Fog at the end of November

We've had a pretty laidback day today. I woke up early to have a Skype chat with my family, seizing on a holiday opportunity to find them all in one room at the same time. Later on, Kelly, Myrna, and I stepped out to enjoy a rare blue sky, strolling onto Södermalm for, yes, coffee. Any time we wander more than a few blocks from home, we invariably succumb to the allure of Drop Coffee's warm embrace. But as we'd just been there yesterday, today we decided to stop into Melqvist for something more on the espresso side of things. Also, incredibly delicious cardamon rolls.


Shortly after returning home for lunch, we couldn't see the sky, much less the neighbors. A beautiful blanket of fog had rolled in. It's probably still hanging heavy out there now but, now that it's 3:45, it's too dark to tell.

More photos in the Picasa album, including this one:

Celebrating Birthday #1!

Friday was Myrna's big day. We spent the morning tearing the apartment up, as usual. Her interest in her morning nap was non-existent, so we finally left for lunch. Thankfully she fell asleep in her stroller and stayed napping while Chris and I enjoyed a celebratory lunch. Then it was off to English playgroup - something I had yet to see. She had lots of fun crawling through her tube.Song time started off with "Happy Birthday" and continued with some funny British renditions of nursery rhyme songs (during which Myrna was more interested in crawling into the middle of the circle than sitting on her parents' lap like the other kids). After singing, Myrna begged some snacks off of other kids, and then we headed back home.

For dinner, we didn't do anything fancy, instead making one of our winter staples - a vegetable barley soup - that Myrna's happy to eat as well. After a little more playing, it was time for Myrna's birthday treat - her own (small) bowl of ice cream.

Of course she's grown up so much in the last year. More photos of her big day are on her November Picasa page.

Happy Birthday Myrna!

Four cribs in four apartments in four cities in three countries. But with two consistently loving parents, I guess it wasn't too bad for her for the first year. The second year can only get easier, right? More about Myrna's big day later - but for now we're off to celebrate!

Time Out!

On our first visit to the Stockholm library, Myrna got the board book version of Olivia. It quickly replaced the The Very Hungry Caterpillar as her favorite book - she absolutely loves it. There is one part that really makes her smile. Olivia goes to the museum with her mother and brother, and stares at her favorite Degas painting of ballerinas for a long time. "But there is one painting she just doesn't get (a Jackson Pollack) 'I could do that in five minutes' she says. As soon as she gets home she gives it a try." Myrna gets a little grin at this point, but the real fun starts when she turns the page and sees a paint covered pouting Olivia sitting alone on the stairs with the two words "Time out."
Myrna cackles hysterically at this page, always flipping to it. Even if she's reading the book alone and we hear her laughing, we always know what part she's at. We're not quite sure what to make of it. Either she can't wait to start her own abstract expressionism or she likes to see pigs in trouble.

Play Time!

We're quickly familiarizing ourselves with the many play grounds of Stockholm. Probably because of the long winter, there are many indoor places to take kids for playtime. The first place we visited was the Stadsmuseum, that has a special play room for kids. Myrna is a huge fan of the rubber herring they have there, especially when she can take them out of the bucket (taking objects out of their container is her favorite activity - and she empties her dresser at least three times a day).
Myrna and her dad have also been attending an English-speaking playgroup on Friday afternoons. Myrna has no fear when it comes to crawling through ten foot long tubes, even if she collides with kids twice her size in the middle. The best part of playtime away from the apartment is that there is not so much "no" time (no enticing power cords laying about) and watching her interact with other kids. She still has to be reminded to be gentle, but she does like to give other kids hugs and see what they're doing. We've been lucky that she saves the bites for her parents (she will come over to hug and nibble on us periodically before returning to "safe" play with other children).

A Case Of The Giggles

I have no idea what's so funny here.

I think the resolution on this video is sufficiently low to cover up the copious amounts of food she lovingly smeared all over herself just before this was taken. A new November album is also up, and here is a link to our coffee tasting last week (yes, we're drinking coffee out of champagne glasses)!

Our own Swedish Chef

Here's Myrna making meatballs followed by spaghetti and donuts (or at least that's what's happening in the audio track; the originals can be found on a youtube search, but I didn't want to distract from the main act).

I'm a big fan of the sitting and scooting act she does in the last clip.

How does that work?

That is one of the world's smallest dishwashers (about the size of a large microwave) - but it works perfectly for us and amuses Myrna to no end. In fact she sat there for a whole 2 minutes staring at it - and that was 2 minutes she wasn't spending taking out all the towels and tupperware.

We also just posted the last of the October pics on her October album.