the Dutch

Today, the 21st of July, is a national holiday in Belgium. Actually it is THE national holiday of Belgium. On July 21, 1831, Leopold I took the oath as king and Belgium officially became an independent country. All of this happened after the Belgian revolution, during which the Belgians declared their independence from the Dutch.
Yesterday, and this has of course nothing to do with the above, my good friend Ilona came from Holland to pay us a visit. We hadn't seen each other in over a year and we had some catching up to do. We sat in the garden the whole afternoon, where Ilona became best friends with the dog (Kazan kept bringing her pears from the garden, which she kept throwing away and he kept coming back with new ones). Also Auro was completely charmed by my Dutch friend... or was it by the big leather (and therefore extremely chewable) belt she was wearing?

Sand

The day Auro turned 10 months, my friend Pascale picked us up with her car and drove us all the way to the Belgian coast (for Belgian standards 2 hours is a very long drive!). The coastal town of Blankenberge is very well known among Belgians and on a hot sunny day the beach is ususally packed with people. Luckily it wasn't that hot, nor that sunny, so we could enjoy the sandy beach to our heart's content. Especially Auro was impressed with the 'sandiness' of the white sand, because he wouldn't stop touching it. He took some in his little fists, then let it slip through his fingers, only to pick up some more. Of course there was also the occasional sand-tasting going on, but I think he quickly understood that sand is not meant to be eaten. Smart little boy!
To make our sandy day complete, we also paid a visit to the sand sculptures festival, which is held every year in the dunes of Blankenberge (11 Euros!). This year the theme is 'Pete Pirate and the Barnacle Bill', so lots of pirate ships, treasures, sea monsters and ... Michael Jackson!

Last minute

Tomorrow, Auro will be 10 months old, but today, while he is still 9 months old, his 6th tooth came through! And I can assure you this one is just as sharp as the other five.Two teeth on the bottom and four on the top: his mouth is in balance again... at least for now ;-)

Socializing

Over the past couple of days Auro has been confronted with many new people. The whole family gathered here for a barbecue, friends came to visit and we went to visit friends. He has been surrounded by people who, for almost 5 months, have been looking forward to seeing him. Unfortunately almost none of those people have been able to hold him without setting of a siren of loud and persistent crying, audible probably even to his father who is on the other side of the world in Japan!
Auro has always been a bit of a mother's boy, but from the moment we have arrived here in Belgium it seems he has completely abandoned the idea of ever socializing with people who are not his 'mama', his 'papa' or (luckily) his 'opa'. To be quite honnest, I don't know how to help him feel more relaxed with other people, but I'm afraid I can't force it much. I suppose I will just have to trust Auro and give him the time he needs to master his social skills...

Discoveries

Today, I made two discoveries.

The first one was this morning when I inspected Auro's mouth (which I started doing regularly since his gum turned white) and saw that 'tooth number 5' had decided to come out! Congratulations, Auro! Five down, fifteen to go!
The second dicovery came later in the afternoon and I can't really take credit for it since it wasn't me, but Els (my brother's girlfriend) who made it. She discovered that we have a tree in our garden that bears cherries. At least we think that's what they are. They look a little different from the ones we are used to, but they have the same sweet taste. My parents bought this house when my mother was pregnant with me, so I actually grew up here, but I never noticed that we had a cherry tree. What a strange but amazing discovery, wouldn't you say?