The blocks were a huge success!

Susan’s son Hugh proved not at all too young for the blocks as I had thought but what do I know about babies. He immediately started to play with them and was particulairly interested in the round ones, that rolled back and forth. He took them out of the box himself, threw them on the floor, put them in his mouth and often had one in each hand. He was happy and I was happy too.

He’s an easy going baby, with very big ears. I called them Budda ears and Susan said they called hem like that in the orphanage as well.

He didn’t build a tower yet, but I’m sure that’ll come with time. However destroying the tower we tried to build gave him great pleasure. He learns new things every day. Since a few days he can stand without support of a chair or a leg and he showed it to me and I snapped the first photo of it. Alison (she knows a lot about babies) told me him standing like that was very early for a baby of not even 9 months. Susan must be proud of him.

A friend of mine, one of the group I watch ER with, recently adopted a boy. Tomorrow I’m going to see him for the first time and I went a bit overboard with the welcome gift.

I made a set of wooden building blocks for him, enough to build a big tower or castle. It was a bit more work than I had calculated but the result is quite nice. Not perfect, but made with love.

He’s a bit too young for building towers, but for now he can throw them around the room or at his mother. To prevent major damage I didn’t use heavy hardwood but just used pine. Well, actually it was a request by Alison who, as a kid, preferred pine blocks over their more solid counterparts.

We’ll see what little Hugh thinks of them. I for one, almost couldn’t stop playing with them. I made another set for another friend, also from ER, who also adopted a baby. But those blocks aren’t sanded yet, I’ll finish them later.

[I’m too lazy to translate this. Try

for a computer translation.]

Het bed voor de honden is eindelijk tastbaar aan het worden. Er ging een hoop mis totnutoe, hopelijk is het niet symptomatisch. Ik had bijvoorbeeld een rekenfoutje gemaakt waardoor de gezaagde panelen 59 in plaats van 69 centimeter waren. En toen paste de recycling boxen er niet onder, dus toen kon ik opnieuw beginnen met zagen en afronden. Als het af is kunnen, nee, moeten de honden me dankbaar zijn.

[I’m too lazy to translate this. Try

for a computer translation.]

Het Canadese antwoord op de Wunderbaum.