

Ilianna has never been much for playing in sand or mud, and has never really taken an interest or notice of small things around her. Last week she came inside with a couple of ants in her hand and later on that day she caught a small beatle. We are happy that she is discovering the world around her. A year ago she would never have done this. Yes, she may get dirty, but who cares, that's why we have a bathtub!

Spring

2008-05-21T11:46:00.020+02:00

It's spring here in Fryslân. This week has been kind of cool, but last week and the two weeks before were very nice! We've been taking some nice pictures and here are some of them.

Here are a couple of pictures with the girls I babysit:

This morning I took some pictures when we walked to the corner where the taxi picks up Ilianna. She really loves going to school, and you can tell by the way she runs to the corner to get into the taxi!

And one last picture of Ilianna in the cab.

Winter for a couple of months

2008-03-11T14:18:00.007+01:00

While everyone here was so excited about a little bit of snow for a couple of hours, the exact opposite is happening in Canada where my parents live. They are hoping that the winter will end at some point! This past weekend they got another dump of snow and my mom sent me some pictures. The first one is of the front of their house.

This next one is of their backyard, with the snow piled high. My mom said that they were running out of room to put the snow that they have shovelled.

The last picture is self-explanatory.

Ever since I moved to Holland 8 years ago I hoped and wished for snow like this! It would be nice to experience it again, but if it lasted as long as it has this winter in Ontario, I don't know how much I'd be hoping for it again! Hopefully for Ontario it will be over soon!

Winter for a couple of hours

2008-03-08T07:50:00.006+01:00

This week wednesday we woke up to find that something very strange had happened overnight;

When it snows like this, it really makes the world look so fresh and new. It's nothing compared to the amount of snow that my parents have had this winter, but it was our first snow this winter, so it was really nice to see. Too bad it was all gone by noon!

An "amusing" day

2008-03-02T13:33:00.009+01:00

On Friday morning Ilianna and I set out to do some grocery shopping. I wanted to stop by house from the three girls that I babysit, to say hello. The schools had vacation last week, and when I arrived at the house, the dad told me that the mom had taken all the girls, plus 3 of their friends, to an indoor amusement park, called Speelstad Oranje. He immediately called his wife to ask her where she was (she had left not too long before), and told her that we were coming as well. So I said, well I guess I'll do my grocery shopping tomorrow!

So to make a long story short, Ilianna
and I then set out to the town of Oranje,
and were there just before lunch.
It was very busy there, and Ilianna
really had to get used to her surroundings,
but after a while she started enjoying
herself and tried out some rides.

Here is one last picture of Ilianna with Justina. You can clearly see that she is having a great time!!

New Bike

2008-02-22T15:26:00.009+01:00

Ilianna is either a real Slagman or a real Dutch girl, she just loves to bike! At school, when they play outside in the morning, or in the hallway in the afternoon, she is always biking! It's been nice weather here lately, except yesterday and today, and we got Ilianna's trike out of the shed and she's been biking every day lately.

On Sunday the three of us went for a walk in town and it became obviously clear that her trike is getting too small for her. We had already decided we were going to buy Ilianna a bike this spring, but we decided that it was needed soon, so Tuesday morning Ilianna and I went to the bike store in town and picked out a new bike for her! We had one in mind that we had seen the week before, but it was a bit on the small side for her, so we got one that's a bit bigger, and it will do her well for at least two seasons!!

She is as proud as a peacock with her new bike! It's a real challenge sometimes to get her to put it away and come back in the house! And even though it's a little big yet, she handles it great and you have to practically sprint to keep up with her!!!

Some nice pictures of Ilianna

2008-02-20T08:55:00.019+01:00

Here are some nice pictures I've taken in the last few weeks.

The first two are pretty funny. Ilianna likes wearing her hat and mittens, even inside the house:

The next ones are of Ilianna playing with the kids I babysit. Here she is playing "doctor" with Johanna: They switched a couple of times and took turns being the patient. Very cute.

Here is Ilianna with Justina:

Here's Ilianna with Gerjella:

Here she is with Helena:

And here is Ilianna with Gerjella and Helena, making music and having a great time! You can tell that she really loves these girls!

