no pram so far

We not only live without a baby room, but we are walking around without a pram too. We carry, or with the attachement parenting term, we wear Timur. He is hanging on us when we walk, bike, use tram or any other means of transportation. I think, I have developed good muscles by now. When I do the groceries, I have a backpack on my back, Timur (now well above 7 kg) on my belly and at least another bag in my hand on the way home. This definitely helped me to recover faster from the after birth physical condition blues.

In fact, pram has become a controversial issue in the past decades. Here is an interesting article about it: http://www.lll.hu/node/198

16/05/06
I bought a shopping cart a while ago. Now I pull the groceries in the cart and carry Timur in the Baby Bjorn. I thought first that only grannies used such a cart, but now I can't bother any more. I enjoy using it so much. It seems that the Baby Bjorn and the shopping cart are becoming a trend in the neighbourhood. I'm so coooooool. :))

úszás

Ma megint én vittem Timurt úszni. Időben ott voltunk, most már minden ismerős volt, így minden flottul ment. Timur nagyon élvezi a vizet és teljesen éber lesz tőle. Kalimpál, a lábait úszásfélére használja, úgy mint ahogy a búvárok is csinálják, csak ő sokkal gyorsabban csapkod. Azt hittem, hogy csak én vagyok ilyen ügyetlen, mert alig tudtam Timurt a kezemben tartani, annyira ficánkolt. Az a félóra úszás az bőven elég is. Már a zuhany alatt sem sír, csak pofákat vág, utána meg mosolyog a hölgyekre az öltözőben.

Moments of the swimming lesson

Blurry, like underwater pics

Trainspotting - a walk on the wild side...

When we go out for a walk, we usually go to the Westerpark, which is next door. This is where the Westergasfabriek used to be. The old factory buildings were redecorated and now they are used as exhibition hall, restaurant, cafe, cinema, kindergarden etc. and even the city hall has offices in one of the buildings. The park is nice and modern, it's full of spring flowers. The colours are wonderful. There are also some crazy and funny artworks in the park. Tja, the Amsterdam artists...

At the other end of the park trains are running to and from Central Station. Sometimes we go trainspotting with Timur. These Dutch trains are nice and yellow and you can spot them from a great distance. We have to climb up to a little hill to see the trains and there we also get a nice overview of the park. Kids are playing football, dogs are running and sniffing, ducks are swimming in the lake, seagulls are flying above our head, joggers and bikers pass by. There are not many trees in the Westerpark, so the wind can be very strong. Timur comments the situation with some mumbling. On the way home he nearly always falls asleep.

Timur rengeteget mocorog

Most már nagyon oda kell rá figyelni, mert körbe-körbe forog, nem, inkább már pörög, csak tudja az ember szemmel kísérni. A feje időnként még mindig nehéznek bizonyul és ha nem figyelünk oda, akkor hamar beveri magát az asztal lábába, vagy hasonló bútordarabokba. Napközben többnyire a nappaliban van a földön egy kiterített paplanon, csak amikor megéhezik és elfárad, akkor tesszük be az ágyba, hogy aludjon egy kicsit.

Nemcsak oldalra, hanem már előre is elég erőteljesen mozog. Hernyómozgásokkal araszol előre, ha valami megragadja a figyelmét. Seperc alatt megy 4-5 métert (természetesen a szülők időnként egy kicsit túloznak :)). Lassan kezdi a lábait külön-külön is használni és szerintem hamarosan rendesen mászni is fog.

Mindent a kezébe ragad, aztán meg alig lehet elvenni tőle. A könyvek kemény sarkai nem tartoznak Timur kedvenc tárgyai közé, viszont a borítók nagyon érdeklik és próbálja a rajta lévő dolgokat a kis mancsával megragadni. Aztán dühös lesz, mert nem sikerül. Erről az jut eszembe, amikor a bátyám kicsiként a buborékokat akarta összegyüjteni az esőben. A nagymamám erre a kezébe adott egy kosarat: "Itt van Pistikám, gyüjtsed." A tesóm kinn üvöltött az esőben, mert a buborékok nem akarták az igazságot.

