my mouth hurts :(

Mama says I am growing some new teeth and she says she can see them, too, but all I know is my mouth hurts :( A LOT.

[M's note: Yep. She's growing her molars - at least one - and I've heard that they are some of the most painful ones. :( Poor thing needs a lot of distraction (and some pain medicine) to keep her mind off her discomfort. And there are a lot of them to come in, so I expect this will be a long, slow process. We just give her as much love and attention as we can and hope that it gets easier with time.]

Summer

I really love this summer thing. Mama seems to like it, too. She's always asking if I want to go for a walk or go play outside. And she cooks outside a lot, too.

What I love the most is playing in the water! So much fun to crawl in the water and laugh and splash!

[M's Note: Meisje LOVES the water. When we went to the water park this weekend, she showed no fear. She crawled right into the zero depth entry section and kept on crawling. We had to continually turn her around and get her to crawl back to the edge of the pool or she would have crawled out into the deep end if she could. They also have these bubblers - basically fountains that shoot straight up, like what you see in some city parks, and she crawled right up to them, sticking her hands and sometimes her head in, without any fear at all!

There's a new poll on the left - Meisje wants to know what your favorite season is.]

Oh, Yeah!

Mama's record of a conversation with Meisje:

Mama: We're going for a walk. Let's get our shoes and get ready.

Meisje: Oh, yeah!

Mama: Are you ready? Do you want to go for a walk?

Meisje: Oh, yeah!

I wish I could record it - she sounds so cute - with the correct inflection and everything. So she has moved from saying "YAAAAAAAAAAAA" to saying "Oh, Yeah" - very distinct difference, actually. She just came home doing it one day last week.

Up-date

I feel much better now. Went back to play with the kids this week and had lots of fun. Mama said she and Papa went back to work. Work doesn't sound like much fun. I bet they had rather play with me!!! They left me last night with some girl named Jessica ... Mama and Papa went out to eat. Don't know why ... there's all this good chicken, peas, potatoes, broccoli, cheese, and milk here. But seems like Mama wanted some special fish thing ... whatever! Jessica and I had fun, though. She read one of my favorite books over and over and over again!

Today we spent the morning at the ZOO!!!! with friends and their mamas. My favorite part was sitting in the big sand box playing until I had a little taste of the sand and Mama took me out :( My other favorite part was the big fountain. Mama ran around with me in the fountain and we got all wet!!!! I laughed and laughed and laughed some more! We have new bears at our zoo, too ... they are cool ... but I wanted to touch them and play with them like I play with the bears in my room, but Mama said I couldn't. Oh well!

Mama says we're going to play in the water again tomorrow! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[M: Yaaa is Meisje's new word, and she uses it correctly. I suspect she learned it at daycare. This weekend we start swimming/water play at the local water park. They have a program for the little ones where you pay a very small fee and get to come in and play an hour before the park opens. That way the little ones get used to the water. We signed up for Saturday and Sunday mornings for the rest of the summer. I think she'll love it!]

Whoa, Speed Racer!

I have gotten really good at crawling really fast. Mama and Papa play like they are going to catch me and I crawl and crawl and crawl as fast as I can, laughing REALLY loud the whole way. Such fun!

[M's N: Of course, I never manage to get this on video, but she is awfully cute.]

Polls

Meisje likes finding out more about her audience. So each week (or so), she will post a new poll on the left of the page. Last week she found out that the favorite vegetable of 2 people was sweet potatoes and 1 person chose carrots. This week, she wants to know what you think about the playground. Her own personal favorite is the swing. Although the slide comes in a close second.

Meisje is sick, indeed

From Mama: Yep. She has it. Poor baby. At least she has a mild case of hand, foot, and mouth and the doctor thinks it should be gone in the next 3 days. Called day care this morning and another child there has it too. And those parents sent her sibling to day care anyway. I don't agree with that. I think there's a high likelihood that if one child gets it, the sibling will as well, and all I can imagine is that other child infecting everyone else at day care. So, it's probably good that Sofie will be home with Papa and me until the rash goes away (at least). I will have the morning shift today and tomorrow, but my new summer class starts this afternoon, so Papa will come home from work and take the afternoon shift.

The other concern is that Meisje has lots of fluid in both of her ears, and although they aren't infected, he wants us to keep an eye on her for signs of an ear infection as well.

... but I still had fun today!

