Tran kids

After dinner is over, if I remember about it, we let the kids have a special treat: Tran.
Tran is the Norwegian word for cod liver oil -- eeewwh!-- and it is supposed to be really good for skin, hair, and general health. The kind we get is lemon flavored, but it still smells like fish. I have never been able to bring myself to take any and neither has Rhodri, but we can imagine. Of course, we don't convey any of our disgust to the kids and we refer to it as a special treat that they get to have after they finish their dinner (and after dessert as well, if we have any). Rhiannon always wants to have her spoonful before Tryfan gets his, and neither of them flinch or make faces or anything! Here they are fighting over the bottle.

Auntie Sioned

Today was a holiday. No idea what holiday it was exactly, but we aren't complaining! Auntie Sioned (Rhodri's sister) arrived last night and Rhiannon instantly latched onto her. I mean literally latched on to her - wanted to hold her hand and wanted Auntie Sioned to be with her every second since they walked in the door together. The first thing Rhiannon said when she woke up was...you guessed it..."Auntie Sioned"! Here are the troops in their jammies first thing this morning after we went downstairs to wake up Auntie Sions.
So anyway, we had a wonderful day at home. It rained steadily for most of the day, and we mostly hung out around the house taking naps and tidying up and playing and cooking. Nothing was open today so there was no point making a big effort to get anywhere today. Lovely!

Goodbye Nadine

Today was a sad day for us because it was Nadine's last day at the gym looking after Tryfan. She was Tryfan's favorite Babysitter and he always smiled when he saw her. We could tell that she genuinely loved him as well. So on our way to the gym this morning, Tryfan picked out an orchid to give her to say thanks for the memories :-) After a morning of playing with Nadine and then having a good sleep in the stroller, Tryfan joined Elin and Johanne and I for some lunch at a cafe in town. Johanne was trying to hold Tryfan's hand and he was making really cheeky facial expressions. They were so cute together.
Update on the sleeping situation: So far, so good! The kids are doing great. Rhiannon is sleeping like a star in her big bed - no problems at all, and she tells everyone she can that she is sleeping in a big bed. Tryfan didn't sleep so well last night but the nights previous he slept more than ever before.

Graduation success

Well, both kids were asleep by 7:15pm last night in their new beds and they slept like troopers through the night! Tryfan woke only once around 2:30am for a feeding and then up to start the day at 5am -- this is perfect for him right now. Rhiannon woke up at 6:40am and just sat in bed waiting for someone to come say good morning. She said that she had a "good sleep" and she was very chuffed with herself for sleeping way up high on her top bunk big girl bed. Rhodri had built up a crash landing site of pillows and sleeping bags below her bed just in case things went horribly wrong, but they didn't get any use. Woo hoo! Let's hope this is the first of many good nights of sleep in these beds.

This afternoon, Elin and Sofia and little Johanne came over to play. This photo gives a false image of the peace and tranquility that we did not experience this afternoon.Tryfan and Johanne enjoyed chewing on opposite ends of the measuring tape -- the scene reminded us of Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti together :-)

Graduation Day

Today Rhiannon is graduating from a crib to a big girl's bed and Tryfan is graduating from the co-sleeper / side car into Rhiannon's former crib! We've been working up to this day for awhile. The forecast is for rain so we figured it is a good opportunity to move rooms and clean and get new beds all ready to go.
It didn't rain until right before dinner, but Rhiannon insisted on pushing her pram with two babies inside while I finished readying the rooms and cooking dinner. Our neighbors gave this to her today and she is very excited about it.

Bathtime color

We opened a new set of bath crayons and Rhiannon has been going crazy with them. I think she colored Daddy first, judging from that cheeky twinkle in her eyes! She has been a real Daddy's girl this week since Rhodri got back from Thailand.

Lean and mean

Little Tryfan had his 6 month "well baby checkup" yesterday. I like the way checkups work here: you take your baby to a Health Station and meet with a Nurse and a Doctor there rather than going to a hospital filled with mostly unhealthy people just to weigh and measure the little ones! I never did take Rhiannon to any "well baby checkups" when she was a baby for just this reason. Anyway, I can report that Tryfan is 66.5 cm long (26 inches) and 6.84 kg (15 lbs) in weight. He has been around this same weight for the past two months but he has grown 4 cm during the same time. Lean and mean! Okay, not mean at all. He is still the sweetest little thing. He has been eating solid foods for 2 weeks and it looks now like I haven't been giving him enough. Today he feasted on pureed brown rice, sweet potato, avocado and of course lots of Mama's milk.

Why bother?