Ilianna's "new" school

2008-02-15T15:43:00.007+01:00

Well, Ilianna has been going to her new school now for about 5 weeks, and is really loving it! Last week thursday we brought her there because we had an appointment with our contact person at the school. When we drove up to the school Ilianna said, "There's school!", in Fries of course ("dêr skoalle").

I posted some pictures of the outside of Ilianna's school on a previous blog, and here are a couple pictures of inside:

This is her "classroom", and in the picture below you see all three of her teachers, Nynke, who is standing, Mieke, who is sitting down on the right hand side, wearing glasses, and Jellie (pronounced Yelly), who has a little blond girl on her lap.

This following picture is of the hall that the kids play in every afternoon for a half an hour. Ilianna usually sits in the car or on the trike.

Last week when we brought her to school, we got to see first hand how much she likes going there. She ran to her classroom and when she was there she looked at everyone and said their name, so in her own way, greeted them. Her face was just lit up! It was really wonderful to see!

It's been a challenge for the 3 teachers to get used to Ilianna, especially since Ilianna has hit the "terrible twos" the last few weeks, and Ilianna has also had to get used to the way things are done there, but it seems to be going very well. It's nice to know that she is happy, and that makes it easier to let her go 3 mornings a week!

What do you mean, no imagination?!

2008-01-19T09:04:00.000+01:00

Since August a lady has been coming here from the Autism team of Northern Netherlands to give Ilianna "playing- therapy". Children with autism have problems with developing their imaginations, but if you look at these pictures that we took around Christmas time, you can say that Ilianna has no problem in that area. Here she is doing Piglet and Elvis' hair:

Whenever I do Ilianna's hair, she sits on a stool in front of me, just like P & E are doing here. The lady who gave the Playing therapy said that it is unclear whether Ilianna is using her imagination, or if she is just copying things that we do. Have a look at this next picture, where Ilianna is putting shoes on Elvis and Piglet:

And it's not just those two who get all the attention:

And here is the funniest story of them all. One day we were sitting here and we asked if Ilianna needed a clean diaper. She answered no, but a few minutes later she grabbed a diaper, and the changing pad and went over to the couch. She then grabbed Piglet, and proceeded to giver him a clean diaper. It was pretty funny to see! She has an apron on, because I also had one on.

First she wiped his bum:

Then she attempted to put the diaper on:

We gave her a hand, and this was the end result:

So I come to the following conclusion: What do you mean, no imagination???!!!!!

A short weekend holiday and a first day of school

2008-01-09T14:17:00.000+01:00

It's been very busy around here since my last blog. Last friday we left for a long weekend away. A 3 hour drive and we were in the northern part of Limburg, the most southern province of Holland, near Venlo. We stayed at a Landal Green Park for 3 nights. Check out http://www.landal.nl/, go to park info, then click on the map of the Netherlands. Limburg is the province on the bottom right, click on that, and then on De Lommerbergen, then you can see the park we stayed in.

Here is a picture of the house we stayed in. It doesn't look much from the outside, but inside it was pretty nice:

In the park plaza there was a swimming pool;

An indoor playzone;

and a few different restaurants and stores. We went out for dinner in one of the restaurants on saturday evening. Ilianna didn't sit down for very long, only to eat her dinner, and the rest of the time she was outside of the restaurant, exploring and looking at the fish in the pond.

We weren't just with the three of us. Jan's parents, his brother, Sjouke and Sjouke's girlfriend, Janneke were also along.

Ilianna enjoyed everyone's company, and found it quite "gezellig". It was a nice weekend.

Yesterday I babysat again. It was good to see the three girls again after more than 2 weeks.

Today was Ilianna's first day at her new school. Exciting for all of us! I brought her there at 10 this morning, stayed until 11, and picked her up again at 1PM. She seemed to like it for the time she was there, and made contact with some of the children in her group and one of her leaders. This is the front of her school.

There is an area in the back where the kids can play outside;

By the way that she's running in this next picture, it looks like she didn't have a very good time and can't wait to get away from there, but from what I could tell, she had a good time.

Reflections and resolutions

2008-01-03T15:24:00.000+01:00

New Years is the time to reflect on the year past, and to look on to the future and the new year ahead. 2007 in the Slagman house was pretty interesting. Near the end of 2006 we had our suspicions that things were not as they should be with Ilianna, and in 2007 we heard that she has characteristics of autism. Since the beginning of the year we have been concentrating on helping her development, mentally, socially and physically, and she has, especially in the latter part of the year, really flourished. In a week she'll be starting at a "special daycare/school", that specializes in children with developmental disabilities. She'll be going 3 days a week, which will be an adjustment for all of us!