Timur tud már ülni is segítséggel, de nem szeret ülni. Párszor próbáltam felültetni, mert a babakönyvek azt írták, hogy ilyen korban már tudnak úgy ülni, hogy elöl a kezükkel tartják magukat. Egyértelmü, hogy nem tetszik neki, így jobb nem eröltetni. Viszont szereti, ha kezénél fogva lábra állítjuk. Erre kimondottan mosolyog. Ezt viszont meg én nem akarom eröltetni, mert O lábat kaphat. A legjobb tényleg az, ha az ember csak magára hagyja és ő ki fogja találni mi neki a legjobb.

wearing Timur is a total success!!!

Since I decided last time that I was going to wear Timur more often, so I did. At least an hour every day. This new practice seems to be a total success. Apart from getting stronger muscles, this is also a fast and sure way to lose those extra kilos. He is gaining, I'm losing. The only thing I have to watch out with is my back, since that seems to suffer a bit.

Today I wanted to do the vacuum-cleaning and I didn't want to leave Timur on his own. I put him in his BabyBj0rn thing and started hoovering. He fell asleep in 5 minutes. This is not the first time that the vacuum-cleaner puts him to sleep. Funny! :)

What is also nice about wearing Timur is that while cooking I can let him smell the garlic, onions, spices, etc. He's digging it.

Here is a picture of my first new sling experiments. Timur knows the sling, because he was carried in it when he was still a newborn.

Here is Mathijs hoovering, while Timur is sleeping.

baby cry - the vicious circle

Why wear babies

I must say I was more involved in my own shit in the past couple of weeks and did not pay enough attention to Timur. Alka was a good eye-opener and drew my attention to the importance of these issues. So, what do you get, if you neglect your child? Yes, that's right, a crying baby. It is soooo god damn simple. And what do parents do when babies cry? Yes, they try to calm them down by picking them up, and later by giving candy, toys and the size of calming tools will just increase by age. Just give them something quickly, so that they shut up and will not complain. This is the road to hell. This is how relationships can become materialistic and the important issues remain untouched. This is the best way to create frustrated kids and unhappy parents, who are unable to fulfill their kids' needs.

So, this morning I decided to wear Timur, which paid off immediately. I put him in his BabyBjörn thing and walked around in the house, did cooking etc. I don't think he was that comfortable, but I guess the physical closeness was all he needed. He was quiet and even when I put him down later he didn't cry the way he did in the past couple of days. All babies want is closeness, but we parents want to get rid of them sometimes wanting to have time for ourselves and by doing so making irreversible mistakes.

Today's resolution is to try to wear Timur more often in his sling and by doing so I also hope to gain more quality time for myself.

An eye-opening article by Krisztina Babó the sling specialist: http://www.lll.hu/node/94
More about how to put the sling on: http://www.lll.hu/node/95
Nandu's sling tying tricks: http://www.nandu.hu/English/Practical/practical.htm
More on baby wearing & slings: http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/articles/babywearing.htm
Babywearing a la dr. Sears: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t051100.asp

baby massage

I heard of the good effects of baby massage, so it was an easy decision to enroll for a baby massage class. Actually, I took a baby massage seminar at the Oerbron. It was held by an Indian lady, who taught us ayurvedic baby massage. We got some basic introduction to ayurveda and how it related to babies, how the different body types could be recognised and how to handle them when giving massage, what kind of oil to use etc. The training was very useful, partly theoretical, partly practical. Timur was the demo baby at the practical part and got a very relaxing echte ayurvedic massage. I massage Timur 2 times every week. He always gets a massage before his swimming class, because the oil keeps him warm and protects his skin from getting dry.

More about the Indian lady, who is also an ayurvedic doctor, and her activities: http://www.ayurbaby.nl/
More about baby massage: http://www.sanatansociety.org/ayurvedic_massage/
ayurvedic_baby_massage.htm

08/03/06
I visited Alka, the ayurvedic doctor today and she looked a bit surprised when I said that I massaged Timur twice a week. She is right I need to pay more attention to him and get not so deeply involved in work and other voluntary activities. He is baby only once and I will feel sorry later on. She is absolutely right. I want to focus on the important things and not waste time and energy on researching. This is today's resolution.