Papa put a seat on his bike just for me and we went for a ride down our street. I loved it!!!!!!!! So much fun! It's just like when we were at Oma and Opa's and I rode the bike the whole time (but Papa doesn't have a bell for me to ring - it is a lot of fun to ring ring ring the bell and wave to everyone who looks).

I'm sick :( ...

I was hot and unhappy Friday ... all day [M's note: fever of 101 all day long :(]. Stayed home with Mama and tried to rest and soak up all of her kisses. I felt a lot better yesterday, but today I started getting this bumpy rash and I was a little unhappy, too. Hope I feel better soon ... maybe I'll be home with Mama and Papa tomorrow.

[M's N: We're going to head off to the doc first thing tomorrow. A friend's child has hand, foot and mouth disease (not hoof and mouth!) and we're a bit concerned she might have that. Hopefully it isn't anything serious. Poor baby ... she's had a rough first year. We'll keep you posted.]

I'm typing this one

fdf chjhjjjj m mnmjnh h4bbbbbbbbbbbbbb6bbb dbdbdbfgfbnn0ree4sbnreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebbbbbbbbbbbbbb

[Note from Mama: And pushing lots of other buttons along the way!] bdsbc2ars3z

Walking walking walking

When Papa picked me up yesterday I was showing off my walking skills to all the other kids. I took 4 or 5 steps all on my own! Mama and Papa tried to get me to walk some more at home last night but I was sooooo sleepy and didn't want to. I do manage to walk up and down the hallway while holding onto the wall, though. I still like this walking thing, but crawling is quicker!

These feet are made for walking

This walking thing is cool ... not only can I get kisses and clapping when I do it, but I can also take toys with me when I go across the room. I still don't really like it though. It gets a bit scary if I get more than two or three steps past Mama or someone else. But I'll try it out some more, I think.

[Note from Mama: Friday we were at friends' house for dinner and we tried to get Meisje to walk without holding on. She actually left our friend's arms and took three steps to me ... then did the same again. Twice was enough. But Papa and I tried again yesterday and she took a couple more steps. Before we know it, she's going to be walking all over the place!]

More kisses for me!

I was standing up this morning all by myself [Mama's note: Meisje's been doing this for longer and longer periods of time since our trip to the NL], and I picked up my foot and took a little step forward ... without holding on, all by myself! Mama, as I planned, picked me up and gave me more kisses and told me what a good girl I was! I did the same thing for Papa earlier in the week and he told me Mama was sad she didn't get to see it. So I thought I'd show her (and get kisses ... which I like almost as much as I like cheerios!).

UP

I said a new word last night! At least, I said a new word that Mama and Papa understood. I talk all the time and they don't seem to understand what I am saying. But last night, I was standing by Mama, holding my hands up, and she said what she always says, "Do you want up?" I said "up" and she got all happy about it and gave me a kiss :D I like it when she gives me kisses but I don't understand why saying up matters ... I mean, it's clear what I want. But, okay, if saying up gets me kisses, then I'll say up.

[Note from Mama: Meisje's vocabulary (in order of first being said, if I remember correctly) is: Mama, Duck, bye-bye, this, Papa, Nan (her daycare provider), uh-oh, all gone, dag (bye in Dutch), and now up.]

Home with Mama today - she let me watch this funny song.

Teeth

Mama tells me that these things in my mouth (that's what she calls it) that keep popping up are teeth. Whatever. All I know is that I am glad I am getting more of them so I can defend myself.

Yep. A boy at this place I go during the daytime when Mama and Papa go to work used his teeth on me! I'm not a cheerio or a cookie! Yummmm .... cheerios ... cookies ... I'm hungry!

[Note from Mama: Not too bad of a bite, but I sure was unhappy! He bit her on her jaw, too ... an unlikely spot, if you ask me.]

Hoi!

Message from Mama:

Meisje is always very curious about what I am doing when I sit down at the computer - and although we've found a few Nijntje videos for her to watch, there hasn't really been that much of interest for her at the computer. But I decided that instead of trying to speak for her, updating her website on babyhomepages (which we have to pay for, by the way), always lamenting that I don't have time to upload pictures and tell stories about what she does, I would give her some time every day (or whenever she feels like it) to write in her own blog.

So, welcome to Meisje's Reisje ... her blog to write about her own journey. It's great that blogger has the capability to translate her thoughts and her own special language into text that all of you can understand.

Please write back and let us know what's going on in your part of the world and if you have any specific questions for Meisje.