Pictograms are confusing
We recently went for a walk in a nature preserve near our house. Peppered throughout the park are signs like the one you see here, with relevant information on the local flora and fauna. Each sign also includes this series of pictograms, which Miles decided to decipher for me (from right to left, nb) while we were waiting for Lewis, Zella and Arno to catch up:
“Kijk, mama: we maggen de vogels niet aankomen,
we maggen geen bloemetjes plukken,
de mama’s en de papa’s moeten bij de kindjes blijven,
we maggen de paarden niet knijpen…”
(“Look, mama. We’re not allowed to touch the birds,
we’re not allowed to pick the flowers,
mamas and papas have to walk together with the kids,
we’re not allowed to pinch the horses…”)
at which point I burst out into laughter. He got all huffy until I explained to him that he was more clever than the person who had designed the pictogram and that it indeed was a picture telling people not to pinch horses, even though the text underneath reads, “Do Not Feed the Animals”
And then he still told me No Dogs, just to make sure I got it.
Arno is four months
Arno turned four months today and thought he should share his impression of the day with you. For his age, he is a particularly articulate young man.
chick magnet
Dear Abby,
I am having girl troubles at school. Two of my classmates, Yasmin and Sarah, are making me choose between them. Nothing I do is right: if I tell Sarah I want to marry her, Yasmin cries. If I tell Yasmin I want to marry her, Sarah cries. If I tell them I’m too young to get married, they get mad and make me pick one of them. Last week Yasmin started crying so hard that our teacher pulled me aside to see what had happened. When I told her, she laughed and said I should marry her instead!! I told her she was TOO OLD. The next day a bunch of the other girls in my class ran up to her and said, “Miss, Miss! Is it true?” When she asked what they meant, they said: “Is it true that you’re in love with Miles?”
I don’t even want to think about how Sarah and Yasmin responded to that…
I feel bad, though, because Yasmin’s mama told my mama that she has started trying to fix her hair in ways I will like, and she cries at night because I never say she is beautiful. Her older brother Younes (who used to be my friend!) has started threatening me about what he will do if I don’t say she is beautiful. But I’m afraid of what Sarah will say if I do that. I don’t know who’s more scary, Sarah or Younes!
Could you please help? I’m beginning to think there is no solution to this impossible situation.
PS Don’t tell Maya about any of this. Then I will really be in trouble.
Chick Magnet in Anderlecht
Zella knows how to boogie
We got a great card for Zella’s birthday and both Miles and Zella like to boogie to the classic Salt ‘N’ Peppa song. Here is Zella rockin’ out.
Big Girl
Zella keeps on turning into a toddler on us. She’s pretty much potty-trained, LOVES the bravo response she gets when she goes on the potty, is eating fruit and thus encouraging Miles to do the same (yes!) and as of this evening can get both feet off the ground when she jumps. This is a big milestone and something she has been working on for weeks. She was psyched!
Check our flickr site soon for new pics of Milo’s career-development weekend and Zella’s recent sighting at a local eatery.
Zella can talk
Zella and Miles are having a ton of fun now that we’re on vacation with Granny and Pake in France. She is running around and learning words at a high rate of speed. She met “stompie”the cat, whom she loves! (The cat is called “Stumpy” because she has a very short tail, which is apparently typical of the region.) She was intrigued by ants and intimidated by bees. Mostly she is just thrilled that she can run around and explore the world.
We went to a big castle with Miles, Zella and Pake yesterday and they we’re most impressed. Miles ran up and down the whole place with a very excited look on his face.
Shoes, sloffen, boots
Zella is a fan of shoes. A big fan. One of her favourite daily activities is putting on and taking off shoes, slippers, boots, other people’s shoes. This snapshot catches her with Miles’s Jip and Janneke boots on.
Her New Zealand woolly slippers she can put on and take off by herself, which she thoroughly enjoys.Her vocabulary is also expanding beyond mama and papa, although she does not apply these words very exclusively to her papa and mama and she’s vague on gender. She can say words that we recognise including ball, banana, all gone, block, opstaan, arm, haar, george (from the curious fame), nose, aai, shoe, sock, on, uit, kijk and of course animal noise such as woef/woof, moe/moo, grrr.
Hey ho let’s go
On Saturday morning we listen to our local radio station Studio Brussels (www.stubru.be) and they have a show called “Was it the 70s, 80s or 90s”. In other words some seriously old school pop and rock. This morning we were listening to some the Ramones “hey ho let’s go”. Miles tapped into the accessible lyrics and was happily singing along hey ho let’s go. He was still singing the song when he left for the toddler gym class we’ve organised around the corner. What can I say the Ramones clearly knew had to appeal to a three year old; and his parents we’re singing along too.
Two-wheeled thunder
February 5 was a milestone event for Miles! He had announced a couple times already that he was SURE he could ride his real bike without training wheels, so this afternoon Lewis let him give it a try. Thunder rolled ominously in the distance as Lewis and Miles rounded the bend onto our sidewalk, Lewis hooting in disbelief and elation because Miles was off like a shot! He rode all the way up the Scherdemaelpark (at the top of the big hill in the Astrid Park, where the sandboxes and big playground are), and when they got home Lewis was exhausted and sweaty because he had run the whole way…
Zella and the blocks
Zella under the guidance of Miles and Lewis figures out that the red square block goes into the square hole. General applause ensues.
