Ava is 5

Well I gave in and we had Ava's 5th birthday party at one of those indoor playland places because that's what everyone else with birthdays in freezing months has been doing here. I studiously avoided having it at Lek & Bushuset, otherwise known as Lord of the Flies Comes to Sweden with Pixie Sticks, and hosted it at a more modest one called Lekstan in Sisjön instead (Sisjön, by the way, is pronounced something like SI + wh if you were exaggerating that combination + UN) . I was feeling sort of guilty about outsourcing the party because it's so impersonal, but after seeing how much fun the kids had (and how little there was for me and Adrian to clean up afterwards), I am sold! These places are da best! You show up at the appointed hour with your kid and a cake, and they do the rest, including herding the children into the Jungle Room for hot dogs, serving ice cream, and providing goody bags. Two hours later, happy kids and presents in tow, you just go home to your clean (ha!) house.

I'm guessing there are tons of these kind of indoor play places in parts of the U.S. where there is a) snow and/or b) lower property costs, but there sure aren't any nice ones in San Francisco. Too bad because sometimes drinking a good cup of coffee and talking to your spouse while your kids happily climb and run with abandon when it's yucky outside is pretty nice.

I can do it!

This is the week of "I can do it!" in our house. Ava surprised us with some fine swing-pumping skills, casually informing us that she doesn't need to be pushed on the swing anymore. Given the fact I nearly checked myself into the hospital for swing-pushing-induced carpal tunnel syndrome a number of times, this is very good news. She also insists on dressing herself from top to toe, so we have been having a number of conversations about what it means to choose matching pieces. I suppose I should just let her go out in the tulip-print cozy pants, polka-dot top and orange-striped socks, but I struggle. I struggle. I thought she did pretty good here, though I can't figure out why she wanted to wear rain boots on a perfectly nice day:Julian's favorite phrase is quickly becoming "I do it Mama!" whether it concerns cutting up his salmon, brushing "teef," or walking up the stairs. It's almost as if the explosion in his vocabulary and ability to communicate has boosted his self-confidence in other areas as well. He also has a unique sense of style and love of rain boots. Perhaps it's genetic:

Scrappare

Ava and I went to a scrapbooking convention this weekend. Yes, Sweden has scrapbookers, and apparently lots of them, if the convention was any indication. Ava got her first scrapbook from my Mom for her birthday (just 4 and already a scrapbooker -- I'm so proud) and she's enjoying it. I get the sense that for her it's all about the glue stick, but hey, it's a start. For the convention I gave her 100 SEK to spend (about $12) and she picked out some truly hideous paper and a bunch of very pink, shiny, letters and jewel things. The page she did last night of a picture of herself and her cousins Victoria and Anna was ... eye-catching. I restrained myself and picked up some paper, some letter stickers, and some cool bird cut-outs, all of which Ava has been eying. Maybe passing on my nerdy hobby wasn't such a good idea after all?

Dancing queen

Ava started taking a dance class on Tuesdays after school a few weeks ago. I thought it would be good to have her do something extracurricular in Swedish so she can understand what it's like for her friends at school whose native language is not English. Believe me, I know that the fact we are enrolling her in a class so she can hear Swedish WHILE LIVING IN SWEDEN in strange. That's because Sweden is like the Expat Twilight Zone where you could very feasibly live for years and not learn Swedish and be just fine. MANY people do just that. One woman, who shall remain nameless, has lived in Sweden for nearly 5 years and told me that whenever someone in a shop speaks to her British husband in Swedish, he knocks on the table and says "English, English." I think we're destined to be great friends with them. Not.

At any rate, Ava is really enjoying dance class, which seems to involve lots of "jazz hands" and marching around. I think the main reasons she likes it are because she gets to wear a "dance dress" and "dance shoes" and because the class is for 4- and 5-year-olds only and she's quite pleased about being 4 (and as an aside can I just say that having a conversation 5 times a day about how old you are, were, and will be can push a woman to the limits of sanity). Here's Miss 4 at class on Tuesday:
I like the dance class because it is remarkably cheap ($90 for 12 classes - hunh?), is close to school, and, get this, has a very cozy cafe/bar/restaurant downstairs (Cafe Hängmattan) that has plenty of room for a 2-year-old to run around while waiting for his big sister to finish class. Adrian came with us on Tuesday and agreed that the whole thing was suitably civilized:

Happy 4th birthday Ava!

