I was in the kitchen making lunch when Nora came to me: “Papa, water vullen!” (Fill my water!)
I pretended not to hear her and said: “Wat zeg je?”
Nora: “Water vullen!!”
Guus: “Wat zeg je?”
Then Nora: “HET water vullen!” -- she thought I was referring to "de" or "het" since we've been practicing those. But no.
Guus: “Ik vind dat wel een heel onbeleefde manier om dat te vragen.". And then it dawned on her.
Nora: “Papa… mag ik het water vullen?"
Guus: “Ja hoor, dat mag.”
Nora: “Nee, nee! Papa, wil jij het water vullen?”
Guus: “Oh natuurlijk.” – and I filled her water.
I cut my run short because I don't want to get too tired. But I needed the physical workout, it cleared my mind. I'm worried about Sunday. Not about anything in particular, and intellectually I know that everything will be fine, but it's a big deal and I'm nervous about it. Running always helps.
Three more evenings, and then we won't be the three of us anymore. We are very happy to welcome to expansion to our family -- but it is also a moment of reflection. We've had three great years with Nora so far.
Her life, and ours, will certainly change -- especially in the first few months. We're enjoying the relative peace and quiet together.
A milestone I want to remember is Nora going on the stairs by herself. She's been doing this for a few weeks now and it makes her more independent in the house.
We have wooden stairs and we set the rule: no socks or PJ's on the stairs. So bare feet or shoes are okay.
Nora listens well and sometimes when she wants to go up or down the stairs and we're not around, she'll take her socks off to make the trip.
Several friends asked us if twins run in our family. The answer is: yes... but only on the paternal side. The tendency for twins is passed on through the maternal line only so the fact that we're having twins is pure chance.
Nevertheless, it's fun to look into our family history. My greatgrandfather Johan Jacob was born in 1891 in Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands. He and his brother Marinus were twins. Johan Jacob's son Gerrit married Johanna. Their first child was my father. Four years later my grandmother learned that she had carried twins only when she gave birth! One of the twins, my aunt Ria, later gave birth to my dear cousins -- again, including twins.
Through my uncle Harm I recently got in touch with descendants of my grandfather's brother Joop. Three of my second cousins had twins also.
Like I said, it's highly unlikely that there is a biological reason for this but it is fun to find out about other twins in the extended family.
Nora took a good nap today so I went for a run when I got home -- her sleeping allows us to eat a little later. It was the 3rd time in a row that I ran (with 1 day breaks, of course) and I haven't done that in a while. I was pretty tired and when my left leg started tightening up I decided to cut the run short. I really don't want to strain myself -- mainly to prevent getting a cold now.
Big day tomorrow. 
We went for dinner tonight, the three of us. It will be quite a while before we can go out for dinner again! 
I was in the kitchen making lunch when Nora came to me: “Papa, water vullen!” (Fill my water!)
Three more evenings, and then we won't be the three of us anymore. We are very happy to welcome to expansion to our family -- but it is also a moment of reflection. We've had three great years with Nora so far.
A milestone I want to remember is Nora going on the stairs by herself. She's been doing this for a few weeks now and it makes her more independent in the house.
Several friends asked us if twins run in our family. The answer is: yes... but only on the paternal side. The tendency for twins is passed on through the maternal line only so the fact that we're having twins is pure chance.