The beginning of 2007 started out with a big trip, as Ilianna and I flew across the ocean to visit my parents.
We were able to see a lot of family, including my brother, Dave, who was there for the same purpose as us, my Dad's 65th birthday. A few weeks after we were home in Friesland, Dave and his friend, Paul, came and spent a weekend with us.

March was a big milestone for Ilianna, when she went to pre-school for the first time. It became very quickly clear that Ilianna really liked it there.

We had a quiet spring, with some really nice weather, and we took our first visit to the zoo with Ilianna. It was a great day, and Ilianna really responded well to all of the animals, a real success!

At the end of May we had a really rainy day. That day just happened to be the day of the fietsen-elfstedentocht, or the bike-11 city tour, a 240 kilometer bike tour, through Friesland. Jan biked it with 7 other members of the brassband he plays in. The 8 bikers started at 5:30 AM and when at 9:30 PM they came into the finish, 6 of them were left. Jan says that out of the 4 times he's now biked the tour, this was the worst, and the hardest, mainly because of the constant rain, and he says that he'll never bike it again.
The beautiful weather that we had up until the beginning of July was followed by a very cool, wet and depressing summer and fall. It did however give us a chance to really work on Ilianna's new room. She moved in in August, and adjusted well. Boy she looked small in that great big bed!
August 27 was a great day, because my Mom arrived in Holland. She stayed for 4 weeks and during that time we celebrated two birthdays, mine and Ilianna's, saw a Canadian choir perform, took a trip to the petting zoo/playground with Ilianna's class, visited and spent time with family, went to an indoor playground, babysat, and just had lots of fun with each other.

In November Jan turned 29, and at the end of the month we welcomed Sinterklaas back into town.
Ilianna enjoyed everything that went along with Sinterklaas; the songs, the presents and setting up her shoe in the evenings and then finding something in it in the morning. We had a very quiet Christmas and Ilianna liked all of the presents she got from us, oops, I mean Santa!

Now that 2008 has begun, and we've reflected on 2007, traditions call on us to make resolutions. I know that in the new year, as in 2007, we will be concentrating on helping Ilianna in her development. I'll be starting a new challenge as part-time leader of the gospelchoir I sing in, and will be working on getting better is shape, something I've been working on since this summer, and doing quite well in. I don't know what Jan's resolutions are, but they are probably close to mine. He'll be starting with a new sales region for work, and I think he'll be working pretty hard again this year. This vacation he's been working on insulating and fixing up our attic, so he'll have a private place to work from home.

We hope it'll be a good year, for us, and for all of you!

Âld en Nij, WWIII and a new car for Crystal

2008-01-01T14:44:00.000+01:00

Well, we survived! Christmas is over, and more importantly, Âld en Nij, literally translated as Old and New, otherwise known as New Year's Eve, is over!! Over here in Holland, fireworks or firecrackers are sold to the general public, and official laws indicate that you can shoot them off from 10AM on December 31, until 2AM January 1. All day yesterday we heard a pop here, a snap there, and the occasional "BOOM!" (those would be the illegal fireworks that people pick up across the border in Germany). What we also hear during the day is "carbit sjitten", where people put some carbit, a white, chalky stone in a metal milk can, add water, which releases a gas, then put the lid on the can. There is a hole in the bottom, which they hold shut while shaking the can, then the put it on the ground so the can is diagonally facing an open field, put a flame up to the hole, and the lid flies off. This makes a loud noise, which can be heard kilometers in the distance. Here is a picture from the internet:

So, lots of fun. Once it's dark, the fireworks really start, mostly by big groups that have bought some quality fireworks. A lot of families also shoot some off, before their kids go to bed. At midnight the fun really starts, (I'm being sarcastic) when everyone goes outside, wishes their neighbours happy new year, and then start with the fireworks that they haven't shot off yet. Like I mentioned in the title of this blog, it really sounds like World War III, so much noise! They have some things called Duizend Klappers, or thousand bangs, which is literally a thousand big bangs and pops. Here is a picture of someone lighting one:

We live in a housing complex that face other houses, so the bang really reverberate against the houses, which makes it really loud. In all this noise we are always anxious about how Ilianna is doing. Well, I can tell you, a train could have come through her room last night, and it would have made less noise than all the noise outside, but she did not wake up!! We were really amazed, and still are!