Ava's birthday week started off with a bang on Sunday. We had 7 kids over for an afternoon of cake and running madly around the house, and the kids didn't disappoint. By the end there was cake smeared everywhere, Ian (Ava's friend from school) was walking around with a box on his head, Julian had peed on the carpet, and Ava was wearing every piece of princess jewelry she owns and shrieking with delight as people chased her around the house. Julian also enjoyed wearing Ava's new tiara (not sure how he managed to get away with this by the way) and pushing her pink princess roller thing around the house.

Ava's teacher Courtney is very into birthdays and so when I arrived yesterday at school for snack time Ava had a birthday cake hat on and was wearing a pin that said "I'm the birthday girl." Apparently they sang Happy Birthday to her 10 times yesterday, and I have to admit she seemed a bit blase about the song when they sang it again at snack time. Then for dinner last night I told her I'd make whatever she wanted and she chose "cheesy noodles that you can put on your finger" (that would be penne to you and me) and so that's what we had before opening presents and eating some leftover cake. All in all I am pretty confident she felt princess special all week.

Now Adrian and I just have to figure out how to handle the princess when she melts down every morning when she's getting dressed because she REALLY wants to wear a skirt and sandals WITH NO TIGHTS and she HATES WINTER. I mean, I totally get it, but you gotta put on the tights, kid.

Pictures of the day

Christmas

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas this year. The pro of being abroad for the holidays is that you get to do whatever you want and eat whatever and when you want on Christmas Eve/Day. You're not beholden to anyone else's agenda, traditions or obligations. So to celebrate not having to navigate my dear family's eating requirements (low carb, vegetarian, no red meat for those who DO eat meat, etc.), we had roast beef with gravy and creamed horseradish, potato and mushroom gratin, yorkshire pudding, green beans with bacon and red peppers and chocolate mousse pie. Can you tell I was being reactionary?! The cons of being abroad are not being able to hang out with your family laughing about silly things, and not having said family around to watch children who might be a little crazed from, say, too many presents and too much mousse pie.
The kids were of course very cute opening their presents on Christmas morning. Ava was all about the unwrapping and less about the presents and Julian just ate raisins like a maniac all morning. I offer him raisins all the time, but somehow the raisins that Adrian gave me (yes, he gave me raisins) really floated his boat and he carried the red pot around with him all morning until Adrian finally took it away fearing some, er, repercussions later in the day. Anyway, many of the other pictures involve me having a very bad hair morning so I won't post any more here. Those are Julian's favorite PJs, by the way. He loves them. Those and his Italia T-shirt from my Mom. Choice.
On Christmas day we went sledding, or sledging as Adrian calls it, on some frosty grass at the park around the corner. Being from San Francisco, it would never have occurred to me to sled down some grass, frosty or otherwise, but that's why you marry a non-native I guess and it worked out perfectly. After that we strolled downtown for some people watching and went out for hot chocolate before coming home to watch Peter Pan. It was great day.

I make a quip or two on this blog, but quips aside, Adrian and I feel so blessed to have each other as partners and such wonderful, healthy, happy children, and to be experiencing this time abroad together as a family. So far Sweden has been a terrific adventure.

We wish you and your families happy holidays and a peaceful, joyful New Year. We hope you all get to spend time with the people you love. See you in 2009!!

End of school blues

Ava and Julian had their last day of school of the Fall term on Friday and don't go back until January 7. ABC (Ava's school) had a little party for the parents a week ago (see pic above). Good thing they decided to do it a bit early, because shortly thereafter a vomiting epidemic broke out at the school and all but closed it down for the remaining 5 days. At one point 9 teachers were out and Ava was one of about 30 kids at the school, which usually houses 92. We thought Ava and Julian had escaped, but on Friday Julian started puking and last night the barfing came a knockin' on Ava's door ... at 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am ... you get the idea. Unluckily for us, the laundry room is booked until the 24th, so we have a huge pile of barfy laundry just sitting in the corner of our room. Merry Christmas!!

