Grandma's Farm

Santa brought Maisy a wooden farm for Christmas. It was the one big toy that we packed in our luggage and brought to Amsterdam with us. She plays with it every day.

The animals on her farm are all named after the animals she loves on Grandma Cindy's farm. The two cats are Stormy and Starbelle, the three horses are Mikey, Starky and Pony, the little boy is Jack, the dogs are Baron and Colby... The month of January that we spent in NH was clearly enriching for her. It's fun to watch her play with the dolls because she has them act out the daily farm routines that she participated in with Grandma and Papa. Feeding the chickens, taking the "doggie doos" for walks, collecting eggs, cleaning the plops from the stalls, etc. I'll try to sneak a video of her playing and post it to the site.

While out exploring the city a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a Waldorf store which sells natural toys and carries this specific line of wooden dolls. I've been back three times now and each time we buy a new figurine. Today, Maisy picked out the bunny hutch. The store also had a chicken coop, but Maisy decided that the chickens were happy living in the barn loft and the farm really needed bunnies. So bunnies it was.

Sophie loves to play with the farm too. This is both wonderful and a problem. It is wonderful because she can sit infront of the barn and move the dolls around and happily entertain herself. It is a problem because her sister doesn't always like to share. If Maisy is content with another activity she doesn't mind that Sophie plays with her farm. But if Maisy is playing with her farm she doesn't like when Sophie moves the dolls around. We are working on the concept of sharing, but I can also understand her annoyance with Sophie because Sophie is like a tornado decending upon the farm. So, today I ordered the farm house and we will set that up on the opposite side of their play rug and Sophie will have her own area to play in. I'll let you know how it goes.

I am probably having as much or more fun than the girls with the farm. When the girls go to bed at night, I love to clean up the figurines and set up the barn in an idealic farm scene so it is ready for them in the morning. Those wooden dolls are just so friggin cute. You may want to look into buying stock in this German Ostheimer company because I will probably end up buying the entire line by the time we move home to the states!

R Rated Post - The Red Light District

"Belle" A monument to respect sex workers all over the world.

A typical chair behind a window. I sat in the chair and breastfed Sophie during the tour. Since we were in the window it seemed appropriate to expose a little boobie.

A high end room that rents for $120 shift. Lower end rooms are much smaller and have a single bed.




















Sophie and I went on a tour of the Red Light District this week, it was led by a former sex worker who now runs the Prositution Information Center in the heart of historic Amsterdam. It was a fascinating tour and our guide was very open about answering questions!!

It was interesting to learn a little about the history of prostitution in Amsterdam, and to hear what the current political controversies are surrounding this legalized profession. But let's face it, we can read about that stuff in the books. I went on the tour to get a glimpse into the life of an Amsterdam prostitute. Here are some of the interesting facts and tidbits that I learned. Proceed at your own risk.