Here is a picture of what the town look like on New Years morning:

Here is a small fact. 16 million people live in Holland. Many of those are senior citizens, and a good majority is children. Holland spent 60 MILLION EUROS on fireworks this year, 5 million more than last year, and that does not include the illegal stuff that was brought across the border!

Well, since today I can drive Jan's lease car from his work. We have arranged that we can drive it for private use, so we went for a drive this morning. It took a bit of getting used to, since it's bigger, and a diesel, where as I drive a car on gas/petrol. It also have cruise control, which I've never used, so that was fun!

Well, to all of you out there, my family and friends, the three of us wish you much joy, health, prosperity, and pretty much all of the best in 2008.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2007-12-24T13:55:00.000+01:00

Well, it's that time of the year. The time for laughter and love, for family, friends, presents and good food. Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, just as it is for so many other people. But since I moved to Holland, it's been a holiday filled with mixed feelings. I really miss my family and friends who I can't be with. On the other hand, we are having a great time with Ilianna this year. She finally gets the whole present thing, and we only have to say "kadootje pakke" (grab a present) to her, and she's on her hands and knees in front of the Christmas tree. Up until now every present she has opened she has been focused on the paper, and how it tears, and now she just tears at the paper with the goal of seeing what is inside! It's really great to see! She has also been opening the Christmas cards for us, so she's really getting involved with the whole Christmas thing.

So to everyone we can't be with this year...Mom, Dad, Fred, Melissa, Lukas and Owen, Dave, and all my friends, here and there... Merry Christmas to all of you!

Having fun

2007-11-22T20:02:00.000+01:00

The other day Ilianna and Jan were having some fun on the couch and I took a couple of really great pictures!

They were really having a great time! Fooling around - that's one thing that Ilianna really knows how to do and loves doing!

This week Ilianna has learned a new word, "nee", which means "no". Actually, she knew the word already, but was not applying it to everyday life. When we would ask her something, for example if she wanted a particular item, she would say "eehhh", instead of no, so since last week I've really been working with her to get her to say no, instead of making that annoying sound. Yesterday it proved to work, because when she wanted something, and I had to guess what she wanted, she said no to an item that she didn't want, and yes to the one she did want! That's another hurdle she's jumped over! And this afternoon when I was putting on my scarf, Ilianna named it, saying "sjaal", and I asked her who's "sjaal" it was. She didn't understand that question, so I said "is it Ilianna's sjaal?". She answered by saying "Mama sjaal". That was really exciting, because she's associating things with people, and that is really super! All of these little things probably are really trivial to most parents, but for us, they are really big steps she is taking.

One last picture, and it's of Ilianna with her doll. If you squeeze the feet, it will cry. Last week Ilianna surprised us by saying "Oh, baby", when the doll cried, it was so very cute!

On saturday we are going to see Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas), who is arriving here in Kollumerzwaag. I have been practicing the special Sinterklaas songs with Ilianna (and learning them myself) and hopefully that will be something she will recognize on saturday if her surroundings are too busy for her. We are really curious how she will react to everything. If I get any pictures, I will post them next week.

"I wanna do what Mommy does!"

2007-11-04T20:48:00.000+01:00

Well, I have a few pictures to show, all of Ilianna doing things that I also do. The first one was taken about a week ago, showing Ilianna sitting on the potty. Ok, you may ask yourself, What? You still sit on the potty? No, I don't, but the point of the picture is the phone. Alot of the times that I am on the phone, Ilianna gets her little phone and copies my conversation. It's very cute.

I took the next picture a couple of days ago. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and after I while I realized that Ilianna was really quiet. Now if Ilianna was like any other 3 year old, I would have been really concerned, but because she isn't, I was just curious and when I had a look, she was sitting like this:

Every morning Ilianna sits on this stool while I brush her hair and put ponytails in. Here she was brushing the "My Little Pony"'s hair. The next picture is really funny, too, because she is using her sippy cup to make the pony's hair wet, just like I do with her, but then using a water bottle.

