First haircut

Rhiannon went for her first haircut yesterday.
The ends were frayed and her hair was getting in her eyes and just looking a little too crazy, so rather than trimming it myself, I booked her in with a proper hairdresser. Here she is with Rita, the gal who cuts my hair too. Yes, the same lady that was refreshingly blunt about my mop a couple of years ago and has been trusted ever since.
Anyway, Rhiannon was excited to sit in a big chair with a cape on and have a big girl haircut. She rabbited away in Norwegian with Rita, asking all sorts of questions about the other people in the salon and answering Rita's questions about her day at barnehage. Tryfan was content to climb up and down one of the chairs in the waiting area and scout around the floor for stray curlers and hair clips. So overall it was a big success! She doesn't look that different now, but it is tidier. I think we need to do a better job of brushing it regularly though...

Coping without Daddy

This week is going a lot better than last week. Rhodri left early Monday morning and we were all sad to say goodbye. Tryfan sensed what was happening and he refused to get off Daddy's lap, holding on tight to Daddy's fingers and shouting when he tried to stand up to leave. So sad!
We have continued to get a lot of help from our neighbors. Harini comes in the morning to help with Bentley, then Max and Carina have been taking turns coming over at 5pm while I cook dinner. Rhiannon looooves Max especially, but she had started acting very bossy and jealous towards him when he tried to look after Tryfan as well. "If you are going to play with Tryfan, you can just leave" is what she was saying to Max in Norwegian until I gave her a talking to, explaining that Max is not going to want to come over if that is how she treats him. Here is a typical scene.
Overall, the kids have been very good. Eating their meals, playing nicely with each other, Rhiannon using good manners (asking politely to please be excused after she is done eating, saying 'thanks' to Tryfan when he brings her snacks, saying 'please' without being prompted whenever she asks for something) ... I am afraid of jinxing things by simply writing down all this goodness! We are still working on getting Tryfan to sit while he is eating, but at least he hasn't fallen off the chair in awhile.After bathtime, we have been calling Daddy on his mobile phone. Rhiannon and Tryfan take turns talking to him while the other is getting dressed into jammies. This routine has been working pretty well and now as soon as Tryfan is ready to get out of the bath, he says "Dada" and points out towards the house phone. But even though we are in a good groove at the moment, we are very much looking forward to Daddy coming home Saturday night :-)

Weekend recovery

This past week, Rhiannon has been wanting to play "Mama & Baby" with Tryfan all the time when we are at home. She talks to him in Norwegian, asking if he wants to read this book or that book, if he wants to lay down next to her and have a little rest, if he is hungry or thirsty or tired, if he would rather wear a hat or open Christmas presents (books she has hidden in a cupboard). It is so funny to witness. Here Tryfan wanted to read the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Rhiannon was reading it to him.
Yesterday, we went over to play for a couple of hours in the afternoon and it was sooo nice to be there. Thank you for inviting us, Elin! Rhiannon and Sofie played crazily and Tryfan and Johanne followed them around trying to do whatever they were doing. The most popular activity was jumping off the leather chair onto a bean bag.
And meanwhile, the snow has continued to fall! It is still wonderful, but now I am thinking "okay, that's enough snow. No more please! Just sunshine and cold temps would be lovely now." It's really hard to imagine that in just a few months the place will be so different. It is very noticeable how much extra daylight we have now - I think we get something like 13 minutes extra each day. Yay! So it is not getting dark until about 5:30pm now. Here is the backyard before I removed the roof from the snow fort (it was not meant to support that much snow).
Yesterday it snowed so much all day that we actually got stuck trying to come home from Sofie & Johanne's house. They live about halfway up a big hill, and when we tried to go up it we just spun our wheels. Then another car came down the hill and I had to back down the hill a few hundred feet and turn into someone's driveway. Fortunately, the owner was outside and gave me a push back out the driveway and we turned up the hill, pedal to the metal and made it! Phew! We were on our way to go pick up Rhodri from the train station, so I was pretty determined to get out of there. So we made it, and our day today has been spent just sorting out the house - shoveling snow, laundry, stocking our wood box, cleaning, sleeping, playing outside. Rhodri did most of the work and I did most of the rest and playing, so it was a pretty good day. I think we are ready to survive another week without him.