On a positive note, we got word that Julian has a spot at ABC beginning in February. The only reason we got a coveted 1-year-old spot was because the school is expanding and decided to add 2 more classes for the littlest pupils. Ava is a "Lion" and Julian will soon be either a "Panda" or a "Bunny." I'm pulling for Panda. Much cooler than Bunnies for sure.

Cafe Culture?

A year ago "cafe" was not the first word that came to mind when I thought of Sweden. But as it turns out Swedish cafes are just great, running the gamut from sleek-modern halls decked with flocked wallpaper to cozy little shabby chic retreats. Here's one of my favorites (of the shabby chick variety), Le Petit Cafe in Haga:

And yes, of course Ava's drinking a latte.

My other favorite at the moment is called the Språkcafeet, or the language cafe, happily located on Esperanto Platsen. They do a mean vegetarian buffet lunch for 69 SEK ($10) and there are nightly language exchanges where you can come and speak your language of choice. It's a bit crypt-like, which is perfect for escaping a grey day.

I try to avoid the American-wanna-be Espresso House (complete with odd 10-ft-tall photos of lonely paper coffee cups posed in urban locations: cup on a newspaper vending machine, cup on a wall) as much as possible. It's one of the few cafes (perhaps the only in town?) that serves decaf.

Liseberg's last day

I think I mentioned we have an amusement park called Liseberg two blocks from the house. This is good except for the fact we have had to pass it every day on the way home from school and discuss with Ava at length why we can't go today despite the fact a) it's open and b) we have an annual pass. ("Um, er, Mom doesn't have the right shoes on?") Except for the somewhat scary bunny mascot(s), Liseberg is the most kid-friendly amusement park I've ever seen with all sorts of kiddie rides that Ava can go on, including baby bumper cars, which cracks me up. They also have some crazy skilled face-painters:
At any rate, the Liseberg summer season ended on October 9 with a great fireworks display which we watched from our balcony after first thinking the U.S. had redirected planes from Iraq to Sweden. Apparently the park actually opens again for the Christmas season on November 14 with a nice holiday market, complete with purveyors of mulled wine, elk sausage and roasted almonds wrapped in cones. Yum.

She came, she ate meatballs, she left

My Mom is gone again after a very short week in town. And yes, thanks, I did take her to the airport on the right day (at least I think so but I haven't heard from her so ...). Mostly we went for walks around town, drank coffee and generally schlepped her along to school drop-offs and pick-ups, grocery shopping, and playdates in the park. Ava adored having Grandma here and they were very busy with a big box of craft supplies Mom brought. I should also acknowledge my Mom for bringing 51 lbs. of other crap for me with her, including chocolate chips, hot sauce, hair dye, Christmas toys, lots of Amazon.com book orders, and 6 boxes of flipchart pens. Julian was convinced Mom was going to steal him away to California, so he wasn't especially charming until the very end. I told him he wasn't making a very good impression, but he just signed for more cheese. Good thing he's cute.
While Mom was here Adrian and I were able to sneak out to a really nice dinner party on Saturday with my Canadian friend Gen and her Norwegian husband, Tor, and then again to the Bishop's Arms for some quiet beers on Monday night. I think we may be able to do it again in ... hmm, aiming for May 2009.

Social kids

Ava is a VERY social person. I mean I thought I was social and then she came along. On the introversion-extroversion scale she's like waaaaay over on the right side. Our friend Amanda calls her "Cruise Director Ava," which is just about right. If I turn around for a minute at the playground, she'll strike up a conversation with the nearest kid or adult, which is sort of great and sort of worrisome.

She's also quite taken with the theater and told me today when she grows up she wants to be an opera singer. (I think she got this straight from the book about Olivia the pig or at least I hope so since she seems to have inherited my tone deafness and inability to remember lyrics). I think she might have a better chance with acting. Here she is at the park being scared:
Angry:
Happy:
Here's to chatty, social, theatrical, extroverted children everywhere!