And this last picture was taken this morning, on my crosstrainer. I guess that Ilianna is trying to get in shape!!

But it's not just me she copies. Last week one of the girls I babysit was walking around with a pail over her head, and yup, you guessed it, Ilianna saw it, and later on this is a picture we took:

As you can see, Ilianna is doing really well. Her speech is getting clearer in some cases, and we are working on getting her to finish off her words, for example saying boat, instead of bow. She has that with alot of words. She was saying po, instead of pop, which is fries for doll, and ske, instead of skep, fries for shovel, but those words are getting better now as well. She even adds a t to the end of words that don't need it, which is pretty funny. This week wednesday we have another appointment with the speech therapist, and I'm curious how that will go.

One more picture, just cause it's so cute! Until the next time...

Busy, and uninspired

2007-10-25T19:50:00.000+02:00

Well, I got a subtle hint from my brother, Dave, asking me if I've been busy lately. Yeah, I guess I have, but I also have not been motivated to work on my blog, and I'm also having a hard time getting motivated for some things, for example, scrapbooking. When my mom was here we started a scrapbook for Ilianna. I think we got around 12 pages done, and we really enjoyed it. Since then I've done 2 pages, and I haven't been able to get inspired to do more. I've tried, but I kind of get stuck, and have a hard time being creative. I'm sure I'll get back into it soon.

As for Ilianna, she has been inspired! She has had a really good week. The other day I asked some moms that I know that were standing in the school yard to hold my bike on which Ilianna was sitting, so I could quickly run a schoolbag into one of the girls I babysit. That way I didn't have to take Ilianna out of the bikeseat, and take her with me into the school. When I came back out, she saw me and said: "there's Mom!". That was really great! And that same afternoon she came up to me and said: "jas oan", which means "coat on", because she wanted to play outside with two of the girls I babysit, who were playing outside. Communicating like that with me is a real breakthrough, it's showing that she knows what she wants and how to ask for it. Things like that are becoming more frequent with her, which is really nice to see.

Another way that Ilianna has been developing lately is in her "fantasy playing". She is starting to use her imagination, and that is really great to see for a child who has autism. You can see that in the picture above; she put her stuffed animal friends on two chairs and then sat down on the other chair beside them. And the other day she put her little doggy on her booster chair and put a bib on him!

Last week thursday we went with Ilianna to her new "school". In january she'll be going to a sort of daycare/treatment center, called an MOD (medisch orthopedagogisch dagverblijf, if you want a translation, you'll have to look that one up). She'll go 3 times a week, and will get alot more attention than she now gets at her preschool. She now has 1 or 2 teachers for a room full of 15 kids, and at her new school she'll be in a group of 10 kids with 3 teachers! So that really makes a difference. There are also specialists at her new school; a speech therapist, physical therapist and a play therapist. She'll also have one-on-one time with some of them on a regular basis. We decided to send her to the MOD in Leeuwarden instead of the one in Drachten, what we were first planning, for many different reasons, and after we left on thursday we had a great feeling about our decision! It's really nice there, and the people who works there are super! The building is cozier, homier, and they even have a swimming pool!! I wish I could go there! The only thing is that Ilianna will be picked up and brought home in a taxi, which will be very hard for me, but our first plan of bringing her and picking her up 3 times a week, and later on 4 times a week, is just not realistic. If I ever get sick, or any of the girls I babysit, then we'll really have a problem. I can always pick her up or bring her, I just have to let the school know. We are looking forward to january, when Ilianna can get the extra attention and care she needs and can profit from.

I haven't taken many pictures of Ilianna lately, hopefully I'll have more for my next blog.

Do, re, mi, and pee, pee, pee

2007-10-13T16:47:00.000+02:00

Well it's been quite a while since my last blog, and a few things have been happening around here. Ilianna's flourishing, learning something new every day, and that's really great to see!

A couple of weeks ago we started to teach her the song "Do, re, mi" from the Sound of Music. A couple of days after we started teaching her, we played that scene in the movie for her, and she was very interested. She now sings along with the whole song, and just loves it! She also watches when other songs are on, and she loves the scene with the puppet show. I especially like it that she is so interested in the movie, because it's my favorite movie of all time and I started watching it when I was a little girl with my mom!