*Prositutes are trying to change their image and are adopting the name "sex workers"
*Sex workers rent window space for $30-$120 a day, or shift. A shift can be from 8-12 hours long.
*The most clients our guide serviced in one shift was 30, but she has heard of women servicing up to 40 in 12 hours. That's a lot of $$$.
*Sex workers are independently employed; however, about 10-20% of them are illegally tied to pimps. The government is working to run out the pimps and the criminal element.
*There are no restrictions on what a sex worker can do; it is up to each woman to decide if she wants to accept a client's request.
*Sex workers generally don't have a problem with violence unless they agree to perform a certain act, and then back out of it once the client is inside their room. There are panic buttons in every room that are linked to alarms in the building and outside the building. Police respond immediately when they hear a sex worker's alarm ringing. Additionally, sex workers don't lock the doors to their rooms so that their colleagues next door can come in to help them if they are in danger. Escalated violence is rare.
*Smart sex workers use protection but if offered enough $$ there are some who will forego condoms. This happens more with women working for pimps who have less control over their decisions and bodies.
*Our guide said that the first thing she did with clients was clean their penises so they could get a good look at them before engaging in any sex acts. If they didn't look healthy, she asked her clients to leave.
* Amsterdam has sex workers from over 50 countries working in more than 450 windows. Their clients come from all over the world and range from businessmen to party goers.
*The oldest sex worker still operating a window is 81. The previous oldest was 88, but she died recently. Sorry to kill your fantasy boys!
*Sex workers have a bag of tricks (notice mirrors in room) and lots of lubrication to get them through the day. It is a job for them, not something that brings them pleasure. Again, sorry to kill your fantasy boys.
*Amsterdam's lesbian community opened a few windows recently, but they closed down.
*The only male sex workers in Amsterdam service male clients. There are about 30 male windows to the 400+ female windows.
*An experiment was done and three male windows were opened for female clients one day. Lots of women tourists ogled, but that was it. When asked why, one woman said, "Why should I pay for something I can get for free?"
*Rooms are cleaned once a day and sheets are changed once per shift. Sex workers bring bath towels into the rooms and replace or flip them as needed. Nasty!
*A sex worker with 30 clients doesn't take 30 showers....again, Nasty!
*Sex workers take photos of all their clients and a database is maintained at the Protitute Information Center. So girlfriends and wives around the world can keep tabs on their wandering mates. Now, if only I could get the Coffee shops here to do the same thing I would have my bases covered ; )

It is considered rude to take pictures of sex workers in their windows so I don't have any X-rated photos to share, just X-rate comments. However, if I remember any other interesting facts or salacious details, I will update this post.

Sushi

Here are some cute photos of Sophie enjoying her first Sushi dinner.

Maisy pointed out to me after dinner that we should have put the bib on her.

Sleeping Angels

Have you seen anything sweeter than these two sisters snuggling together in bed?

Why would you use a crib if you could sleep next to these two angels?

Laundry

This summer I insisted on installing a washer and dryer on the second floor of my parents' lake house because it was too inconvenient to haul all the wash my growing family produced down to the first floor laundry room. (two kids in cloth diapers produces an insane amount of laundry!)

I liked doing laundry until I moved to Amsterdam. It's been three weeks now and it appears that we are not going to invest in a clothes dryer. Maisy loves our daily laundry ritual and I have come to accept this temporary reality. Our guest room has been turned into a drying room. It takes about 24 hours for each load to fully dry. So we have to constantly time the loads so that we optimize every minute of drying time. If we lapse, the girls run low on diapers. I also have to be careful not to run the wash too late in the day, otherwise the second floor stinks. Someone, please explain to me why the washing machine backs up into the guest room shower and makes the room stink of raw sewage.

I can't wait to put on cozy soft machine dried underpants. There are so many simple pleasures in life that we take for granted. I expect that soft underpants will be the first of many simple pleasures that this European adventure makes me appreciate.

Flying Hot Tubs

We woke up the Tuesday morning to the noise of a crane hoisting this hot tub up and over our apartment. Unlike DC, Amsterdam doesn't have an alley system. So the rear yards are locked and large items like hot tubs have to be hoisted over the rooftops. I'll try to snap a few photos of a family moving into their apartments later. In Amsterdam everything comes in through the front windows. Brilliant! I say this because our first condo in DC had a front door that was 29 inches wide. Try finding a couch that fits through a 29 inch wide doorway.

Maisy enjoyed watching this adventure immensely.

We Bought A Box Bike

Our new "box" bike in a snappy green color!

As you may know, the popular mode of transportation in Amsterdam is the bike. They ride the old school bikes that you see in black and white movies, the ones with the "Y" handle bars and wide seats. All the bikes here have some kind of basket or rack for carrying groceries and other goods around the city. Baskets are not reserved for women here, the men use them too. And they have the funniest "box" bikes that are specifically designed for carrying children. It didn't take us long to realize that we needed one of these funny box bikes to navigate the city as a family.

