March

March started badly for Daniel – while he and Matthijs were chasing around outside Matthijs' “sword” stick got inbetween the spokes of Daniel's bicycle's back wheel, turning his daring getaway into a short flight. Daniel hit his head pretty hard and produced an enormous bump on his forehead. Our neighbour, who is a a qualified expert, said that a bump coming outwards was a good sign: you need to worry if the swelling goes inwards... The bump took a week to subside but otherwise neither Daniel nor his bicycle suffered long-term ill effects.

Marjolein's bicycle was less lucky. While she was in school discussing the school reports some little yobbos jumped up and down on her front wheel, bending it entirely out of true. She laid a complaint but there were no witnesses, so we do not expect any useful result.

Fortunately the school reports were pretty good. Matthijs was best in his class, with 5 “good”s and “highly satisfactory” on all the social skills: that is a lot better than his previous scores on social skills. Daniel had “satisfactory”s and “highly satisfactory” across the board with “good” on both drawing and imagination. He got “weak” for work-attitude and speed and Falco got warnings on “listening” and “attending” but otherwise good marks.

The first weekend of the month Falco stayed with his friend Tony in Amsterdam and so we took the two older ones to the Space Expo in Noordwijk. It was a bit too grown-up for Daniel so Falco would have been very unhappy. They had a fine time with all the spacesuits and mock-up spacestations, but the greatest fun was had with a mirror set up so that you could do the old “Harry Worth” trick of seeming to lift both feet off the floor. They also loved being photographed as astronauts and the simulated moon-landing site. It was a good visit for inquisitive kids, but not a rich enough experience to stay for long or go back often.

We also managed to ditch the monsters entirely one Saturday evening and go out dancing. Our local railway station has a large, wood-paneled, period waiting-room and some local entrepreneur runs a golden-oldies disco (meaning '70s and '80s stuff for us crumblies) there on Saturdays. We went with a mutual friend and had a very nice time, lots of beer and dancing, and came back with serious muscle strain. Dancing is wonderful exercise: we should do that more often.

Matthijs and his class went on a cultural outing to the local ruined castle at Brederode.

We also uncovered ancient layers and shattered artifacts from the past when we cleared out Falco's room. He has wanted a high bed for some time, which suits us fine as he as the smallest room and this way we can fit a desk and play area underneath it. Marjolein found a very solid, rather old fashioned one on-line, with a built in wardrobe and bookshelf. I went and got it, nearly killing myself and the original owner carrying it down from his third floor. Getting it up our windy little staircase was massive fun too, with the emphasis on massive. I believe that it is made of the rare “leadwood” of the extinct “Bloody Heavy” tree. Oh well, what's a few vertebrae more or less...

Daniel is famous for his weird take on things. He announced to Falco that, “of course when your toys break, they become heavenly toys and go to heaven. So when you die you'll see them again.” Falco, deeply impressed, “my computer too?” Daniel, “only if it's broken”.

We also (what good, good parents we are) took our brood to Artis. They have a very nice butterfly garden there and Daniel became mesmerized by a display of chrysalises, of which some were hatching (it takes ages). He really likes butterflies. The month closed with a “medieval” project at school. Matthijs' class sang a song about nobles versus peasants and there was much cardboard and cottonwool medieval handicrafts to admire.