I’m a Flemish, i.e., Dutch-speaking Belgian who lives in Massachusetts, USA. I arrived here nine years ago to pursue my graduate studies, met my best friend, and decided to stay. I married aforementioned best friend, and completed 3/4 of my studies (a whole Ph.D. in Philosophy and half of a whole other Ph.D., also in Philosophy… long story).
Current projects
- I am a freelance writter. I used to write for Suite101.com.
- I finished a novel, in Dutch, some years ago and am half-heartedly pursuing its publication.
- I’m much more enthusiastic about my current “potboiler”-project, which might make us millionaires (and spend a considerable amount of time wondering of that is actually desirable).
- I am planning a Homestead, a home and organic subsistence farm based on Permaculture practices and ethics.
- My biggest “project” took shape on 18 August 2005, when I was given the best birthday present ever: our daughter, Amie.
And then there were 3…
The kind of parents we are
We are raising Amie on organic fare (as yet store and Farmer’s Market bought) and three languages (English, Dutch and Bengali). We nursed until Amie weaned herself at ca. 17 month, hardly ever have the telly on, and have been co-sleeping (blissfully mostly) for three years now. {Update: just got a king-size bed: it helps!}
Amie entered part-time daycare (the homey kind) at 16 months, so I could write. She is now happily enrolled in a Montessori preschool (DH is an alumnus).
We used to live in a basement apartment in Brookline, a wonderful suburb of Boston, but we were always dreaming about a homestead. There we could establish a more ecologically sustainable lifestyle, grow our own vegetables, burn wood, compost, and catch rain water and solar energy. We recently made this a reality! We moved a bit further out and now have a house on 0.7 acres of land. We moved in only recently (at time of writing), and the elements are slowly falling into place.
That tells you what kind of parents we are: the less conventional type, I guess. But though the stories you find here are our stories, I hope they are relevant and entertaining to other Mamas, parents and caregivers to small children, whatever their child-rearing philosophies. Read more about the aim of this site.
Thanks for visiting and let us hear from you once in a while!
Katrien