Fine European Footwear

I don't have words for this.

The Rest of the Story (Part 2)

Making dinner with three kids around requires multitasking.  Especially when the kids have birthday parties to go to later in the evening.  I'm cutting up vegetables, helping the oldest with homework, panfrying the hotdogs, grating cheese, keeping the baby away from hot things and sharp objects, and being followed around by the 5 year old who wants to make sure for the 15th time that I know when the party is and when we must leave.  She also wants me to help her write out a birthday card.  

All I'm hearing is the sound of food cooking, I'm listening for tell-tale sounds of the baby getting into something, and Aurora following me around going "bursdag kort, bursdag kort, bursdag kort..."  I don't know the word for "later" in Norwegian so I list of to her the things that must happen first.  Magnus has to pee and I have to finish cooking.  Of course, I have to repeat this several times, with interruptions.  So Magnus is standing at the sink and hearing "Magnus tysser, Magnus tysser" over and over.  So he does what he thinks I'm telling him to do.  

I turn around when I hear the noise.  It's simulaneously the most hilarious thing and the most horrifying thing I could witness.  I quickly swallow my laugh, and follow him as he runs happily away into the living room.  I don't get mad at him, but we do have a talk about what the sink is for.  It's for washing, not peeing.  He agrees, but is still quite satisfied with himself.  

We manage to get through dinner without incident (the hotdog and cheese pitas were a success), now it's time to get the older kids ready for their party.  The older kids are getting on their party clothes, and it's dawning on the baby that he doesn't have a birthday party to go to.  Reality really sets in when Aurora leaves for her party.  And I can see in his face, he's completely crushed.

Crap.  This is really bad.  I creep into the room where Magnus is and I whisper to him to come over.  He comes over to hear what I have to say.  I tell him "shhh! You don't have a birthday party to go to, but you have something better."  His face lights up immediately.  I'm sweating bullets now.  I'm hoping my plan, which I'm making up as I go along, actually delivers and I don't just manage to to get his hopes up to dash them even further.  

"Okay," I whisper, "first we have to get you dressed in birthday clothes."  I let him pick out his shirt from the nce button down shirts he has in his closet.  I also find a pair of pants that haven't been worn.  I tell them they are his "birthday pants."  He's beaming now.  He's got teeny-tiny wing tip shoes he also wants to wear, it's raining outside and I don't think that's the best idea, so I quickly tell him no, there's better shoes to wear.  He's been dying to wear his brand new indoor shoes outside, so I tell him he can.

Now he's dressed and wants to know what we're doing.  I'm still putting that part together in my head with limited luck.  Do I take him to McDonald's?  A different playground (gah, can't do that, it's raining)?  So I tell him, with as much grandeur as I can muster, we're going to go get chocolate and he can pick out whatever he wants.  He looks as me and asks if he can have two chocolate treats.  Yes, I tell him grandly, he can have two chocoaltes.  Now he's excited.  Very excited.  I secretly breathe a sigh of relief that I was able to pull together an evening that would make any toddler happy.  

We drop off Matthias and then we go to pick out the chocolate.  The whole way to the store he's chanting "to ookelade, to ookelade."  I ask him if he wants chocoalte or chocolate icecream.  

His face lights up again "I can have icecream?"  

"Of course," I reply.  "You can have whatever you want."  

Now the chant turns into, "To ookelade is, to ookelade is..." I join him in the chanting.  

We get to the store and I get him a toddler shopping cart.  I stop by the soda isle to get myself some diet coke, and he asks "can I have a soda AND a chocolate icecream?"  He says this as he points to the Coke Zero.  This actually turns out to be a better option in my mind.  A diet soda and a chocolate icecream is slightly better for him than two chocolate icecreams.  I tell him that's what I was planning on having, and he could do that too.  Now he'salmost dancing he's so happy.  I have him help me unload the shopping cart and help me carry our treasure out.  

At home he happily drinks his soda and eats his icecream.  Afterwards, he has a bath with bubbles in it (shampoo makes the best bubble bath, thanks to my mom for teaching me that trick).  

For the next several days he was telling everyone in kindergarten about his special day with two chocolates (everything sweet is chocolate in his mind) and his very special birthday pants.   

I wish I could say the day ended on that happy note, but it ended with Aurora trying to tell me she was allowed to stay up until her mom got home.  I told her that wasn't possible since her mom wasn't getting home until 1am.  So then she just refused to go to bed.  It took a phone call to her mom to get her in bed.  