A good clean mouth

Yesterday Rhiannon got her mouth washed out with soap.
I had given her plenty of warnings, but finally I had heard enough of her saying "du er baesje paa rumpe baesj", which translates from Norwegian to mean "you are a poo on a butt poo" (or something like that). I know she learned it from a certain little Iraqi girl at barnehage, who has terrible manners and does not know how to treat her friends properly. Anyway, I allow her to say it to herself because for some reason she enjoys saying this, but she is not allowed to say it to anyone else. When I washed her mouth with soap, she of course protested and cried, saying "I not like soap". I told her to remember that next time she considered saying naughty things that she is not supposed to.

In other news, Rhodri has been away this whole week and I have been only just hanging on. I still don't feel 100% and we have struggled so much with Rhodri gone. Fortunately, I get a lot of help from our neighbors. Harini comes over in the morning so I can take Bentley out for his business and then start the car so it is warm by the time we get out to it. Then in the evenings, Max or Carina have been coming over to play with the kids while I cook dinner and then one of them comes back later in the evening so I can take Bentley on a walk. We continue to get more snow everyday and while it is lovely and wonderful, it is a bit tiring to have to keep digging the car out and navigate the slippery roads. But its not too bad and we are coping. I have just been feeling very sorry for myself and also a bit grouchy this week :-( At least Rhods is back on Saturday night, but then he is leaving again Monday morning for another week and I am not too happy about that.

Three bear cubs

Today we met up with our friends Fiona (the mama) and twins Finn and Magnus. We decided to go to a children's art workshop at an art museum that is about half-way between our respective abodes. This was a partial success...we were late so the workshop was too full for Rhiannon to join. Finn & Magnus had tickets though, so all three went in anyway and just shared paints while Fiona supervised and I tried to get Tryfan to sleep in the stroller. This was a short-lived episode, as the boys aren't really into sitting still and doing artwork. We decided to suit them up and go play outside instead -- a much better idea!
Finn and Magnus happened to have exactly the same snowsuits that Tryfan and Rhiannon have -- same colors and everything -- and they looked so cute together. Tryfan fell asleep in the stroller as soon as he inhaled the cold fresh air, and these three took to the snow with Great Happiness. It turns out that the art museum is right on the edge of the fjord near Sandvika, and this was a day when hundreds of people were out skiing, walking, playing and otherwise frolicking on the frozen fjord. So Finn, Magnus and Rhiannon scampered about like little bear cubs -- chasing each other, falling down, climbing around each other and playing in the snow while giggling the whole time. Here is not-a-very-good photo of the scene as we were walking on a ledge above the fjord before we went down to join the fun.
Finn and Magnus received very strict instruction on how to share a bottle of juice from Rhiannon. I had brought one for Rhiannon but the boys didn't have any so she offered to share (good girl!). She started to hand her bottle to Finn but then took it back and said "First I will give it to you and Magnus must wait patiently. Then it will be Magnus' turn and then my turn again. That's how it goes." I couldn't look at Fiona because we both would have cracked up - it was so funny to hear! Anyway, all three passed the bottle around diligently and drank up until it was gone. I can just imagine these three 15 years from now passing around a bottle of illegal substance on the edge of the fjord, making sure each doesn't take more than the others.

