Edward and I were out on George-the-Dragon (driving up and down the pavement looking at other people's gardens) when our neighbour brought her children back from school. The little girl (Stella) invited herself in for a play. Stella speaks no English and I speak very little Dutch, and Edward doesn't speak any recognisable language.
I wasn't prepared for a visitor and so the house was a complete pigsty. Stella marched in and gazed in complete astonishment at the mess of our sittingroom.
And I couldn't get her to leave so that I could clean up .... after half an hour or so of her playing with Edward's toys, in desperation I mimed to her that Edward needed his nappy changed. But even that didn't put her off and she followed me upstairs (into the even greater mess of unmade beds and ironing piles) and watched in amazement as I changed him.
She was amazed because she only then realised that Edward was a boy ("een jongen") in Dutch. I was amazed that she didn't know this from his inherent boy-ness. I suppose this is what happens when a baby is almost bald.
But then the 2 little ones sat on the kitchen floor and Edward pulled various cooking things out of the cupboard and they played a very nice game of cooking things together. I hope Stella comes to visit more often.
No comments:
Post a Comment