What happened?

Today max's yoghurt spoon fell down to which he said 'uh oh.' I asked him 'what happened?'

He has never been able to answer that type of question before, but today he said: 'Yoghurt fell down.'

It is soooo important that a child is able to explain what happened. I want to know what is on his mind.

The other day he fell down, cried and when I asked him where the auwie was, he said 'feet' :-(. Before I would never know.

The happy police

Max asked another question.

I was briefing with his therapist and he came up to her, lifted her face, looked at her and then asked her: Happy?

And she said: Yes, I am very happy. To which he run of satisfied and very happy himself.

We have a book here and it has a picture of a girl in it who looks sad. Max will flip through the book, but always stops right before this page, he does not want to see the sad girl. It has gotten so bad that now he has hidden the book under the table, he does not want to see the book at all anymore.

My dad would take it out every now and then, but Max watched him like a hawk and made sure the page would NEVER be open on the sad girl and that the book was not in sight.

Whenever somebody is sad he will tell them: HAPPY!. And if you don't listen, he will yell at you HAAAAAPPPYYYY!!! in an angry voice.

So now whenever I feel sad, I tell myself HAPPPPPYYY!!!! the same way Max does and it helps :-).

HAPPY!!!

And of course this is Max's favorite song:

Happy - Pharrell Williams

Who cares about privacy when big things are happening..

Max has asked questions here and there, but mostly in one word phrases: opa? oma?...So i've been working on getting him to ask more questions, because questions mean an interest and connection with the world around you.

Having said that, for the past few years I have not really been able to go to the bathroom by myself, I usually have company -> Max. When Mike is not home, I just leave the door open, but when Mike is home I close it (I am a romantic and like to keep things romantic :-). Anyway, when I did so yesterday, Max started turning the door knob, yelling;

STUCK, STUCK, STUCK!

Uhm, no it's not stuck, it's LOCKED!

I want mommy open door!!

No! Mommy is going potty and needs privacy.

And then it came: Moooooommy, wheeeeeere aaaaaaaaare you?

Sjoesh.....I opened the door in less then a second! Here I am!!!!

He won, a question! And as clear as I have ever heard it from him! Could this be the beginning of more? I so hope so!

I want opa and oma!

Is 34 to old to have your parents live with you? Yes? Oke, well it was still great to have opa and oma visiting. Max's bond with them is very very strong. When we see them, we see them a lot and we really spend good time together.  Max, these pictures are for you!

Natchitoches

one of the oldest settlements in the state of Louisiana; plantation sites, historic trails along the Cane river and  a downtown filled with antique stores.

The past is still very present:

Special visit

My dad experienced serious health problems, and when they were at it's worst he said that whatever happened he wanted to visit the United States one more time. So sad to even think that we were talking about 'one more time' :-(

But now.....he is on his way!!! They will be here in less than 4 hours!

And not only has his wish of visiting once more come true, there will hopefully be many many more!!

Can't wait to see the look on Max's face, this visit is a very big deal :-). He made it!

4 years old!

This one's for you buddy:

Dreams