A real wild child

Last night, both Rhodri and I had different engagements that both started at 6:30pm. Ack! His, of course, involved the Six Nations Rugby tournament - Wales v. England - a match that could not be missed come hell or high water! Mine, on the other hand, was a bit softer: my friend Hanne's birthday dinner party. I arranged for our friend and neighbor Max to come babysit, and it was his first time doing so. The plan was for both kids to be asleep by 6:30pm, but Rhiannon had a long nap in the afternoon so she was wide awake when Max showed up. As I was trying to get out the door, Rhiannon kept crying and saying that she was afraid of gorillas coming to get her, so I let her come downstairs and lay on the couch while Max & his friend Kjetil played Playstation. Well, I got text message reports all evening of a wild girl Rhiannon who was diving on the couch and wrestling with Max and Kjetil! What a skunk! Here she is this morning eating pancakes that Tryfan brought to her.
Tryfan has a new trick where he comes over, grabs my hand, leads me into the kitchen, points to what he wants (saying "yeah, yeah" and shifting his weight from one foot to the other in an impatient manner), then once he is handed something, he hold out the other hand and says "Na-non" (as in, one for Rhiannon also). Then he toddles off with a something in each hand and delivers one to Rhiannon. This morning Rhiannon had a pile of 5 pancakes sitting next to her on the couch - she couldn't keep up with Tryfan's supply!

Small updates

Things are improving in our house. The kids went back to barnehage, Rhodri went back to work, and I am still recovering. Can't win 'em all, I guess. The good news is that Tryfan is past his 5am (or earlier) wakings. Thank the Lord!!! Although ultimately I think what turned him around was the other morning when he woke ridiculously early (3:40am) and I went in, soothed him back to sleep, tiptoed back to our room, got into bed, and as soon as Rhodri whispered "Nice work, Mama", guess who started crying again? Of course. But this was a morning that I was not prepared to be out of bed for long periods of time and neither was Rhods, so we let him complain-cry until he eventually fell back asleep and woke well-rested at 7am. I guess kids do whatever works. Rhiannon took this photo of him with food on his face, squirming out of his chair at the dinner table.
The other news is that it has been just stunningly gorgeous here this week. I don't think winter weather gets better than this! Although it has been super cold -- this morning was -15 deg C (5 F). But with the bright waning moon in the dark mornings and every detail of the long sunrise visible from our living room, this cosy house has been a nice place to be even though it is so tempting to play outside.
Looking out at Vardaasen ski area in the morning from an upstairs window.

Worst case scenario

It's been a very long day today.
I have been very much under the weather these past few days and Rhodri has been holding it all together, but today he fell under as well. To make matters worse - far worse, in fact - Tryfan had a slight fever yesterday and so he couldn't go to barnehage today. Yes, he is coughing a bit and so is Rhiannon, but they both behave like their normal, energetic, cheeky selves. This morning we were going to take Rhiannon to school and leave Tryfan home with us. We realized that he would be sad without her to play with but it would be too chaotic with both home. Then Rhiannon told us that she wanted to stay home with Tryfan, so we had no choice but to comply. Rhodri and I agreed that it is an absolute worst case scenario when both parents feel terrible and both kids are home needing to be supervised and feel closer to fine.

We made it through the day, but it was not pretty... toast crumbs all over the couch and the floor, DVD cases open and the labels removed, nearly every children's book relocated from the bookshelf to the floor, wooden train tracks zigzagging below a layer of stuffed animals, wooden blocks, cars, strollers and dolls. Gee whiz, what a mess! We had a mandatory midday nap for everyone from 11:15am - 1:30pm, with Rhodri having his solo bed rest in the morning and me in the afternoon. Then we had an early dinner of chicken noodle soup (oh how I wish they sold Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup here! Then I wouldn't have had to make it from scratch) and early bedtime for the kids. So we survived. Just.

I shouldn't leave Bentley out of this day, either. I think today was a worst-case scenario for him as well. He didn't get a chance to go out for his morning pee until nearly 11am! Poor guy was crossing his hind paws and whining to get out. It's no fun for Bentley when his parents are not up for facing the -10 deg C conditions outside. Big up to our friend and neighbor Harini who agreed to take him out for a nice walk this evening. However, last week he did have a pretty good run of things - he got to go x-c skiing nearly every night with either Rhodri or I. I hope we can get back into this routine soon!
Hopefully tomorrow will be brighter.