Since today is Earth Day and all, I recommend reading this article by Michael Pollan from the NY Times Magazine. I like what the author says about viral social change. Actually, I have learned a lot from this guy Pollan after reading his superb book "Omnivore's Dilemma".

How can we lessen our impact on the planet? Changing lightbulbs? Planting a garden? Or will we go crazy and build a straw-bale house powered by solar panels, a windmill and a pod of batteries? I have some good friends who built such a place about 15 years ago, and although it has been quite some years since I visited them, I often daydream about someday doing the same with my family. I think it will take a few more years of talking Rhodri into it though ;-)

Two hats

On Sunday, our friend and neighbor Beate gave us two hats.
Rhiannon immediately put on the brown one and then put the red one on Tryfan. Now we have to pry the brown hat off of Rhiannon so that she can get in the bath, change clothes, etc. She doesn't wear it to sleep, but its the second thing she asks for in the morning (the first being either Mama or Daddy to get her out of bed). Boy does she love that hat!Rhiannon saw one of our teenage neighbors standing and swinging, and now that's what she wants to do (wearing the brown hat of course).

Fun in the sun

Today was a glorious sunny warm (~55 deg F) Saturday, and everyone in Asker seemed to be out reveling in it. We spent most of the day with Elin, Sofie and Johanne -- first at the gym, then outside to play with rocks, then over to the town square for lunch. Somehow that sequence of events just described does not convey the chaos and hard work that the day actually involved!Elin has a nifty ride-along platform for Sofie to go on when Elin is pushing Johanne in the pram. Of course Rhiannon wanted to ride on it too, so "Fia" was kind to share her platform.
Asker is having some kind of cultural festival this weekend, so lots of people were dressed in their traditional Norwegian costumes. Rhiannon and Sofie ran circles around our table, squeezing past other people's chairs and bumping into waitstaff. Nobody complained though - probably because Rhiannon and Sofie were smiling and saying hi to everyone - how could anyone be mad at these two?
Once we left the eating area, we Mamas felt more relaxed and then the girls could really dance, hop, wiggle and run around the plaza. Here is a brief standing-sort-of-still moment!

Working hard?

Rhodri has been away this whole week at a meeting in Thailand. That's him below wearing the blue shirt and riding on the back of an elephant. He claims that he has been working hard out there but....

If one, then two

We have started eating breakfast at the kitchen bar rather than at the table. Rhiannon likes climbing up to the bar stool and its harder for her to climb down (she knows that she has to be careful because she has fallen off once already). And so we all sit together and eat our oatmeal... and carrots. I gave Tryfan a cold peeled carrot to soothe his gums and of course someone else wanted one too. Before dinner this evening, we went up to the playground and Beate with Yasmin came out to play. First Yasmin and Rhiannon were swinging on the newly replaced tire swings, and then they were on the see-saw (doompa in Norwegian) on opposite ends. Yasmin wasn't holding on very tight so Rhiannon came over to help while Beate see-sawed the other end.

Cheese balls and more

Rhiannon has been so funny lately. She is quite particular about, well, everything. Her current favorite food is "brown cheese in a ball", which is exactly what it sounds like! Brunost, or brown cheese, is Norwegian whey cheese that tastes a little bit like caramel. Rhiannon insists on having a single slice rolled into a ball with all wrinkles and cracks completely smoothed over, and it must take the shape of a perfect sphere. Geez, kid! How'd you get so darned particular? But at the same time it is quite funny when she asks politely "Mama, can I have brown cheese in a ball, please Mama?" So I cannot resist. She is also very particular about what she wears (of course!). Here she is in one of her favorite outfits (although she is holding a brush, she refuses to use it on her hair):Here she is (in the middle, wearing red) with her homies getting ready to go on their weekly field trip. Today was the first day that they could play outside in their spring/ autumn play suits rather than their thick winter ones. Hurray for spring! Its finally here!
Elin and I were just coming back from a long walk through the Asker golf course when the kids were lining up to go on their tour. Its been raining a lot lately but today was sunny all day and the ground everywhere has exploded with cute little purple flowers.

Dugnad

This evening was our local dugnad. Dugnad is a Norwegian word that doesn't have a direct translation but means 'voluntary (and socially mandatory) community service'. We have them every few months at home, at Rhiannon's barnehage, and even at work. Everyone gathers at a given time and place with their gardening implements, gloves and wheelbarrows. Such a great idea! Today's dugnad included putting new sand into the sandbox, putting new tires on the tire swings, sweeping up all the gravel on the roads leftover from the winter, and probably a lot more that I didn't get to see. The dugnad started at 6pm so we had an extra early dinner and then joined in for half an hour before bedtime. Rhodri is away this week so it was just the kids, Bentley and me. We helped out by taking the toys out of the sandbox and picking up trash around the playground. Bentley raced around playing with his doggie friends Vicki and Nikita. At least we made an appearance, but I know the rest of the neighbors were out working until at least 8:30pm. Here is Rhiannon in her too-small rain clothes -- it rained all day and then cleared up about 5pm so the light and the sky was beautiful when we were dugnading.

