The boys are no longer happy in their playpen -- they want to explore the whole room.

Here are some of the changes we have made in our living room.

Things we have changed

Of course there are gates everywhere.

The coffee table was one of the first things to go -- the boys used to play on the carpet when they couldn't crawl yet and it's still a favorite play area. We had the coffee table behind the sofa for a long time until the guys managed to climb onto it.

I created a wooden contraption to force the small doors to the kitchen open. Too much of a temptation for little hands otherwise. Nora doesn't like it, but it's a lot safer this way.

The speakers for our sound system, the ones that I'm so happy about with the cables in the wall? Yeah, they are gone too.

This plant is better off outside. Also, there are big stones in the pot -- stones that Leo liked to crawl around with.

Things we haven't changed (yet)

The boys love shaking these standing lights. They are the only reading lights we have so we don't want to put them away. We'll see how long that lasts.

At the other hand, the pink chairs definitely need to go. Adrian learned how to climb on them.

So far the boys haven't been able to climb on the sofa (though they try).

This morning we took Leo and Adrian swimming. We had a great time and spent 45 minutes in the warm water with them. They're not afraid to go under water -- though they don't quite know to close their mouths -- and Leo is even making some swimming motions. They swim with a blue hat against the sun.

When they went to bed Sasha and I both swam individually. In the afternoon we went for a walk and early dinner at the Four Sister's, after watering the plants at Nora's school. When I went there to switch off the water I took both boys with me on the bike, that was fun.

We also learned that the glass table behind the sofa will need to leave the living room. We had put it there from it's original location in front of the fireplace so the boys could crawl on the big carpet there. I was sitting on the sofa and all of a sudden I saw Adrian's head sticking out above the sofa -- he was sitting on top of the glass table and trying to crawl on the couch. When I pulled him up, he then tried to crawl back the other way. Clearly dangerous, so the table needs to go downstairs. Slowly but surely there won't be any furniture left.

Yesterday before we left for Ingrid's party we saw Leo making his first steps and caught it on video. Just like Adrian the day before, he was laughing while he was walking.

Here is a short video.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We took the boys swimming in the morning and in the afternoon went for a very long walk, followed by dinner at Lyon Hall. We spoke with Nora over Skype.

I was testing Leo this morning. "Kun jij wel ... zeggen?". Here were his answers.

auto - buuh
mama - mama
papa - papa
slapen - нана (he repeated in Bulgarian)
poes - ma
boom - boo
Nora -- nena
Adrian - tata

Adrian has approximately the same vocabulary though his pronunciation is a little better. He "parrots" us more.

Adrian likes to say "nee". We'll ask him if he wants something, he'll say "nee" (or не, it's hard to tell the difference).

Here is a short recording of him saying "nee, nee" when I ask him if he wants get out of bath.

And then there is this from our walk tonight:

Adrian: "die"
Adrian: "die"
Leo: "Buuh" (auto)
Guus: "Wat zie je daar?"
Adrian: "daar"
Guus: "Waar is de poes?"
Adrian: "Nee"
Leo: "Ma"
Adrian: "Ma"

A dog barks.

Guus: Wat hoorde jij? Was dat een waf waf?
Adrian: Waf waf!

Guus: Nou dan gaan we weer verder.
Adrian: nee, nee!
Guus: zeg maar dag poes.
Adrian: Mama.

Nora arrived safe and well in Bulgaria, and I spoke with her over Skype for a few moments. She's happy.

It's great to have more time with the boys now. Tonight we went for a walk and without a destination in mind, we ended up at the hondjespark because they like watching the dogs so much.

We managed to take a picture of Nora, Leo and Adrian.

A few moments after this picture Leo made a summersault from the sofa to the carpet.

Nora loves reading "Pol". Here she is, totally absorbed, with a big pile of books within reach.

She often tells me about funny pictures she's seen in the books.

Leo, Adrian and Nora are having a lot of fun with their new water table.

The boys like to drink the water too. Which we don't allow so that's a lot of fun for them also.