Fun in Amsterdam

We had a lovely day today. Michael has, for the last week, been in a lot of teething pain but today he has had a mercifully pain-free day. He woke up at 10am and I fed him and put him back in his cot to rest whilst I had a shower. HE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!! I couldn't believe it! He slept for another hour and then played very happily on the floor for most of the morning with his poppity pop car. Phil then returned home from the office and we headed off to the baby gymnastics class in Amsterdam. Michael was a bit grizzly but joined in with most of the activities and I got a good few belly laughs from him when I started blowing raspberries. He also enjoyed the sing along session. I was grandstanding a bit in that due to my fabulous memory for nursery rhymes ;o)

After the class we wandered over to the Tig Barra, which is an Irish pub on Overtoom. It was such a lovely sunny day that we were able to sit outside and soak up the atmosphere with a cup of tea and a big bowl of cheesy chips. Michael was incredibly peaceful the entire time. He zoned in on a couple of gossiping Irish gals sitting behind us and regarded them sternly for some time with his thumb firmly in his mouth. They were oblivious to his presence which clearly marks them out as barking mad because he is so gorgeous! I never would have believed a year ago when we sat outside the same pub with me heavily pregnant that we would be able to do this very thing with a 7 month old baby. We've managed to mesh our needs very nicely. Sadly, we couldn't set foot inside the pub because it is always so smoky. I can't see a smoking ban hitting pubs and restaurants any time soon.

Inspired by the success of the baby gymnastics class I have been casting around for further fun baby classes. Apparently there is an English story time held at one of the libraries in Amsterdam on a Friday afternoon. That is perfect because Phil will be able to come along. I hope to be able to find baby sign and baby swim classes. Phil has a new camera that can take good underwater shots with a special waterproof case. I'm going to avoid playgroups for now because I feel that Michael is too young. He can sit well unsupported but every now and then he will topple sideways. I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off him if we went to a playgroup and that would make it difficult to interact with other mums. There is a nice playgroup in Haarlem so when he is one year old I will take him along there.

It would probably be overly optimistic to hope for an equally nice day tomorrow, but hey, I can dream!