Deilig

The snow continues, and it is so deilig! Deilig (pronounced like dye-lee) is Norwegian for delicious and wonderful, which to me means food, but this word tends to be used more to describe delightful situations...like fresh snow. Here is the view out our kitchen window. Notice all the build up in the foreground! So deilig!
The sand box is under here somewhere and the see-saw is almost buried, too. Bentley is taking refuge under the slide.
There is the picnic table in the background...

Jinxed

We had quite a bit more snow last night, with more forecast again over the next few days. Woo hoo! Last night I built a bit of a make-shift roof onto the snow fort in the backyard so that we could have a little cave to play in. Rhiannon wanted to play out in it right away, of course, so I said "no, we won't have time to play in it until the weekend...unless you happen to get sick and stay home from barnehage". Oh no!! I really think I jinxed her because this morning she was not well enough to go to barnehage (or to play outside, for that matter) so Rhodri and I took turns staying home with her. I got the afternoon shift, and we laid together on the couch and watched The Sound of Music for her first time ever! Rhiannon even recognized the fortress in Salzburg and also the place where the Christmas Market was set up when we were there 2 months ago. It was so cool to see this movie after having just been round the sights where it was filmed. We didn't watch the whole movie. I turned it off after Maria goes back to the Convent - it was time to cook dinner anyway.

And as for our little 5am early bird Tryfan, he did have one day when he slept in until 5:45am but then went right back to 5am on the dot. At least now we are kind of getting used to it :-(
Has anyone else been marching around these past few days singing, "Weeee'll drinkdrinkdrink to Lily the pinkpinkpink, the saviour offfff the human ra-a-ace.."? I cannot get that darn song out of my head. Sorry for inflicting this upon any of you who didn't want to be exposed to this song (like Rob!).

Lily the Pink

Right now Rhiannon and Tryfan's favorite video, which can only be described as a bizarre 1970's-era marching / drinking song, is called "Lily the Pink" by the Scaffold. One of the band members is apparently Paul McCartney's brother, so you see they have a slight claim to fame. Here is the video for your viewing pleasure...



Rhodri was alone driving the car one time when this song came on one of the local stations. He looked it up on YouTube, and voila! This video usually gets played on the laptop at the dining table when I am just finishing cooking dinner and Rhodri is trying to keep the troops at bay.

Snow house

Rhiannon and I built a snow house in the backyard today. Originally it was meant to be an igloo-like cave, but the snow is too dry to really build reliable tunnels with, so we made an open air house with a front door tunnel and an icicle door bell. Our house has a couch, a high-backed chair (where I am sitting), a kitchen with a sink, faucet and soap, and a back door with a path that goes around to the front of the house (so that one doesn't HAVE to crawl through the tunnel to get in or out). In this photo Rhiannon was asking me what I wanted for dinner. I requested lasagna but she said all she had was a potato ("not a sweet potato, just a potato"), so I settled for that.

Ski expedition to a new place

Today we went on a cross-country ski adventure at a place nearby (Eiksetra) where we have never been before. Here is the road up to the starting point.
It was a complete disaster as we attempted to get underway. Both kids were tired and crying, it was -10 deg C (14 F), and we weren't too sure how or even if this was going to work. We ended up putting Rhiannon in the pulk and Tryfan in the sled and walking them around an empty parking lot in circles until they were asleep! That is Tryfan's head obscured by sheepskin and his rabbit-like fur hat in the sled behind me. Thank goodness that Rhodri put his foot down and didn't allow Bentley to come also.
Once the kids were asleep, Rhodri and Rhiannon skiied off for a tour of the area and I towed Tryfan into a tipi (actually it is called a "lavvo" here in Norway) that had about 30 animal skins laid out for coziness. Somebody must use this site for special group occasions because the lavvo had a really nice fireplace in the middle and benches with skins set up all around. It is the middle of the picture below under a layer of snow and with a wooden door.
Here is the view of the inside of the door. Tryfan is camouflaged in fur and dark colors to the right of the photo under a bench.
Here are Rhodri and Rhiannon on the homestretch coming back to our camp after ~30 minutes of tricky skiing up and down hills.
The trees were so gorgeous - I couldn't stop taking photos of them!
So once R & R got back, we switched places and I got to have my own solo tour of the area. It was so great! I was gone ~45 minutes and came back to this scene...the troops were getting warm in the car and having a little party, eating cinnamon boller and cheesy puffs in the front seats.
So in the end, it took us about 4 hours from start to finish of this x-c ski outing, and Rhodri got to ski 30 minutes while I got 45 minutes. "Was it worth it?", we asked each other. Hmmm, not so much when it's phrased that way! We decided that it was probably more of a recon mission so we could get the lay of the land for next time, and then we felt better about the day.

