A few days ago we had a little celebration. Alex indicated all by himself that he needed to pee, and after getting his potty he sat down and peed away. Mommy and daddy were o so proud, but Alex himself was even more impressed. Halfway he got up and started running through the room while cheering and continuing to pee.
Again we see another step taken by Alex towards his adulthood. He is still developing very very fast and we all wonder what will be his next big advance.
Alex his mother sometimes mentions that there are quite a large number of differences in the Dutch and Spanish culture. In Spain we cannot cross the street with Alex without hearing compliments and remarks about Alex. Here in Holland we hear absolute silence. No compliments, no remarks, nothing.
Until yesterday when there was an event that left us speechless. Two little girls rang the front door bell. They were around 10 years, and they only asked about Alex. They wanted to know if he was coming out to play. He was asleep, but when I told the girls that after his sleep he would probably go out and play they left very happy. Ana and I were baffled. Alex’ not even two years old, and already the girls are seeking him out. It did however leave me with a proud feeling.
After just one week in Holland the changes we notice in little Alex are quite big.
He has adopted to a Dutch timetable very fast. He goes to bed much earlier, he wakes up more early and his daily routine has changed a lot. Normally Alex would start to show signs of being tired around 10 or 11 o clock at night. but now he falls profoundly asleep at 8.
It´s not really clear what is causing the change. Maybe its the Dutch light, or the climate of because we are are doing more activities, or maybe it’s just because Alex sees a lot of people around him all with different timetables.
Alex is clearly missing his Spanish customs. He is slowly adopting to Holland and every now and then he even has some fun.
In Spain driving a bike is not nearly as natural as it is in Holland. There are very few bike lanes and if you are one of the lucky few with a bike you will find yourself on a dangerous spot. Other users of the roads are not used to bikes and they just don’t take into account there might be bikes around. In Holland it cannot be more different. Here you are the king of the road on your bike. Everyone knows you are there and you can drive everywhere on your bike.
It was a good moment to introduce Alex to this great concept. Together we drove a few laps and Alex did quite enjoy it. At first he had to overcome some of his anxiety, because we were going quite fast, but he got the hand of it quite fast en even enjoyed himself. Still, it was his first time and after a few lats he started asking for mamma. Still, the bike seed has been planted and now the biker in Alex can start to grow.
Today is fathersday in Spain. Alex (with a little help from his mother) got me this beautiful picture! Naturally I was very happy with this very nice gift. The photo was taken on the Canteras beach where Alex was just checking out the local scenery.
Last week Alex had another checkup where he also got a few more vaccinations injected into his little leg. During the checkup they asked us if Alex knew how to climb a stairs. We did not really try this with Alex but there had been a few times that Alex liked to go up and down some stairs with a helping hand. We said that stairs for Alex were no problem, and a few days later Alex showed us that he really did master the art of climbing!
Alex has been saying daddy for a while, but now he also mastered mommy. He even knows his mother is called Ana.
After our nice visit to Madrid we are once again home but this time with a very sick child. On the flight back his temperature slowly went up to around 39 degrees and the only thing we could do was keep refreshing him with a wet towel. Once we landed we headed directly to the hospital where Alex got a big shot of antibiotica.
Now a few days later Alex is getting better. He is sleeping better and he even finds the energy to play a little every now and then. Still he is not his original 100% and sometimes needs to be held, just to show him there are people that love and protect him.
Since the end of the world did not occur Alex got in the mood to take a little more risks. He wanted to visit some crocodiles. Luckily for his there is a big park with crocodiles (cocodrilo park) right here on Gran Canaria near Agüimes and they claim there are more than 300 crocodiles walking around the park. During our visit we could even touch a few little crocodiles and Alex liked this a lot. In the park there were a lot more animals like chickens, rabbits, parrots, snakes, dear, monkeys and more and Alex at times didn’t know where to look. Some of the animals like the chickens and the rabbits seemed to be in high risk to end up as crocodile food but this is maybe just my incorrect assumption.
The ark itself was very charming. It was almost the opposite to a normal commercial park. The tickets to get in were cheap. The food was priced normally and the park was big enough to spend a couple of hours. The park is closed on Saturdays and open the rest of the week from 10:00 till 17:00. At 1 they feed the crocodiles which is like a show and afterwards there is a clown performance.
Surprisingly, the personal was not commercially trained, but they were ‘real’. The boy that was clearly there to take our picture with some parrots did not even bother to make a picture. He started telling us about his parrots and that sometimes one of them bites. One female parrot could be held by men, but did not like to be held by women. We were allowed to pet the parrots and continued our stroll through the park.
An older Canarian that worked on the park took some time to tell us about his work and his relation with one of the apes. In his time working at the park he had developed a relation with one of the apes,Judith, and now he trusted the ape and the ape trusted him. I have never seen a person talk with so much emotion about his relation with and ape and even enter in a discussion with said ape. This was very nice to see.
We liked the park a lot and will return for sure.