"Papaaaa, people are asking when you will write another blog.
Make it happen!"
When the big boss and main subject of this blog begins to make her
demands, there's nothing to do but crawl behind the writing desk.
From a pleasant office chair (given to me a few years ago for
Father's Day), leaning back slightly yet ergonomically correct and
with a pleasant music playing in the background, the words begin to
flow from the fingertips. Hopefully you too are in the right place,
because below you can read some more about the ins and outs of
Ella-Marie!
Countdown
The first months of the year are actually one big countdown.
After the New Year, we started with a fortieth birthday, on
February 8 our big little girl will be able to blow out 12 candles,
and Omi's birthday is also on the schedule. At that time, since
2024 was heralded, the earth has only rotated around its own axis
about fifty times.
And that's not all, because after the first vacations, Ella-Marie
will be staying part-time in the great Pulderbos! She will then see
a big dream come true and get to go back to IMG, her own school,
every Monday. That schedule will be maintained until the Easter
vacations. We will make full use of those two weeks of vacation by
combining quality time with moments of rest. And then comes the
long-awaited happy arrival to work full time at the IMG!
It's a (positive) challenging schedule. And there are many preparations to be made. For example, we will again be working with physiotherapist Griet from Akketuut and psychologist Shana will also be on hand. It is not because Pulderbos is coming to an end that the rehabilitation stops. In addition, a very special date is coming up, because it is almost one year since we drove with Ella-Marie to Utrecht for surgery.
Winter dip gets some sunshine
"The streets are in bloom, the new potatoes are ready. I saw a young silver birch doing the lambada. Birds pecking piers, beetles crawling through the hedge. Cows look for bulls, people like to see each other. You can tell by the sparrows that spring beckons. You can tell by the sun beating down on the front door.
The winter dip is over, everything smells of
fresh courage. Today things are much better, tomorrow will be
fine."
(Take a
moment to enjoy this beautiful song by Bart Peeters on
YouTube)
But how tough was that winter dip. Like you, dear reader, everyone noticed that winter was really dark. Most of the problems have already been described here many times. Now on top of that came the female physical adjustments for Ella-Marie. These also created a hormone bomb that led to difficult behavior. But the sun is really beating down on the door, the hormone regulation is systematically going in the better direction and the oh so familiar adolescent moodswings are beginning to show flattened peaks. A little firmer action here and there helps. It is with a small heart, because we have so much respect for our little fighter. But of course, as parents, we still have to parent.
With the upcoming planned festivities, we especially hope that Ella-Marie will always feel positive!
The planned dates
For those interested in the exact dates, here is a list
- Feb. 8 - Ella-Marie's birthday
- Feb. 19 - First Monday at the IMG
- March 10 - First anniversary of operation
- March 29 - Last day of Pulderbos
- April 15 - full time IMG
High-level complaining
Nay, not everything is with us. And how wonderful it is to be able to complain at a high level for once! EuroMillions? Didn't win! Tickets for Tomorrowland? Didn't get them! Road works to Pulderbos? Still not over!
It does some good to be able to complain about banalities too! :-)
But in general things are going well. First of all because Ella-Marie is also doing better. In addition, Grandpa Jacques was declared cancer-free, the construction of the house is going in the right direction and we see sister Olivia flourishing again in all she does!