A good start to the weekend

We invited Rhiannon's little buddy Sofia and her parents over for pizza on Friday night. These two had a really good time jumping on the couches while listening to "Karius og Baktus" (a classic Norwegian musical about the baddies that live inside our mouths when we don't brush our teeth!) and coloring, as you can see below.
However, Sofia is used to going to bed about 3 hours after Rhiannon does and so things went downhill in a hurry after Rhiannon was up a little bit past her bedtime. Amazing what a difference 30 minutes makes! Anyway, it was a nice way to start the weekend.

School for ants

Rhiannon built this Lego structure initially as a New Year's present (she gave it to me and said "Godt Nytt Aar" which is the Norwegian way of saying Happy New Year) but then we decided it was really a school for ants. Of course Tryfan and Rhiannon both wanted to carry it around, so the only way to get them to stop fighting over it was to take their photo.
The 5am wakings have more or less continued. On Thursday Tryfan woke at 5:30am and then today he was back at 5:02am. But we still let him nap for 2+ hours at barnehage :-)

Snow city and sleep problems

Our perfect snow conditions continue here in Asker. All of the lovely snow is still here and the temps have dropped to -3 to -8, the skies are partially clear and it is just so wonderful (except that we have to be at work all day). Here is a photo of our back yard before we made a pathway through it. Compare with the photo taken a few posts back for perspective.
And here is the area where Bentley does his business - the site of a former tennis court with a really lovely view of the fjord.
At barnehage, the kids are having a blast playing in the snow everyday. The 'big kids' (ages 4-5) get to go cross-country skiing and playing in the forest several times a week and Rhiannon is so eager to get big so she can join them next year. She is not super excited about skiing yet, although she has put them on to walk around and even go down a little hill a few times now. Anyway, it is more fun to go fast on a sled so that's what she is into these days.

We are going through a sort of rough time right now with Tryfan. He has been waking up just before 5am and wide awake but not in very jovial spirits. Rhodri and I have been taking turns getting up with him so the other person can sleep in until 6:30am. These early wakings got worse after our camping trip last weekend and so now he is in this awful routine where he wakes at 5am but by about 10:30am he just cannot keep his eyes open anymore. He has fallen asleep at the lunch table 2 times this week and asleep in the sandbox (should be called snowbox) once -- and its only Wednesday. Poor little guy! Photos were taken but I dont have copies yet. I will post them when I get them though because they are hilarious! We tried limiting his day time nap to 2 hours today (rather than 3) so hopefully the little bugger will sleep through that 5am barrier. Fingers crossed!

Interesting principality

Today I learned that there is a micronation which exists 10 km offshore of England in the North Sea called "Sealand". They have their own currency, stamps, passports, athletes, flag, national anthem and so on!
Yes its for real...here is their official website: http://www.sealandgov.org/About.html
Who knew that such things could still exist in this day and age?