Last week I went out and bought a potty. Ilianna is also pretty interested in it, but she hasn't peed in it yet. She's peed twice in front of it, but not yet in it. We are hoping that happens soon. It will probably take a while for her to get the hang of it, but we'll see what happens. It's pretty easy having her in a diaper yet, especially because she's not talking a lot yet, and can't tell me when she has to pee. Boy, what a stupid topic to put in a blog, but that's our life!

Yesterday Ilianna and I went to both get haircuts. Both of us we starting to get sick of how long our hair was getting. Ilianna sat very still and had no problems at all! She got quite a bit off, and looks really cute (not that she wasn't cute already)! The hairdresser put pink hairpaint in her bangs, and Ilianna thought that was pretty interesting.

This next picture is of Ilianna mimicking her dad, whenever he is working on his laptop. She grabs a calculator and starts to "type" as well.

Well, that's it for now, I'll try to write again soon...

Back to Reality

2007-09-28T08:46:00.000+02:00

Well, she's gone...

Yesterday morning at 4AM we got up and left at 5AM for the trip to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Considering how busy it was on the road near and through Amsterdam we made good time and got Mom to the airport in time to check in.

Shortly thereafter we said our farewells.

Ilianna is also going to miss Beppe...

And now it's back to reality.

This morning when Ilianna got up, she went to Beppe's room, but Beppe was not there. I don't know if she quite understands that Beppe isn't here anymore, because there were some mornings when Beppe wasn't in her room, either having slept elsewhere or she was already up when Ilianna got up. Later on we'll talk to her on the computer and I think Ilianna will think that is pretty strange. I'm curious how she will react.

Today I'm babysitting all day and when Mom was here it just made the days go by quicker and more fun. We will make the best of it, though. The new girl that I'm going to babysit came here for the first time this morning. We have to get used to each other, but I don't think it will be a problem, especially for Ilianna, because she squealed with delight when she saw her. Right now Ilianna is playing with her train that she got for her birthday with Johanna, the girl I've been babysitting for 2 years already. Johanna is 5 months older than Ilianna and they know each other well.

The day before Mom left we went to see her aunt, my great-aunt, Muoi Jikke. She was a bit confused, even though she always knows who we are and loves to see us.

Ilianna likes going to visit her, too, because there is a really nice train table there that she can play with.

And the last evening that Beppe was here, she of course brought Ilianna to bed...

She will be missed. Until the next time, Beppe!

Nice weather at last

2007-09-25T09:22:00.000+02:00

In the weekend we were finally blessed with some nice weather! On saturday Mom spent the day with her family, and had a great time! On sunday we went to visit some family and also enjoyed some of the weather.

Here we are in Dokkum, at Omme Oane and Tante Tiete's. Tante Froukje, who we picked up on the way, is also sitting here.

In the afternoon we went to Lauwersoog and had some fish and patat, and then we went to the zeedijk and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was really busy there because everyone wanted to enjoy the last nice day.

We then went and had a visit with Jan's Pake and Beppe in Metslawier.

All in all it was a very nice day, and we were happy to finally have some sun!!!

Happy Birthday, Ilianna!

2007-09-17T20:15:00.000+02:00

Today is Ilianna's birthday. Pooh has a present for her. Where is Ilianna? Is she here, in the flower patch? Not here, that's Piglet...

These are the words of Ilianna's bedtime book, except then it's Eeyore instead of Ilianna that Pooh has a present for.

But today is Ilianna's birthday and she is 3 years old. The time really is flying by. Yesterday we spent the day with friends and family. The morning was spent with Sybo and Jantine (my cousin) and their 3 kids, my brother-in-law, Sjouke and his girlfriend, Janneke, my brother-in law Klaas, his wife, Sigrid and their 3 kids and Ilianna's Pake and Beppe from here in Friesland.

One of the presents that Ilianna recieved was this drum, which, as you can see, she really loves!

Here she is opening her present from her Pake and Beppe.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the company of Wiebe and Sofia, the parents of the girls I babysit, plus the girls of course, and our friends, Marc and Geke, and their two boys. My mom was there the whole day of course, which was really nice!

All in all it was a nice day, even though Ilianna was not herself, suffering a little bit from a cold. At one point it was all too much for her, and she didn't want to open any more presents. We now have a basket full of gifts that she still has to open, so we'll probably be working on that all week.

