Kids Here Speak English

Yesterday I, as part of a 5-person team of adults, tried to keep track of one 4-year old, two 3-year olds, two 2-year olds, two 1-year olds, and one 10-month old at the zoo. About the time I was trying to wrangle a two-year old and my very own one-year old out of the display crate in which the local rhino had been transported, I realized that I've broken yet another re-patriation barrier. I talk to kids without thinking they only speak Dutch. (Very timely - I wasn't sure how to say, "Please don't roll around in the rhino crate, Rebecca and Tori!" or "Why yes, Ainsley, those lorikeets love when we feed them nectar, but their claws are puncturing my scalp, and I think some wings are getting tangled in my hair." ) But I digress...

This is quite a new development: Just a couple weeks ago at the church nursery, I was thinking in Dutch. I served "koekjes" instead of cookies. And I wanted to ask if the children were "moe" instead of tired. And how exciting it was that sweet Emily is "lopen!" err...I mean walking. When it comes to my lingering foreign language use, this is the last frontier. For a few months already, really the only time I slip into Dutch, is when I'm speaking to children, my own not included.

A bit bittersweet, this latest ex-expat milestone is. My language skills are languishing quickly. If I'm not careful, it won't be too long before Dan and I have to spell words in English rather than speak them in Dutch when we need to keep Rebecca out of the loop!

Remembering

No doubt, the last 9 months (nine!) has been absolutely nuts! I've lost count of the number of places we've slept since we left The Netherlands. Waaaaay many. And that includes Rebecca, too! I tell you, little kids are so adaptable...give Rebecca a good book, some time to run around, some entertaining family members, and a cookie every now and then, and she's set. Of course, when we embarked on this move 9 (nine!) months ago, she was still crawling...but that's for another blog (which, is waaaaay neglected as well).

You all don't want to hear about everything we've been through since we boarded that plane from Schiphol on New Year's Eve. But this is what I'm going through now...memories. And that's a good thing! I've been so consumed with buying a house, working again, unpacking, baby girl, letting myself remember European life has been a luxury. This means a couple things - first, that I have more time. Second, that I've figured out remembering good memories doesn't have to be sad. They can be nice.

Here are a few of my favorite memories tonight:

Near daily walks pushing a stroller with a little girl in it. I'd often end up singing crazy songs or doing a play-by-play like we were racing other strollers to keep Rebecca happy those last few meters to the house.

I still like my memories of ducks and bandit geese at the lake in Rotterdam.

The crazy things we transported on our bikes...from shopping carts to cats in cages.

Trying to spell things to Dutch kids before I learned the alphabet in Dutch. "H" is pronounced "ha". Got that now.

Visits from friends! Friends! Who had time to get together! And I did, too!