Winter camping

Last night we went winter camping. No, we are not so crazy as to take our tent with 2 small kids and dog and brave a snowy outside sleeping situation. (Maybe someday, though...)
We decided to not attend our company's fancy annual dinner/ ball downtown Oslo and to spend the night with our friends Phil & Emily instead. We broke all of our routines for the night and let the kids stay up as late as they wanted, watch Disney movies, eat junk food and all the other fun things that are usually against the rules! We went over at ~5pm and were fed a delicious supper by Emily. Then we watched a screening of "Toy Story", ate some gummi bears and made a nest in the tent for the kids.
Eventually they fell asleep, though not without incurring some minor injuries. Tryfan is quite a little thrasher and is used to having sleep space all to himself, so he was rolling violently around and managed to hurt Rhiannon's eye, then gave Rhodri a fat lip. Anyway, eventually they fell asleep and we adults enjoyed the rest of the evening just hanging out& drinking wine in Phil and Emily's movie/ lounge room downstairs. The kids woke up at 3:37am and tried to make an escape from the tent (thank you once again, Grandpa Carl, for the video baby-monitor!) so I went down and laid with them until they were back asleep about an hour later. They woke up again at 6:30am to start the day. Emily got up then also, so we 4 hung out downstairs watching "Cinderella", eating yogurt and drinking tea for awhile. Then we went upstairs so that Emily could cook breakfast while we played inside the tent. It snowed an impressive amount during the night and we spent a bit of time "oohing" and "aahing" as we looked out the window (kind of visible in the photo below).
During breakfast, the kids were let loose. As Tryfan explored the drawers and cupboards of the kitchen, Rhiannon sneakily colored with green crayon onto the white cupboards. Here she is scrubbing it off. I didn't make a big deal out of it - just took the crayon away, handed her a cloth, and told her to come tell me when she was finished getting all the green off. It worked! There was no drama and only a little big of whining about how "tricky" it is to scrub crayon off. I told her to remember that for next time.
Emily treated us to some familiar songs (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was among them) that she played on her flute, then dazzled Rhiannon with flower drawings.
When it was time to go (~11am), we all (including our hosts) got into our snow clothes and dug the car out while Tryfan went down for a nap in the car. When we got home, we managed to successfully transfer him to the sled for the rest of his nap. His face is only just visible underneath Rhodri's hood inside the lambskin sleeping bag in the photo below.
The rest of the afternoon we laid low inside with some friends that dropped by (Beate & Yasmin), and then played in the snow with some other neighbors. Lots of people were out sledding down the driveway and shoveling their front porches. Such a great day, but it will be an early bedtime for everyone :-)

The misadventures of an ice expedition

All 3 winters that we have been here in Norway, part of the fjord has frozen over near Sandvika. We had heard of and even seen people skiing, skating and generally enjoying a walk on the frozen fjord. We had never been out in such a way ourselves, so this is something that we have been talking about doing for awhile. Our friend and neighbor Harini suggested we go out and try on Saturday, so this is what we did. Of course, after a spell of slightly-above-freezing temps and lots of wet snow, the conditions are not ideal for gliding on ice. But we said we were going to go, so we did. Our two families caravanned along the fjord from Asker to Sandvika and parked at the beach where we had seen people walking from previously. It had been snowing pretty hard all night before and all morning, and we were the only ones in the parking lot. So we put our kids in the pulk (pictured below) and Riya went in a stroller and we set out.
We ended up just trudging through the heavy snow around the island of Kalvoya. Having a stroller in the expedition made going off-pathway impossible, and this was the only option for getting down to the beaches around the island (except for the beach right by the parking lot). And the whole time it was windy and blizzardy, though not super cold, so it wasn't exactly a huge success. We never did make it onto the ice. In fact, there wasn't any ice visible on the fjord -- it just looked like a field of snow. But in my eyes, none of that mattered anyway. The whole point was to get everyone outside (not the easiest option in these conditions) and to have a bit of an adventure with our friends. Bentley had a grand time though, bounding through big snow drifts and jumping to catch snowballs in his mouth. Here he is with his "snow hemorroids" -- they were all over the backs of his paws too. I don't think he minded though.
Anyway, one of the good things about not having an entirely successful ice expedition is that now we get to plan another one when the conditions are different!

