Getting Out and Having Fun and Getting Sick

Last week was a fairly busy week for us. Matt took the girls swimming on Monday, we went to a play group at church on Tuesday, Wednesday was the animal park, Friday night IKEA (do you know they let you leave your kids 3+ at a play area while you shop? Plus, they've got cheap meals) and Saturday we went out exploring the area again. We also got some more snow, gone now, that made playing outside lots of fun!
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the girls caught colds (our first Swedish virus!) and that has made the last couple of nights pretty eventful.

Here is last week in pictures...

Sonja's Repertoire

As I am sitting her with Little Sonja Doodle I thought I would update you on her repertoire and other new facts. For one, she is getting about 5 new teeth right now. Two on top have poked through and there are another 2 on top and one on the bottom that are just about to pierce the gum. She is well on her way to have a mouth full. It's funny because up until this point, she's only had the 2 bottom teeth, which came in a few months ago.

As Sonja closes in on her first birthday I can already tell she is not a little baby anymore. While she is not quite walking, she does do a few other tricks. She says, "UH-OH" even when she deliberately drops something. And when Linnea says "ready, set" Sonja says "go" (or something that sounds like that). It is a really fun game for both of them to play. She also gives kisses, blows kisses goodbye and does a baby sign for "tickle my neck", which is throwing her head back and tickling it herself. She also eats everything we do, except nuts, eggs and shellfish. Right now she's really enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich. She really likes cottage cheese, peas and avocado. All to be eaten by herself, of course. Sounds like someone else we know...big sister perhaps. Sonja does baby signs for milk and food as well. We are currently working on please and more.

Linnea is really having fun these days playing with her little sister. This week it snowed a little and they both love for me to pull them around in the yard in the sled. The girls get along really well, so far so good. And they are getting better at Skyping with Nana and Papa and FarMar and FarFar. I think they both just really enjoy looking at themselves on camera.

This week we are starting a new routine where Matthew takes the girls for one afternoon a week so I can have some time to myself to read or run or nap. Tomorrow is the first afternoon and I'm really excited. Hopefully it'll be a nice day. Matt is most likely going to take the kids to the Sim Hall (Swimming Hall), which I know they'll just love.

I've got a few more pictures this week and also some new video that is cute. Unfortunately I have to find a way to reduce the file size of the video before posting because it's too large. But here are some photos for now.





Yesterday we toured around the city center of Lund. And we forgot the camera, of course. But I'm sure we'll be out and about more and more as the weather gets nicer. Yesterday we toured the cathedral and part of the cultural museum, as well as a toy store. Linnea was supposed to by thinking about and looking for what she would like to get her sister for her birthday, but I think she was mainly making a list of things she wanted. It was quite the super toy, baby, candy store. Very exciting and possible location for future outings in town.

A Nice Family Weekend

As the weekend comes to a close, we all feel pretty good. It was a good family weekend. Yesterday, we visited the cities of Landskrona and Helsingborg. Landskrona had an old citadel (above) that we toured the grounds of (although it was pretty chilly!) and we spend the afternoon in Helsingborg, a larger city, with a castle. Linnea really liked the castle and was very agreeable to climbing all the stairs to the top!

A view of Helsingborg from the castle grounds. This is one of the reasons I really love being in Europe - old castles, how cool is that?


Now this we couldn't quite figure out. We think that it is a giant, stationary antenna used to communicate with aliens. Definitely built by the transcontinental Egyptians.

And Doodle being Doodle...


And Linnea didn't want to have her picture taken with this statue, I don't really know why, she loves statues.


The girls are doing great! They are adjusting so well, but Linnea does talk about going back to Minnesota and going back to playing with her friend Emma. If you didn't know it already, Linnea is quite the drama queen. However, lately she really has been cracking us up, it's hard not to laugh. This morning she was getting all moody and dramatic about not having any milk for her Cheerios. In her drama, there are a few tears and mostly whining. But I tell her there is nothing we can do for her, there is no milk. End of story, right? No, later she draws a picture in the car on the way to church. I ask who it is, is it her? No, she says it's a picture of a boy crying because there is no milk for his Cheerios.



We had great weather today and Linnea was able to fly her new kite outside in the field behind us.

Sonja is closing in on her first birthday and we just can't believe it. She is "cruising" all over the place and loves following her big sister around. She has just started holding fingers and walking around. Both the girls are in love with avocados and eating them every day. Luckily I've been finding them pretty cheap at the grocery store. Sonja eats almost everything now and gave up any baby food type food a couple of months ago. She just wants to eat what we're eating, which makes it a lot easier to travel with her. She is a real smiley girl, loves to laugh and giggle. She often hears her sister in the other room and will call out to her, yelling something that kind of sounds like "Linnea!" She is also learning to "fight back" a little by pulling hair and pushing Linnea out of her way. Showing lots of independence too!

It's been a good week!

MMMM.... Swedish pancakes with lingonberries of course!






This week we went to play group twice and set up our new IKEA igloo. We are planning our first Swedish day trip tomorrow. I nice drive up the coast. I look forward to a little warmer weather. The spring flowers are supposed to be amazing. Of course, we can't wait until summer to go and see the Linnea flowers!

Öppen förskola

So I took the girls to our first Öppen förskola today. Öppen förskola means open preschool. Basically, it is an organized playgroup for children 0-6 and their caregivers. It is housed in a little yellow building next to an elementary school and it led by a nice woman named Carin. Most of the children were between 1 and 2 as most older children go to regular preschool. This open preschool is free and is offered 3 mornings a week for 3 hours at a time and then one afternoon a week for 3 hours. I definitely plan on taking the girls back. There weren't any children Linnea's age this morning, but she had lots of fun playing with all the toys. Carin told me that sometimes there are older children that come to the afternoon one after they get out of school. We're going to try that tomorrow. I met some really nice parents, all of whom speak great English. As I have been noticing a lot in Sweden, about half of the caregivers present were fathers. Seems like the duties are pretty much split 50/50. It also helps that there is great parental leave for dad and moms alike.

Sonja has pretty much given up her morning nap. It's OK with me, I don't want to fight it and it means that we can have more flexibility about going places instead of getting stuck inside all day. I'm still trying to squeeze in some time so I can learn a little Swedish too. So far I can tell I understand a little bit more than I did 3 weeks ago, but I would really like to get better at speaking.