the days are just packed...

it is a busy summer, this. a bumblebee summer. i feel the list of things i want to talk about here, preferably at length, with much detail and visuals, lengthening by the day, with little chance of my ever catching up. so for what it's worth, and in the disorder, this is what's been happening around our parts:

toini's talking, thirteen to the dozen, making long sentences, and chatting our heads off (yes, that is actually possible).

(some of his favourite words of the moment are: kaan (for crane), viegen (for flying), ogel (for bird), auto (...), pmp (for water pump), tinken (for drink), and, of course, him being toini and all that, 'ja!'.

and a few choice utterances:
- 'één, téén, ach!' (used to count anything that can be counted, such as trees, birds, cars, cranes, people, flowers, toes, towels, bugs, grass leaves, cherry pits, raspberries, moles on my back, etc.) (can be loosely translated as 'one, two, many-many!')
- 'mama zitten bank boef!' (used to invite/order renegade mother to immediately occupy proper position on sofa, with bared boob) (made funnier by the fact that in Dutch, 'boef' is an actual word, the meaning of which is not 'breast' as per intended but 'bandit')

he has also managed to more or less completely potty-train himself without much encouragement from any of us. one day he just showed up in the kitchen, proudly carrying the potty in both arms ('mama, IN!' 'mama, IN!' and indeed, 'in' it was...).

we went camping (the children and i), in the north of this country, with brilliant friend P. and her wee ones. love at first sight, it was; am truly wild bush-woman, now trying to convince husband to sell up and buy a yurt. much to say about this, which will just have to be saved for another time.

there is some distinctly cute knitting in the making. sharing images soon. and isabelle's exemption from school for the coming year has finally been acknowledged (great great relief following many sleepless nights in which i imagined the worst) (apparently, 'the worst' is moving to belgium) (how 'worst' can that be???). and a disconnected post this is. buzzing here and there and everywhere. did i mention the new accordion in my life? all the friends from far away visiting? my addiction to Green Wing???? did i mention the bumble-busyness? the summer?