Loud times

We have a couple of very loud little people these days. They find it so funny to squeal/ shriek as loudly as they can and then howl with laughter at each other. Poor Bentley often makes a run for his hideout behind the couch during these times; other times he joins in the howling! This photo could have been a video, but it would have just been chaos and shrieking with Rhiannon popping up from behind the chair every few seconds.
We were lucky to have an old friend and colleague of ours drop by for the evening - Dave W. from Scotland. It was so great to catch up on all that has happened in the past 3+ years since we last saw him. Rhiannon was not shy in the least - she hopped right up onto his lap and sat there eating her dinner (taking advantage of the abnormal mealtime situation yet again).

Careful what you wish for...

...because you just might get the most snowfall in 1 day for the past 70 years (45 cm = 18 inches)! That is what happened here yesterday and everyone was gleefully shoveling their front porches and digging out their cars this morning. I heard Rhodri tell someone at work today that digging the car out from under snow for 30 minutes is such a great way to start the day... and he really meant it too! That is just how happy people are about this lovely snowfall.
This is the view out to the back yard -- the planter boxes are ~2.5 feet high and they are only barely visible. Oh how I wanted to do a big belly flop out the back door this morning! But that would have really delayed us getting to work...
Tryfan loves laying in the snow so he was stoked
I was thinking all day about how much I wished that it were a holiday here today like it was in the USA (MLK Day). It wasn't snowing as furiously today so it would have been perfect to play outside. At least the kids got to frolic all day in it, though. They also loooove watching the snowplow tractors go by, and Asker is full of them right now so life is pretty good all around :-)

Riya's birthday

This afternoon we went to Riya's 1st birthday party. Harini (Riya's Mama) and I made the cake together - I baked, she shaped, and then I decorated. Turned out pretty good, eh?
There were a few other kids at the party - Keisha (4) and Rhiannon weren't too sure of each other at first...
...but were bonded by laughter as they tag-teamed Ravi (Riya's Daddy - not pictured) and Keisha's little brother Krish (18 months).
Riya and Keisha were both wearing traditional Indian outfits and they were soooo cute. We had a lovely time -- ate some delicious Indian food, then the elephant birthday cake and tea. Nobody got hurt and we left before they got too tired. Success!

A lovely forecast...

...in Norway (in the winter) is one that predicts 10 days of snow!
We have had a cold and dark spell these past few weeks with no white stuff falling since Dec 18th. With all the Christmas decorations and twinkly lights in the windows gone, it has been very dark indeed around here. So Norwegian spirits (and ours as well) are greatly improved with this forecast and more importantly with the actual snow falling. Yippiee! We spent the morning sledding down the driveway.

Current favorites

Now that we have a pretty solid daily routine going, the kids have developed some favorite things that they like to do or see every day.
Rhiannon has been carrying around a book called "Stickeen", which is a true story about a dog named Stickeen who befriended the famous explorer John Muir and accompanied him on a memorable adventure that involved crossing an ice bridge over a deep crevasse in Alaska. My Aunt Dawnie gave this to us as a baby shower gift before Rhiannon was born. It has really gorgeous blue ice glacier drawings and Rhiannon loves to hear about how scared but then brave the little dog Stickeen was. Its so fun to teach her about mountains, glaciers, exploring and camping.
Tryfan watches Rhiannon plomp down on the ground to read Stickeen, and so he has started finding places to also sit and read. His current favorite book is "James" (one of Thomas the Tank Engine's fellow trains) and also "Skippy-jon Jones: up and down".
But the family favorite at the moment is to watch this video about a gorilla...

Dining update

Last night I asked Rhiannon to listen to her tummy during dinner so that she could find out if it was hungry and wanting some more food inside. (Thanks LisaBella for the suggestion!) She was quiet for a second and then said "My tummy say 'No thanks!'" How could I get upset at this? So she didn't have to finish her food but she did have to wait for Tryfan and I to finish dinner (Rhodri was out playing squash at the time). Then Bentley got to finish the brown rice and pureed veg concoction that Rhiannon had left in her bowl.

