Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

Things are going well here.

The last time Lucas was weighed, he had regained his birth weight and progressed beyond it. He’s supposed to be putting on about 50g per day and, judging by how he’s feeding, I suspect he’s hitting his targets.

We went out on Tuesday with Lucas to Bagels & Beans for lunch. We used the Cameleon pram frame with the Maxi Cosi car-seat on top as transport. The reason for the car-seat in spite of being on foot was so that we could pass by a photographic shop on the way home and get some passport photos of Lucas taken.

The car-seat turned out to be unnecessary for securing him while the photographs were taken. Instead, Sarah just sat him on a chair with one of her hands behind him to prop him up and support his head.

Lucas was getting his photo taken when he was just nine days old. Eloïse didn’t go for her passport photo (in Los Altos) until she was a full thirteen days old. In both cases, the big issue was the eyes, i.e. keeping the little buggers awake, so that their eyes are fully visible in the photo.

I don’t know why they make such a big fuss of the rules for baby passport photos. Newborns bear no resemblance to their passport photo within just a few months, so why bother?

Similarly, Lucas had to appear in person the next day at the stadsdeelkantoor, while I dealt with his passport application. Sarah came, too, as she needed to sign the form to give her consent. It went very smoothly — I didn’t even need to fill in a form — and Lucas’s passport should be ready for pick-up next Wednesday.

Lucas had his first bath today, unless you count the one he was born in. He seemed to enjoy it, although he’d definitely had enough by the end.

Cora’s last day was Monday, as planned. We miss her, but on the other hand, it’s also nice to have the house back to ourselves.

Wednesday saw the installation of an apple tree and a Chanticleer pear tree (a sierpeer or decorative pear tree in Dutch) in the garden. They look very nice,although they’ll need to grow a bit before they look at home here.

With that, the garden is on hold again for a few more days. I’m not altogether sure what the hold-up is this time, but there’s no real hurry, in any case.

Anyway, photos of Lucas’s second week of life are now on-line, including photos of his first bath.

I’ve put up a few more photos of Lucas. These are of days three and four.

The remainder of Lucas’s umbilical cord snapped off Wednesday evening. I’m glad that’s out of the way.

Laura is going to make a little drum out of the main part of the cord that she took with her after the birth. Similarly, she’s drying and preparing the placenta for future medicinal use. It will end up as a pot of powder that Sarah can dip into as needed. It’s supposed to do you a power of good and, even if it’s beneficial effects are exaggerated, it certainly won’t do any harm.

It’s a contradiction in terms, I know, but I am impressed with Dutch birth bureaucracy. I registered Lucas’s birth only yesterday, but already the bureaucratic machine has swung into motion.

The doorbell rang this afternoon. It was the GGD, coming to do Lucas’s neo-natal hearing test and heel prick. We had no idea they would come so quickly, or without first calling.

Luckily, Lucas was asleep, so he made no sound while his hearing was being tested. We’re pleased to report that both of his ears passed the test without issue.

Eloïse never had the hearing test, because she was born in the US, where the test isn’t performed (unless the child is born in hospital). Indeed, the way she ignores our instructions sometimes, we do wonder whether she’s deaf, but it’s just healthy infantile contempt for our parental authority, of course.

Afterwards, it was the turn of Lucas’s foot for the heel prick. He didn’t even wince as his foot was pricked and a few drops of blood were drawn. If we haven’t heard anything after three weeks, it means that all tests were negative (which in this case is positive, if you see what I mean).

I registered Lucas with the doctor this morning and arranged for the birth bed-pan to be picked up tomorrow. It wasn’t actually used during the birth.

We’re pretty much on top of things here, not in the last place thanks to Cora, who continues to endear herself to us. Expect to find us suffering withdrawal symptoms after next Monday.

Our difficulties with choosing child names are well documented. We went through the mangle with Eloïse (née Franbert) and it’s been no different this time with Mr. X.

Happily, that process has now run its course and concluded, partially thanks to Dutch law, which gives new parents just three working days to register the monicker of their new progeny.

Henceforth, Eloïse’s new sibling shall be known as Lucas (Luuk) Alexander Caspar Matthijs Macdonald.

I registered the birth this morning at the stadsdeelkantoor on the Koninginneweg. It took only a couple of minutes.

Apart from a birth certificate, I came away with a present from the local council voor de nieuwe Amsterdammer (for the new Amsterdammer). It turned out to be a red, hooded bath towel on the I Amsterdam theme. A nice touch and a pleasant reminder of why it’s cool to live in Amsterdam.

Luuk is doing well. Neither he nor Sarah has left the house since his birth, but we’re thinking we may briefly venture out on Friday. It all depends on how fit Sarah’s feeling.

The house is embellished with blue streamers and whatnot, inside and out, so none of the neighbours can be in much doubt about the fact that a baby boy was recently born here.

Tiny male genitals are proving quite a challenge. At any moment, a nappy change can (literally) erupt in an escaped hosepipe scenario. Sarah, Cora and I have all been sprayed across various parts of our body. The wall by the changing table has also had a good dousing. At some point, we’ll get the hang of this.

Our bed has pretty much reached its maximum capacity now. Eloïse and Lucas both comfortably fit in next to us, but we’re no longer swimming in excess width. If Sarah had surprised us with twins, we’d be scratching our heads now.

With the name and birth registration taken care of, the next item on the agenda today was health insurance. I ticked that one off this afternoon. Tomorrow, I’ll call our doctor and register him with the practice.

The next step will be to get mug shots done and apply for a Dutch passport. The American passport (required for travel to and from the US if you’re a citizen) can wait until closer to the time that it’s actually needed.