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!
Posts