Amsterdam is a very flat city, parts of it are actually below sea level, so it is easy for people to bike everywhere. The streets are even set up with bike lanes that have their own light signals. It's actually a little intimidating to be a pedestrian in this city because to cross a street you have to check the bike lane, check the car lane, check the trolley lane, check the car lane and then check the opposite bike lane before you get to the other side safely. It can make you feel like you're in that nintendo game "Frogger!"

Shortly after arriving Joel and I visited the two popular bike shops and I test rode their box bikes. We inquired about "used" bikes but were told that the used market for these bikes is so strong here that they never make it to the shops. They are always sold privately and usually without advertising in public sources. This was very discouraging news because new box bikes cost $1500- $2000 euros. I try not to convert euros to dollars when I make purchases, but it is hard not to do the math on big ticket items!

Today I received an email from my moms group that one of the mothers was upgrading to a longer box bike and wanted to sell her two year old short box bike. I jumped on the opportunity, emailed her back, went to see the bike today and bought it...well sort of. Since we don't have a bank account set up here we will have to pay cash for the bike. But our US bank only allows us to take out $500 euros a day and $500 euros for the entire weekend. So I had to put the bike on hold told the mom that it would take me a couple of trips to our ATM before I could return with the cash. For $1050 euros we get the bike, the rain cover, the child's seat and two bike locks. I never thought $1050 euros for a bike would feel like a deal, but it does. I'll post photos of the girls riding in our new bike later this week. For now you will have to settle for the stock photo of a Dutch mom with her kids.

Happy Valentine's Day

The girls send their love to everyone. I taught Maisy about Valentine's Day this week. I explained that it is a day when we recognize the people - and animals - that we love. So Maisy came up with a list of people and animals that she loves and we made cards that will be coming in the mail sometime before Easter!

It didn't surprise me that her list started with her favorite dog who she misses - Colby. The usual suspects made her list, papa John, Marley and Jack, her uncle Adam, Grandma Cindy, Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Dave. She even put our neighbor Paul on her list, and Rody too. Because as she explained Rody lives with Paul. It must have been all those breakfast bagels!

Maisy and Sophie were very excited when they received cards in the mail on Valentine's Day from Bridget, Johnn, Marley, Jack and Stormy the cat. We have them sitting on our dining room table. Thank you! We love mail, so keep sending it.

Flowers are so cheap in Amstedam that you don't need to wait for a holiday like Valentine's Day to buy flowers. My goal is to always have tulips in our vase. 20 in a bunch for 3 Euros at the flower market in the Center! My mom and I learned that you can only export bulbs from July through December. Apparently, every summer the flower industry certifies new bulbs as healthy for six months. During that time they can be exported. Outside of the time they are not certified and the US customs office won't let you bring them into the States. So all you gardeners better start buttering me up with emails and cards if you want some coveted space in my luggage for cheap bulbs this summer!

Cleaning up the Plops

Have you seen anything cuter?

If you walk out the barn door Maisy will promptly inform you that grandpa needs to clean up the plops. By plops, she is referring to the frozen piles of horse crap that scatter the paddocks. In this post, however, plops refer to the poops that Maisy dropped on the floor on her way to the bathroom. Where is grandpa when you need him?

Since arriving in Amsterdam, Maisy has regressed in her potty training. She was about 90% reliable before we got here and only occassionally had accidents at night. But she is now missing routinely. When she does tell you that she has to go, you have seconds to get her to the potty before she wets herself.

The night before leaving Amsterdam, my mother was responsible for those plops that landed on the floor. She and Maisy were packing her bags, hanging laundry or just puttering about the guest bedroom when Maisy sounded the alarms. "Gradma, I have to go poopy!" So grandma acted on instinct and scooped her up, pulled off her pants and ran her down the hallway to the bathroom. The only problem with that sequence of events is that the removal of the pants occured before she got to the bathroom. Maisy made it to the potty and finished pooping. And when grandma turned her head and looked down the hallway she noticed that Maisy had pooped on the floor.

