Brandt and I are in the Netherlands! The mouse insisted on playing from three to four in the morning, but otherwise we had a good night, sleeping until 9:30 local time. We borrowed my cousin Marijne’s mamafiets (I’m not sure what makes it a mamafiets–it has hand brakes and gears so it’s a much better ride than an omafiets) and cycled to the train station to meet my friend Deirdre, coming in from Delft.

We did some eating and shopping and despite drizzling for our ride to town, the weather was beautiful (beautiful=sunny, but still very cold). We first stopped for a drink in Grand Cafe Brinkmann and Brandt played with a little dutch brother and sister until we were told to keep our kids off the floor. Brandt’s become quite the little lover and repeatedly hugged the little girl. He hugs properly, around the shoulders now…last week he was hugging his friends around the neck, so maybe more like choking. I (and the recipients) like this method better. Brandt took a nap soon after (chasing and hugging is tiring work) so he missed out on his first uitsmeiter, but once he woke up we found a herring booth. He wouldn’t eat the haring, but he did like stabbing the pieces with a toothpick, dipping in uitjes, and feeding to me. We’ll try again tomorrow.