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On the first of October we achieved two things. First of all, Emma managed to roll over from her back onto her front. She had been trying for ages, but never quite managed to get her arm to the other side. One of the things she has been able to do for ages, is sitting propped up and reading a book. Sometimes, Piet will entertain her there:
Piet entertaining Emma on the sofa (video, 14Mb).
The other thing we managed was to sign a lease (rental contract) for a house in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham. It has four bedrooms and a study, an acre of garden and a pool. We will move in after our furniture has cleared Australian customs and we have visited grandpa (and grandma of course) in Bendoc for two weeks.
Horses in Bendoc
Before leaving to Bendoc, we met up with
Jess and Jacinta, the latter being between Piet and Emma in age. We had an uneventful drive to Bendoc on Sunday. Granddad met Emma for the first time. Piet was keen to go outside and look and point at the three enormous horses. Obviously, first from a distance and preferrably being
carried or safely through the
window. But quickly he participated enthusiastically in their daily feed,
putting feed into the buckets,
carrying the buckets, and getting quite
close when putting the feed out. During the week he started pronouncing his second word, "pa", the start of "paard", which is Dutch for horse.
On the third morning we were surprised to wake up to a thin layer of snow, which also caused a few hours electricity black-out. Snow in spring is quite rare for Bendoc. Emma had her first and Piet his third short snow experience. Otherwise, we had pancakes for lunch, Piet helped grandma with coffee making, Sarah recieved a phone call on the front veranda and Emma got a bottle.
The rest of the week and a half, we spent sorting and packing Sarah's stuff (what she had left behind before leaving for London), enjoying the occasional good weather on the veranda - with a view on our new car -, cutting carrots with granddad or tasting his yummy fingers. We left Bendoc with a rather volumous load on Friday 16th.
New home im Eltham
During our first weekend, Kelly and Glenn came down to Melbourne, kindly bringing us a washing machine. We met Glenn for the first time and he cooked us a lovely dinner. Piet was quite satisfied being read a book by
Glenn. The next day we got the key to our new home and, as they happened to be around, Kel and Glenn gave us a hand unloading the trailer from Bendoc and starting the mowing of the grass. The next day, the removal company brought all our furniture and other belongings. Unfortunately, we only insisted on them unpacking all the furniture, which left us with quite a few
boxes to unpack over the next few days. Piet had his
grumpy moments.
So what did we get? First of all, the house is located in a forested area about 1km from the Yarra river. We use it for our afternoon walks with the pram to send the kids off to sleep, but for shorter walks, Piet can be a brave explorer of the thin strip of forest between the roadside and the properties. The forest consists mostly of gum trees, of course, and our road is named after one kind of gum tree, the stringybark. In greater Melbourne, there are about a dozen streets, roads, ways and squares named after this kind of tree, so the suburb Eltham in our address is essential. Previously, our road was named Eucalyptus road.
From the road, a gravel driveway leads up to the single storey house, which would be called a bungalow in the Netherlands. You can see that Kel did a nice job mowing the lawn to the left of the driveway. The rest of the garden needs further attention. The front of the house consists of the study, living room and kitchen, while four steps - which pose no problem for Piet at all, he even takes them without holding the handrail - lead to the bedrooms, laundry and bathroom at the back of the house. Behind the house is a large garden with gum trees and shrubs, ideal for relaxing or playing.
In the meantime, Piet and Emma continue to interact a lot. Piet will show her his rockets on wheels, stick his fingers in her mouth or play peek-a-boo. Piet is enjoying rediscovering his toys that were shipped by container, while Emma enjoys lying in her playpen or sitting in her pink bumbo.
On 29th October, Emma got her first 'solid' food, some rice cereal, under the close supervision of her brother. It was six days short of her turning six months, which is the rather rigidly observed norm for first solid foods in England. She seemed to cope fine, however.