Joel and I were not happy with grandma's decision to take Maisy's pants off before getting to the bathroom. But we did laugh when grandma realized that she had stepped in one of those plops. It will come as no surprise to you that know my mom that she didn't even realize that the squishy sensation she felt underfoot was poop until she looked back and saw it. So, in addition to the plops in the hall...there was a trail of poop footprints leading to the bathroom!

Grandpa may complain about having to pick up frozen horse plops, but I'd take a frozen plop over a steaming one any day. To add insult to injury, the pine floors in our apartment were roughly installed, which means that they often have gaps between the boards. And, of course, Maisy's plop landed squarly in the middle of two boards with a big gap between them. As you can imagine, it was a miserable clean up.

The regression in pottying training is probably a result of her disrupted routine and new environment. But it may also be because the toilets in our home were designed for Dutch giants. My feet barely touch the floor when I am sitting, so Maisy has to get a stool to climb onto the throne by herself. A big disincentive for a child that was taking herself to the potty at grandma's farm house. The children's potty seat doesn't fit properly either, and if I don't help hold it while she sits down it will slide and even fall in. Yes, it did happen. The seat slipped and fell into the toilet - taking Maisy's bottom with it. Fortunately, I was right there to catch her before she spashed.

Before I end, I have to share that Sophie loves sitting on the potty and playing with her tubbie toys. First thing very morning she does her plops, which is wonderful because then I don't have to worry about cleaning any diaper bombs while we are out in the city.

American Women's Club of Amsterdam

We arrived on Friday and on Monday we attended our first playgroup curtousy of The American Women's Club of Amsterdam (AWCA.) http://www.awca.nl/amsterdam/ Waking up at 8:30 am was painful, as it felt like two in the morning to our bodies... but it was worth the effort. I met some great American moms and Maisy and Sophie both enjoyed the socialization with other kids.

The AWCA is going to be a great networking opportunity for me. I've already had three 'social' engagements this week and the girls and I are meeting up with the moms again tomorrow. The AWCA has a calendar packed with activities, including a newcomers tour of the Red Light District by a sex worker. Check back next week for details!! Apparently, these Women's Clubs exist in most foreign countries and in addition to creating social networks for American women they also provide seminars on local topics - health care, schools, government, etc. I'll be sure to share what I learn as the year progresses.

By the way, on my way to the fancy hotel this morning (where the AWCA monthly meetings are held) I missed my trolley stop and had to back track a few blocks. It was a beautiful sunny morning so I didn't mind. The hotel was in the old historic section of the city which is very beautiful and, apparently, near the edge of the Red Light District. All of a sudden I found myself walking down a small quiet street with red lights above doors and naked ladies in the windows. So there I was, in my business attire, high heels, make-up (yes, I even wore make-up) on my way to my first AWCA meeting and I window shopped for prostitutes like they were just another cheese or pastry shop display. Only in Amsterdam!

Maisy and the Ducks

Here's a photo of Maisy in the park enjoying the ducks. She loves going to the 'panals' to see feed the ducks sticks. These Dutch ducks aren't the brightest and they eagerly swim after the sticks she throws them. She keeps some of the sticks she finds for Colby and insists that we carry them home in our stroller. When I tell her no more sticks for Colby, she collects them for Baron!

IKEA

We took our first trip to IKEA on Tuesday. In addition to having to buy a rug to help dampen the noise from the kids playing on the wood floors, we needed to buy Joel an inexpensive temporary computer desk and chair so that he can work from home until he secures office space in the city. Thank god for IKEA! We packed the girls in the stroller and backcarrier and hopped on the trolley. We transferred to the Metro and rode that out of town. Amsterdam is beautiful, but the burbs didn't impress me. It was a rainy day, so that may have contributed to the dreary impression I got from the outlying towns. But the architecture reminded me more of the photos I have seen of Eastern European, former Soviet block countries, cold and ugly. IKEA is located in one of these outlying towns. It was a short walk from the Metro station to IKEA which was convenient.