One thing is for sure, our lives really changed 3 years ago, and we wouldn't trade in 1 moment since then!

Busy, busy, busy...

2007-09-16T21:44:00.000+02:00

One thing that we wish we could have while my Mom is still here is some nice weather. We haven't been very fortunate in that aspect. Everyday we wake up to cloudy or semi-cloudy skies, and temperatures under 20 degrees. Oh well, I guess there are still lots of indoor activities we can do.

We have been keeping very busy, as you can probably tell, because I haven't kept up my blog. Every monday and tuesday we have the house full of girls, this week we had 3 girls under 4 years old both monday and tuesday morning. Ilianna loves it when the girls I babysit are here, and she runs to the backdoor to greet them when they arrive in the morning. Here is a picture of her with one of the girls, Helena, 4 years old, who has really become her friend.

Ilianna is really flourishing the last couple of weeks and we are really enjoying watching her develop more. The other morning she asked me if she could watch Bumba, which is her favorite show, and that is the first time she has asked for that. She knows how to ask for her sippy cup, or for Piglet, but this was a real breakthrough! It's funny how a little thing like that can really excite us! It's also been alot easier to get her attention lately, and she's been responding better and she's starting to communicate with us. Yesterday Mom and I picked her up from preschool and when she came out of the classroom into the room where all the parents are waiting, she ran up to me again, which she has been starting to do the last couple of weeks. Only yesterday she also looked around to see if Beppe was also there! I think its going to take a bit of adjusting on all our parts once Beppe leaves again...

Yesterday Mom and I went to Ferwert and it was beautiful weather for taking pictures, so we took some nice pictures in Butenfjild and some other places.

We ended the day yesterday by going out for dinner at the pancake ship or pannenkoekschip in Ljouwert. It was a really nice time and the pancakes were delicious!! Ilianna also thought it was very interesting, and as usual, was no trouble at all!

Today we celebrated her birthday with family and friends and tomorrow, her actual birthday, we are babysitting again, but we will try to celebrate it a little bit as well. It's crazy to think that she is already 3 years old!! I'll add more pictures of her birthday party this week.

Aren't mothers great? And daughters too?

2007-09-04T08:31:00.000+02:00

Well, it's been already been a week since my Mom got here, and the time is flying by!!! We are all having a great time together and it does my heart good to see her and Ilianna together!

Last week tuesday was my birthday and when I was getting out of the shower I heard my mom and Ilianna playing together and that was the best birthday present I could ever receive! It was a very busy day with lots of emails, messages and phone calls. Thanks to everyone who sent me their best wishes! It was nice to talk to my dad, both of my brothers and my nephews, Lukas and Owen. I also got alot of messages from people I've only again gotten in touch with through Facebook, people I haven't seen in 15 or 20 years, and that was a real treat for me!

In the evening we went to see the choir from Canada, "Friends in Concert", where 3 of my aunts sing in. Mom and I really enjoyed ourselves.

On thursday Ilianna's preschool class went to the petting zoo, which also has a really big playground, and all of the moms came along and so naturally I brought my mom along. We had a pretty good time despite the cool temperature, and the kids just loved every moment of course! Here is a picture of Ilianna and her Beppe, sitting in the back of a train!

And here is Ilianna with some of her classmates, swinging away and having great fun!

One more picture before I go, of a very cute Ilianna in a new dress that she got from her Beppe. I'll try to write again soon...

2007-08-25T19:23:00.000+02:00

Wow, it's been a few days since I wrote, but I guess I've sort of been suffering from writer's blog. Oops, I mean writer's block. Yeah, yeah, ok, that was really bad, but I guess I get my sense of humour from my Dad...

Well, Ilianna's tucked away for the night, so I have some quiet time. She's been really making progress lately, and that's really great to see. The last few days we have been working on getting her to look at us more when she asks us for help. That's been going pretty well sometimes, but other times it is really frustrating and we can really see her autism coming through. We've had some time now to get used to the idea that she is not like other kids, but we are really learning that even though she may not be the way she "should be", she is such a sweetheart! I mean, look at that cutie!!