Stroller mawr

Rhiannon stayed home with Tryfan and me for 3 days this week. She was coughing a lot and acting more sleepy than usual, so we laid fairly low altogether. Here we are on Friday down by the [dry] fountain in downtown Asker.I tried a new strategy this week and started putting the two of them into the double stroller that Aunt Libby gave us (Thanks again, Lib!). Now it is Rhiannon's favorite one to ride in and she calls it "stroller mawr", which translates in Welsh to "big stroller". The two of them don't look too stoked here in this photo -- its often a bit traumatic when we are trying to get out the door!

Pterodactyl noises

Tryfan has started making these funny flying dinosaur-like noises, especially after he has pulled Rhiannon's hair or tried to grab her toast...

Found photos

I was digging through the photo archives on Rhiannon's barnehage website and found these gems. I almost didn't recognize her in this one -- it was the boots that finally convinced me!These next photos were taken in October when Rhiannon's class went on a field trip to the pet store. They looked at fish swimming in tanks and then sat patiently on the steps of the store while one of their teachers bought lunch......and guess what was for lunch? Fish cakes! Morbid or funny? Notice how Rhiannon's fishcake is still intact. That's how it stayed, too.

Rainy day thoughts

I have been thinking about vaccines a lot lately, partly because of the Hannah Poling case but also because I am reading "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell right now. Will the day come when enough of the research done into vaccines (research that not sponsored by pharmaceutical companies) comes to light and causes the masses to reject some or all routine newborn vaccinations? Will the present surge in media attention (suspecting vaccine-autism links in the Poling case as well as with media celebrities Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey talking about their experience with their autistic child) start to tip the balance?

There is a lot that I still don't know about vaccinations, their risks and supposed rewards, but it is a current topic of study for me and has been for a couple of years now. I myself was never vaccinated until I was in my 20's and started traveling to dodgey places in Africa. When Rhiannon was born, I received two invaluable pieces of advice which I try to pass on to my new Mama friends without being pushy:
(1) Do the research before having the shots administered - once they are done, they can't be undone.
(2) There is no hurry to get the vaccinations that are currently recommended for newborns; no need to poison their tiny bodies just hours after being born. Wait until you have gotten to know your new baby, at least so you can establish what is normal behavior for him/her.

I know it's a bit serious of a topic on our otherwise cheery website, but on a rainy April day with the hum of the washing machine and Tryfan's soft sleepy breathing in the background, I might as well write about it. If not now, when?

** POST-SCRIPT: Read if you dare! (A bit more perspective and background to the topic posted above) **

Birthday hoo-hoo

This afternoon we went to our friend David's 2-year-old birthday party. We walked over to his house with both kids in strollers, rehearsing what would happen: Rhiannon would get the present from under the stroller and give it to David while saying "Happy Birthday, David". Then later, we would all sing the "Happy Birthday" song and eat cake. And actually, all went according to plan. We had a great time there! Pictured below are (l to r): Rhiannon, Joseph, David, Charlie and Hattie. Sophia and Shaun were also at the party but just not in this photo.
Tonight as Rhiannon was getting out of the bath, she was singing "Happy Birthday hoo hoo, Happy Birthday hoo hoo". I reckon these lyrics are actually more fun to sing than the real lyrics (try it yourself!). At least she had the tune right! Here are Rhiannon and Tryfan in their post-party glee...Tryfan wore his new Evil Knievel outfit and spent some time being held by our friend Sarah, who is moving back to England tomorrow with her family. We (especially I) will really miss her :-(
Rhiannon had a ball digging through David's toy chest. Other people's toys are always more fun!

Happy but sad

The grandparents left today. Everywhere I turn, I see a reminder of their wonderful stay with us...the bag of Peets coffee they brought, the multiple tins of dark chocolate/walnut/ oatmeal cookies that my Dad made, the pile of winter gear that they borrowed during the cold times, the army of new juice and tall glasses they bought as a gift for us...
We sure loved having them here -- very happy times! We are trying not to be too sad about them being gone from the house now. Hopefully they had a good trip back to California. Below is one of my favorite photos :-)As they were getting ready to go catch the train to the airport, I realized that we didn't have any photos of the 6 of us together so I took this timer shot.