The IKEA shopping experience in the US can be a bit confusing and daunting...but to do it in dutch is even more complicated. It took us four hours to make our way through the store. Maisy noted as we stood in the check out line that the sun had gone to sleep and it was dark outside. IKEA is one of those stores (like Sam's and BJ's) that you enter with a purpose (purchase in mind) and leave with ten other items that aren't necessities but feel like them at the time! So when the cashier told me that I owed her 605 Euros I had to reached for my citibank Mastercard. I quickly discovered that IKEA doesn't take Mastercard. Now, I vagualy recall someone (Joel, Geert?) suggesting that I check to make sure IKEA accepted credit cards....but I dismissed the advice because EVERYONE takes Visa/Mastercard, right? Wrong, in europe, Mastercard is not synonomous with Visa. So I pulled out my atm check card and it too was linked to Mastercard. My mom pulled out her purse and found that she only had a Mastercard. So the cashier and other patrons waited while I ran to the ATM to pull out 600 Euros. The machine would only allow me to pull out 250 euros (joel sabotaged me by withdrawing 500 euros earlier that day) and I didn't know my credit card pin number. Fortunately, I did know my mom's credit card pin number (one of the first things that every young princess should learn) and was able to pull the rest of the cash from her credit card. (I'm sure we racked up another $100 in fees and charges) The poor man in line behind me had two small items to buy and he had the misfortune of getting stuck behind the Americans.

Another thing I learned at IKEA is that Dutch stores require you to buy or bring your own bags. They don't supply them. So I had to buy those big blue plastic IKEA bags to transport our goods home in! After leaving the check out line we made our way to the "transportation" counter and hired a delivery company to bring the loot to our apartment. That was another 40 Euros. So, I suppose after you figure on the 2% delivery fees and the 3% cash advance charges - IKEA wasn't such a bargain. But we were able to check that task off our list and now seem to have almost everything we need to feel at home in our new apartment.

A Beautiful City

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. The architecture combined with the canals and bridges is a wonderful combination. So far, I love it here. It is also a very easy to get around the city without a car. To-date, we have been walking or taking the trolley or train, but pretty soon we will be making our first bike investment. If you didn't already know this, everyone in Amsterdam rides a bike and most of the streets have designated bike lanes, complete with their own traffic signals. I know it will come as a shocker to some of you, but my mom had a few near misses when she accidentally walked into oncoming bike traffic. The bike lanes are often adjacent to the pedestrian lanes (i.e. sharing the sidewalks) so you have to be alert and make sure that when your head is burried in the map you don't drift over into the bike lanes. The Dutch are not forgiving when it comes to absent minded Americans breaking their rules!

Our Apartment

Photos: The white stairs leading to our second floor. You must climb these on the outside against the wall, otherwise the steps get too narrow to ascend. The stairs down to the front door are so long that you can barely see the bottom in this photo! The last photo is of the girls enjoying their new 'approved' carpet play area.

Our apartment is fabulous and the neighborhood and buildings are beautiful. The only drawback is that our apartment is located on a busy street rather than a quiet residential street. But because we are up on the third and fourth floors of the building it isn't any noisier than our home in DC. The upside to being on the main drag is that the trolley stop is out our front door, and the fruit, cheese, meat, bakery, and wine shops are all on our street. We are two blocks from the park. The kids playgrouds here leave a lot to be desired, but the canals and dogs, birds and ducks that are in the park provide plenty of entertainment for Maisy.