By the way, it's also international women's day today. Long live us, women!! I want to become 90. Though I know, I have to slow down a little bit for that, eat and live healthy, meditate, do yoga and take time for precious things, such as myself and this little creature on my side, and of course, Mathijs.

The placenta

DISCLAIMER: If you are vegetarian or your stomach can easily get spoiled you may not want to read this story, otherwise you will get stomach-ache. If you don't have either of these conditions, you may still get dizzy. I shall not be liable for any of the above mentioned conditions.

When I was eating Mathijs' steak & kidney pie today, I realised that I haven't even told this story yet. ...So, I read it in my Active Birth book that the placenta could be eaten. One can make a nice stew of it with some mushrooms and red wine. So, when the plancenta was born, we saved it and froze it for further use. Laura, our midwife, was totally groovy and understandable; she gave us even more ideas what we could do with it. Before freezing, she came to me with the placenta and showed me what it looked like and explained how it worked during the pregnancy. She compared it to a flower; actually it looked like a sunflower with the thick umbilical cord. Laura talked so positive and respectful about the placenta. She seemed to enjoy what she was doing.

We were a bit reluctant for a while and one day we defrosted my, or rather Timur's placenta and Mathijs (he is the chef in the house) made a nice stew with champignons and some Chianti. The placenta tastes and has the consistency of liver. It was a strange feeling to eat something that my body created. Well, some people eat their skin, nails, drink blood, or eat from the nose..., so, what's wrong with eating the placenta. In some countries it is given to dogs, at most places it is just wasted, but I'm sure cultures more close to nature are much more creative with it.

If anyone has an interesting story about plancenta, I look forward to hearing/reading it.

babaúszás

Ma kivételesen én vittem Timurt az úszásórára, mert az apja borkóstolón volt. Persze magyar borokat iszogattak, mi mást? Megismerkedett a papa egy pár cimborával, akik magyar borokat importálnak Hollandiába. Most kezdték az üzletet és az egyik lakásán volt a rendezvény. Szerintem nagyon időszerü a dolog, mert kiváló, minőségi áru viszonylag olcsó áron. Én most sajnos nem élvezhetem az ízeket a szoptatás miatt.

Na, elkalandoztam. Szóval ma én úsztam Timurral. Kicsit késtünk, mert meglátogattuk a papát a borivászaton. Bemutatkoztunk az ottlévőknek és utána angolosan távoztunk. Minden új volt az úszásórán és mire mindent megtaláltam egy kis idő elment. Itt levenni a cipőt, utána egy helyen én öltözhettem át, egy másik helyen Timurt tudtam levetkőztetni, aztán lassacskán a csoportot is megtaláltam. ...Csak a köszöntésről maradtunk le. Timur nagyon jól érezte magát a vízben, annak ellenére, hogy egy kicsit vacogott (a foga még nem). Azt hiszem nem tartottam rendesen a víz alatt. Sokat kalimpált, de nagyon szépen felhasalt a vízre és a hónaljánál fogva húztam ide-oda. Ez ment a legjobban. Aztán a fejére egy vödörrel vizet öntöttünk. Ennek már nem annyira örült, de nem zendített rá.

Egy kicsit én is ideges voltam, mert késtem, meg minden új volt. A dalokat sem ismertem, csak lalalaláztam a többiekkel. Ennek ellenére nagyon jó volt. Látszott Timuron, hogy nagyon élvezte. Nézte a többi babát míg a tanár magyarázta a következő gyakorlatot, majd miközben úsztattam más szülők kamerájába vigyorgott, nagyon vagányan viselkedett (mint az apja :)). Szinte ő a legidősebb a csoportban, ez a 2-5 hónapos korosztály. Aztán itthon fél óráig evett, majd mély álomba merült. Már napok óta nem aludt eleget, így remélem most sikerül kipihennie magát.