Weekend update

I actually don't have any progress to report on the dining table situation, because this weekend was full of abnormal meal situations. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday and then we went to another friends house for lunch/dinner today. And it is really just dinnertime that we typically experience problems, so we will have to see what tomorrow brings.
We did get to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday because the urchins didn't wake up until almost 9am on both days! Thank you, sweet children! Here is Tryfan with sleepy eyes when he was laying in my lap swinging on the tire swing at the lekeplass this morning. He is just so cute and cuddly sometimes :-)
This is a photo from our visit to Ramsey's house (and his parents who just recently moved here from Jordan). Ramsey is 10 months old and has a lot of exciting toys that Tryfan and Rhiannon wanted to play with. I think Ramsey just had his first taste of fighting over toys thanks to our little tag team. Poor guy can't even walk yet and the Lewis kids were all over his stuff! He is a pretty jolly little fellow though -- I think he enjoyed the company more than he minded sharing his toys.
One funny scene that I experienced with Rhiannon was on Saturday when she and I went grocery shopping. We were both thirsty so I picked out some juice for her to drink as we shopped. After I opened the top for her, I snuck a sip for myself and Rhiannon caught me. She said in this horrified voice, "Mama! You did not ask properly for a sip of my juice!" And so I apologized and said "I am really sorry Rhiannon. I forgot to ask you first." Then a few minutes later I asked "Rhiannon, please may I have a sip of your juice?" And she said, "Yes, Mama" Then while I was sipping, she said "I really like the way that you asked me properly for a drink"... and I nearly spit out the juice because it made me laugh so much the way she said it! What a Minx...

At the dining table

We have entered a new phase here at the Lewis house. Eating meals together at the dining table has become a bit of a struggle. Tryfan refuses to sit down and Rhiannon refuses to swallow her food. What to do?
The Minx just holds a bite of food in her mouth for a very long time, not chewing and definitely not swallowing. What to do? We try to minimize snacks right before mealtime and we try not to bribe with tempts of favorite food or treats, but what to do? She will just sit there scowling and not eating for the whole meal. Yes, at least she is quiet since her mouth is full, but still it is not ideal. I don't want to go down the slippery slope of preparing separate meals for the kids than I do for us grown-ups. Any advice out there from our readers?

Tryfan on the other hand just wants to stand up all the time. We don't have a harness for his Tripp Trapp chair although there is a bar that supposedly holds him in. He has figured out how to wiggle his feet out and get up to a standing position, and as soon as he has done this, he puts on such a cheeky grin with a twinkle in his eye! We have done a pretty good job of not laughing or smiling, although it is so funny to see. At least Tryfs usually eats his food. We don't want to have mealtime evolve into a dreaded part of the day, but these kids need to learn how to sit and eat properly! Advice please...

Back at it

This morning the holiday ended and we all went back to our normal routine. It's nice to be back at work after a couple of weeks off. Rhiannon and Tryfan have been acting more brother-sisterly lately...fighting over toys, taunting each other, and occasionally sharing something in blissful harmony.
This evening after dinner was such a scene. Rhiannon had been reading Tryfan's tractor book to herself and keeping it out of his reach while he screeched and whined. I suggested that Rhiannon read it to Tryfan instead of just to herself and she was happy to do so -- pointing out all the bumpy, scratchy, and shiny bits of the book to him. As soon as she finished reading, we all went straight up for bathtime and bedtime. "Quit while we are ahead!" is our motto these days.
Tryfan has a few more words in his vocabulary now: "this" (said while pointing urgently to something out of his reach), "cheese", "juice", and "Anna" (name of his favorite teacher) are in frequent use these days. Rhiannon also has quite a few more words in her vocabulary now! She is very interested in numbers and letters, especially the number 8.