Out and about

Ad and Ava at the ever-popular petting zoo in Slottskogen (above).
Ad with the kids (in dashing life vests) at Maritiman, the "museum of floating ships" on the river, where Ava got to go in a U-boat and Julian got to almost fall in the river multiple times.
Julian and his girlfriend and classmate Milena by the penguins in Slottskogen. She was the lucky recipient of his first kiss (otherwise known as the let-me-suck-your-nose maneuver).
Having a cuddle in Gränna, a small town on Lake Vättern (about 1 1/2 hours from Gothenburg).
Walking the catwalk in Jonköping.

In-Schooling and other good stuff

I have three pieces of good news to report. First, the kids started in-schooling yesterday, which is the process of getting them used to going to school. Both of them start with one hour at school with mom or dad, then work up to a full day over the course of two weeks. So civilized. And might I note that people get paid time off for this here. Extra civilized. Since Ava and J are at different schools I've been going with J and Adrian's been taking Ava. Today Ava "threw a party" in the play kitchen at school and invited all the other kids. I don't know WHERE she gets it. Must be Adrian.

Here's Ava heading out to her first day at ABC Preschool:

And here's what happened to the school after Julian's first day:

No no, just kidding. This is the view from our front balcony of a building on our street that caught fire Sunday night. We woke up to plumes of smoke and the kids went to school smelling like BBQ. No one was hurt in the fire, luckily.

The second piece of good news is that I have had a good response to my hi-I'm-Nevada-from-SF-and-I'm-a-facilitator-and-might-you-have-work-for-me emails. I'm meeting with the heads of a facilitation and training company with offices in Gothenburg and Birmingham on Friday to see about working together and I'm having coffee next week with a woman who runs a small consulting business here in town as well.

And finally, I've finally been assigned a Svenska for Invandare (Swedish for Immigrants) spot. These are the free Swedish classes offered by the state to all immigrants (that's me!). I'll start prataring Svenska 3 hours/day on August 18.

Mersea girls and boys

We just got back from a lovely week visiting Adrian's family in southeast England on Mersea Island. You just gotta love England (when the weather is nice). I mean, there are the cute accents, the good Indian food (sigh), all that brick, those pubs ... and the mere fact that a city like London exists should give people of the world hope. But what gets me every time is all that darned history in such a small place. It could give a California girl a migraine. I mean, Adrian's college at Cambridge was founded in 1348, for God's sake! Speaking of, here's a picture of the dining hall at Caius where Ad used to eat meals:

I know, it looks just like the Berkeley cafeterias, doesn't it? So weird.

For Ava, the best part of England was spending time with her cousins, especially Vikki, Anna and Tom. (In the pic above, it's Vikki, 14, on the left and Anna, 10, under Ava.) I couldn't really tell if Ava loved the cousins themselves or the idea of cousins more because the whole time she kept finding way to work the word "cousins" into the conversations e.g:

Mom: "Ava, do you want fish and chips?"

Ava: "Actually, my cousins like pizza."

Regardless, it was great to have Ava and Julian spend time with the whole of Adrian's family, who came down to Mersea for his mum, Jenny's, 70th birthday. I love this picture of The Johnson Men (L to R: Adrian's brother Martin, his son Tom, 15, Julian and Adrian):

Aside from Mersea, we spent 1 day puttering around Cambridge checking out Adrian's old haunts, and met up with "Big Phil" and his wife Jen and their cuties Anna and Ben in the evening. The girls got on like a house on fire and if we stayed any longer I'm sure Ava would be wondering how she could make Anna another cousin. Here's us at the cute pub in Orwell, their village:

The day before we left Sonja and I took the train into London (ah, the smell of the Tube!) and did some more puttering around Covent Garden; checked out the National Portrait Gallery (I just don't get how Henry VIII was supposed to be so handsome. Just do NOT get it); saw Dirty Dancing the musical along with 1,243 other women, most of whom were on bachelorette parties (or "hen dos" as they say in England); had fabulous Indian food (sigh); bought English novels; and had lots of coffee. It was a perfect sister day.