Winter Time

The national holiday of the long sleeper was last Sunday. Finally we were allowed to lie in bed an hour longer. Deliciously shamelessly stretching out once more, pulling the sheet toward you and then dozing off in the fetal position. That ... dear reader, was the case in previous years. This year we are in the middle of renovations and the wind on the plastic as a temporary solution while waiting for the windows provided an alternative alarm clock. No problem in itself, as the days are well filled and time ticks on soon enough.

Aged

The generation gap. Until last week, there was still the belief, that we (the parents of 2 young and frivolous daughters) still belonged to the hip generation. We may be 39 already, but we also still know TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and other oddities of the worldwide web!
In Pulderbos, a contest is held every month. 3 well-known Flemings or Pulderbossers get a makeover into an artful, funny and preferably mysterious painting. Thus we have already had the opportunity to look for Camille Dhont, Niels Destadsbader and many others. This time the transformed famous people were the director of Pulderbos, Pommelien Thijs and none other than the one and only Koen Wauters of Clouseau. With enthusiasm, Ella-Marie grabbed a paper and ballpoint pen and filled in the first 2 names without hesitation. At the third name, an expectant look came towards us and with some surprise we gave Ella-Marie the name of Koen.
The look that followed can best be described as an adolescent look full of "what did you say? Who is da now?!". Spontaneously, a few Clouseau songs came up, proving once again that we are still capable of embarrassing our little adolescent! :-)

"But you say Wauters! Is that Zita Wauters' dad, then?". Touché Ella-Marie, touché. For our generation one of the most famous Flemish people, for the new generation "the daddy of...". We felt very old.

Report

The vacations have begun and, as always, this is accompanied by getting a report card. May we brag about our youngest daughter? Despite driving back and forth to Pulderbos, despite a busy drawing and gymnastics schedule, and despite the fact that we don't always have time to help with tests and homework, she still just brought home a wonderful report card. It's really nice to see how independent Olivia is. As a brusje (brother or sister of a child with medical need), she really does her thing well and knows how to handle a situation. A top girl!

Ella-Marie also received her report card. And how nice it is to read that there is still a clear cognitive progress. As always, we are not talking about Mathematics. Here the goal is to teach her number recognition. But for language, Ella-Marie very proudly came home with some "10 out of 10 "s! The material being covered now is that of the 4th grade. The trick to teaching them to read and write? Listening to songs by Niels, Aaron or other childhood idols and transcribing them in her journal. Guaranteed success!

Vacation

This week is a fall holiday week. With a mom who asked corona for another visit, it was mostly dad Pieter who drove to Pulderbos. The storm on Thursday was relatively mild on the course, but at home 2 trees were blown down and the foil that served as temporary windows went flying.

Ella-Marie had a particularly good time with the Halloween challenges this week. For example, in the morning she forwarded a photo of an almost real gunshot wound on her hand. Eating long candy strings and she got a Halloween (blood) bath were also on the program. The schedule was (much) quieter, partly because she had no school, but there was absolutely no boredom!

Step by step by step

We try to leave the wheelchair behind a little more. With the crutch in hand, Ella-Marie makes relatively good progress on the ground floor. The effort she continues to show is really being rewarded. Her walks are a bit longer and her technique is improving little by little. One disadvantage of the foot splint, however, became painfully obvious. Ella-Marie's big toe is inflamed and that causes occasional pain and frustration. So the next few days are going to be focused on foot baths and toe disinfections.

Keep you all safe during the storms and until another blog!

5 November 2023