Ilianna has been going to preschool since march, when we got back from Canada. Every time I pick her up I have been watching how the other kids greet their moms or dads after not seeing them for a couple of hours, and just wishing, and aching, for Ilianna to do that with me. Well it finally happened to me on thursday. Ilianna came out of the classroom, looked for me, and when she saw me yelled out: "HI!". She then ran up to me and reached out for me to pick her up and when I did she gave me a big hug! There were tears threatening to fall from my eyes, I was so happy!

In less than 48 hours my mom will be here! She'll be staying for a whole month and I'm so excited! She is coming at the perfect time, I don't think I've ever needed her support more than I do now. When something is going on with your child, you just want your own Mom around somehow.

One more picture of Ilianna, the other day when we did some painting. She didn't just paint the egg carton...

2007-08-17T08:52:00.000+02:00

Ok, I want to start things on a lighter note today. So, I got this email from someone the other day and thought it was pretty funny! Enjoy:

Before the Wedding:

Her: Bye!!!
Him: Phew, finally, I’ve been waiting for you to say that!
Her: Do you want me to leave?
Him: NO! I wouldn’t dare!
Her: Do you love me?
Him: Of course! Alot!
Her: Have you ever cheated on me?
Him: NO! How can you ask me that?
Her: Do you want to kiss me?
Him: Every chance I get!
Her: Would you ever hit me?
Him: Are you crazy? I’m not that kind of person!
Her: Can I trust you?
Him: Yes.
Her: Sweetheart!!!

After the wedding:

Just read the dialog again, but this time from the bottom up…

A trip to Hawaai

2007-08-16T08:41:00.000+02:00

Here is a little story I heard from my sister-in-law, Melissa, and I thought it was a really great way to help parents with a child with a handicap, physical or mental. It can be a real comfort to parents who want a "perfect" or "normal" child and who find out at birth or like in our case, when the child is older. We always thought that there was nothing wrong with Ilianna, she was, and I'm not exaggerating, a perfect baby, and until she was 1 and a half to 2 years old, we kept thinking that. So it was a big shock to us that there could be something wrong with her.
Anyways, here's the story, as well as I can remember it...

Imagine wishing your whole life to go to Hawaii. You save up, and plan, and once you're ready, you book your trip. On the day that the plane takes off, with you in it, of course, it's rerouted to... Switzerland. Well, that's not acceptable!! You don't want to go to Switzerland, you want to go to Hawaii, like you've always planned to!! You're shocked and disappointed; but then you start to have a look around... Wow! Switzerland is really beautiful! And it has so much to offer!!! Now you are really glad the plane was rerouted!!!

Ilianna's new bedroom

2007-08-15T12:08:00.000+02:00

About 2 weeks ago Ilianna moved into her new princess bedroom, furnished with a new big bed, with three big drawers under it.

She had no problem getting adjusted to her new surroundings, in fact she's had a really great time! At first we had the drawers filled with toys, but that was proving to be a problem when she was staying up a long time, playing away. So we emptied them. However, she soon found a new use for the drawers...

And if she doesn't fall asleep in the drawers, then...

Needless to say, one of these days we will have to take a rare picture of her sleeping in her bed!!!

Pretty soon I'll post some more pictures of her new room.

Monday the 13th...

2007-08-14T20:02:00.000+02:00

Well, it was quite a day for us yesterday. Ilianna has been diagnosed with autism. We knew that she had a form of autism, but it was pretty hard to hear it being officially said to us. We are always really positive about Ilianna and we are proud of every step she takes, big or small, so it's hard to hear somebody being "negative" about your child. We are taking it a day at a time, we always have been, being realistic, yet staying positive and optimistic at the same time.

We were told yesterday that once Ilianna's communication skills improve, it will make things alot easier for us and for her and we hope that that will be the key to her social skills improving. She seems to prove us wrong from time to time, a big example being how she played with the girls I babysat today. She really plays and communicates with them, but in her own way.

Well, one thing is sure, she is a real sweety and we love her to death!

Finally joining the rage...

2007-08-14T19:19:00.000+02:00

Well, here goes, the first entry in my new blog! My brother set up a blog probably a couple of years ago, and I've decided to start one up to keep my family and friends in other parts of the world updated on my life here in Holland. It's also to keep the same people informed about Ilianna's progress, developmentally. So... I hope you enjoy reading up on us, please check this blog out as often as you can, and I will do my best to keep it updated as well!!

This is a picture taken a few weeks ago at the playpark near our house. Ilianna really loves it there!!