It only took a few days to get used to the extremely steep steps up to, and within, our apartment. Fortunately, my mother was here during Maisy's initiation to the stairs because if my dad had been here he would have been a big worry wort. I can't carry two kids up and down the stairs (I need to hold on to the railing too!) So I figured it was best to teach Maisy to ascend and descend by herself. The first few days she climb up and down on her hands and knees, but after she got comfortable she stood up and used two hands. (Maisy credits the two hand move to her papa and the stairs at the farm house.) Now she holds on with one hand and manages them easily. I did, however, stop her from carrying her stool up the stairs this morning by herself - which she ultimately used to retrieve her pacifier from a high shelf. ; )

The apartment has a nice roof top deck, but the weather is still too cool to enjoy it. The neighbors downstairs from us are not thrilled about the small American children living above their bedrooms. We didn't get to sleep our first few nights here until 2am, and I guess our walking around the livingroom, tv watching and Maisy's dancing on the wood floors bothered them. So, on our first trip to IKEA we bought a rug for the floor to help damped the noise from the girls playing with their toys. Our next apartment has to be on the first floor because kids must be kids and it is a shame to have to tell a happy dancing two year old that she has to be still and not play with her blocks because they might tumble on the floor and bother the neighbhors below.

The family that owns the apartment obviously has money, but they don't own a dryer. It must an environmental thing. However, next to their washing machine they do have a second (small) refridgerator which Joel mistook as a dryer during his walk through in January. (No comment)So, I am now faced with buying a dryer, air drying all of our clothes and Sophie's cloth diapers in the spare bedroom, or hoofing it to the laundry mat. My mom did all the laundry this first week, but she left today so stay tuned and I'll let you know how I resolve this problem.

Oh, the other good news about the apartment is that the couches are white...but dingy and well used so I don't have to worry about the kids putting the first stain on them!

Our Trip Overseas

Here is a photo of the girls and me attempting to organize and pack for the move. The next photo is of a few (yes, just a few) of our bags lining the hallway of our new apartment. And the snowmobile trailer photo is self explanatory!

Wow, what an adventure this move has been. After days of packing and repacking to maximize every square inch of luggage space we were finally ready to leave. But before we could depart we had to figure out how to transport four adults, two children, one stroller and 15 bags to the airport. So we did what anyone else would do, we vacummed out the snowmobile trailer and piled our luggage inside! We were quite a spectacle when we pulled into Logan.

We flew over on British Airways through London while my mom took a direct flight on Northwest. I hope to avoid the connection in Hethrow in the future. My mom left one hour after we did and arrived five hours before us!

When we arrived in Amsterdam we had four huge carts full of luggage to push to the curb by ourselves. The customs agents took pity on us and helped us through customs with our luggage...but there were no porters to help us when we left customs so Joel and I each took two carts and somehow managed to part the crowds and make our way to our meeting point with my mom and then to the exit.

We hailed two vans because they didn't have any cabs pulling snowmobile trailers at the Amsterdam airport. In case you are thinking that we were crazy for not hiring a transportation company to meet us at the airport, we did look into it. But for 250 euros, we decided we could manage ourselves. Well, you get what you pay for. We opted for cheap and ended up with an adventure. I loaded Maisy into the first van and when I turned my back to load her car seat the cab driver closed the door and drove the van out of the bus lane and across the street. I yelled at him not to move the car without me...but he did anyway. I ran after the van in the middle of the crazy airport traffic carrying a car seat so that Maisy could see me. She was not happy about being left alone and started crying. I climbed in the van and barely had the first car seat unpacked when the cab driver pulled away from the curb. Sophie was on my back http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/gallery/ and had joined her sister crying. I quickly buckled Maisy into the adult seat buckle and focused my attention on getting Sophie into her car seat before we pulled onto the highway. I did get her in the seat, but she probably would have been safer riding on my back. The van was not equipped to install her car seat safely, so her seat tipped with every turn! I left Maisy in her seat belt and didn't even bother unpacking the second car seat. If you are wondering why Joel and my mom didn't help me...it's because they rode together in the second cab, which I am sure was a safe and peaceful ride.

So, after fifteen hours of traveling and one crazy cab ride we arrived at our new apartment in Amsterdam. We then had to lug our 1000 pounds of luggage up two flights of steep stairs. Needless-to-say we didn't do much touring our first day in Amsterdam. We unpacked and slept.