Jasmine van Zoest

Many, many events unfolded in the last weekend. One of the most painful events for Papa was that Great Oma Haaring passed away. Jasmine is sorry to know that her great Oma is no longer with us. She hopes great Opa is doing well amidst the pain he has been through and she gives the rest of the family & relatives her condolences.

It has been difficult for Mama to keep Jasmine's site updated recently because we moved into our new home. There is no internet connectivity and free wi-fi is sparse. We are thankful we are able to update Jasmine's website today and we trust all is great with your Easter celebration and more.

Easter comes & goes, Jasmine is 15 months old. She stands about 30.31 inches tall, 77 cm long. She weights 19 pounds. She is growing up very quickly. For easter, we had brunch at Dirk's and Ardy's home. It was a feast! There were an abundance of food and we ate gluttonously. Jasmine loves the special easter bread, but she especially indulged in the chocolate easter eggs. After brunch, Jasmine went home and did some easter egg painting. Unbeknownst to us, Jasmine had much fun, and of course, there was a huge mess to clean up as well.

In this series, you will find pictures of the above events as well as those from Jasmine's first birthday celebration. We recently received these from the Crowe family. They are one of the best sets of birthday pictures we have so far.

Springtime in our backyard is a hive of activity with lots of noise. We sat on the wooden bridge by the waterside and watched nature. Frogs and toads spawned. The lagoon is full of tadpoles which attract many birds and water fowl; cranes, black-bird, wild ducks and more . Hawthorns in their new cloak of green. Wild flowers blossoms in profusion. Jasmine and Mama picked a handful to put in Jasmine's hair. The flowers carry a soft melody that can only be smelled occasionally when a gentle breeze caresses us. We sat absorbing the sunlight, indulging in springs, and embracing all that nature has to offer. We blew countless dandelions and giggled softly into the spring air.

At 15 months old, we find that Jasmine can undress -- and dress -- herself. She can take off an unbuttoned: blouse, sweater, or jacket. She can take off her pants and diapers. She can also put them (her pants and diapers) on without any assistance. She has also learn to put on her own shoes; although putting on the left shoe is challenging and Jasmine cannot get it on correctly yet. Mama, also thinks, it might be time to consider toilet training as Jasmine sometimes tells us "Poo-poo" when her diaper is soiled.

Her language development is very advanced as well. She uses up to 25 words correctly and is capable of identifying a horse, cat, dog, duck, and lion with corresponding noun accurately. She can also identify them in a book. For instance, when she sees a horse in a book, she points to it and says, "horse".

She is a very amazing little girl. We are utterly and truly impressed.

Although each day on our adventure is unique, there are some common elements to a typical day.

We woke up and had a good breakfast. The day is as beautiful and warm as yesterday. We took another long walk outside. Jasmine went to the playground and joined other children. She went to the library and had her smoothie and apple pie.

Nothing new. Jasmine and Mama having a relaxing time in beautiful Leiden.

Funny, she still fits into one of her earlier outfits. Mama and Papa did a good job buying her clothes so far. They still fit her! Well, we are more amused to see the changes Jasmine has been through over time.

The celebration of the Dutch monarchy. We were not able to do much. Jasmine will receive all her toys tomorrow, so Mama & Papa had to be sure we are ready for the movers. It will be great to have our belongings again, but the place will be an even bigger mess until all the stuff is unpacked and organized again. We will know which room Jasmine will have. At the present moment, Mama and Papa decided Jasmine should have the bigger bedroom as that has more room for all her toys.

In a couple minutes, we will venture out to town and joy in the celebration with the rest of the Dutch citizens. The above pictures are taken yesterday. Papa was reading the book "Angelina Ballerina" when Jasmine saw Angelina wearing the pink "tutu", Jasmine started to say "toohtoo" and pointed to her suitcase. So we dressed her in her pink tutu and Papa finished reading the remaining story out of the book.