After that evening meal, I have an entirely new understanding of what my mom was dealing with as a single parent.  

My Brain Functions Again

The baby has been having 4-5 nightmares a night, which means I wake up every two hours or so.  Luckily, he's quick to go back to sleep.  He just needs to know someone is there.

The oven...

It's Saturday morning, all the kids seem to be quietly doing their thing.  The oldest is on the computer and the younger two are watching cartoons upstairs.  I think I'm safe to sneak away for a shower.  Finally.  

I'm about halfway through shaving my legs when I hear angry shrieking from the kitchen.  Oh, no.  I wrap a towel around me and poke my head out.  The first thing I see is the 5 year old and the baby with their arms cocked to slap eachother.

I tell them they better not hit eachother, that I better not have to go out there and break up the fight in a towel.  Advice they summarily ignore.  So, taking a page from my mom's book of "How To Let Kids Know They've Really Done It"  I march out in my towel, still dripping wet to break up the fight.  Aurora gets quiet very quickly.  The baby puts up a little bit of a fight when I take him off his stool and put him on the ground and take the thing they were fighting over, but he quickly follows his sister's lead. 

That's when I notice the baby was protecting a frozen roll.  Then I notice the oven is open.  And on.  With other rolls inside.  They decided to cook themselves breakfast.  I put the frozen roll in the oven and close it.  

I return to the bathroom to quickly dress so I can have a calm conversation with the two kids about what they can and can't use without adult supervision.  I make sure to remind Aurora that he little brother mimics her, so she needs to be careful what she teaches him.  If he sees her using the oven, he might think it's okay for him to use the oven as well.  

You Can't Take a Shower When There's Kids Around

Otherwise they might decide to use the oven on their own!

Funny Things Toddlers Say

*While crying in his room: Mom: "What are you doing in here?"

                                                 Magnus: "I'm crying"

*"I need to eat more so I can get fat."

The rest of the Wednesday story will be written, I just didn't get it completed today.

The Rest of the Story (Part 1)

The morning, surprisingly, went smoother than I expected.  Thomas was around for a little bit to help me get the kids ready.  They were ready to go in plenty of time.  We would have walked to school, but Magnus slept in.  He'd had a series of bad dreams in the night.  

Magnus was in a cheerful mood depsite his lack of sleep, lack of parents, and a hurting butt.  He rode up to kindergarten on my shoulders since walking wasn't comfortable for him.  We had a good walk.  He spit in my hair, but not on purpose.  He got a spider web in his mouth, and he forgot he had my head under him when he spit it out.  He then tried to clean me off, which meant he mashed and rubbed the spit further into my hair.  I thanked him for his help, and we had a fun journey looking for mushrooms and ducking under the low branches.

It was painting day in kindergarten:

The teacher suggested Magnus use the blue paint to make water, Magnus decided to see if it tasted like water.

My first real hiccup in the day came when I was planning dinner.  Pig in the blankets are easy to make and a kid favorite, I figured I could make it semi-healthy with a side of a vegetable.  I figured I might not be able to find Pilsbury Crecent Rolls, but I could find some kind of refrigerated or frozen dough that would work.  No such luck.  

What else to kids like?  They've already seen the hotdogs and want something with hotdogs.  With sheer luck I find frozen pocket pitas.  It's all coming together in my head.  Hotdogs, veggies, some cheese in a pita.  More fun if they fill their own pitas.  Awesome.

Now it's time to pick up Matthias and go cook before the kids' parties.

First Day Alone With the Kids

High Point:

Magnus gave me a kiss on the cheek for the first time, totally apropos of nothing.

Also, watching Matthias be an awesome older brother to his younger siblings.

Low Point:

I'm in the kitchen, trying to finish getting dinner ready.  All I hear from Aurors is, "Bursdag kort, bursdag kort, bursdag kort (birthday card)...."  And then Magnus pees in the sink.  Worse is the peeing was kind of my fault.

No Matter How Bad Your Day Has Been...

...remember; no one has peed in your sink.

I Would Have Thought The Lesson Would Have Sunk In...

Once again I forgot to always have a paper towel in my pocket.  Magnus had a big oua and a big cry.  Halfwya through the forest and he's got snot running down his face and onto my sweatshirt.  Big, big shoe laces.  I didn't know what else to do, so I had him use my sweatshirt as a tissue.  

I also forgot about the toddler snot until after I'd been sitting in class for about an hour.  I look at my shoulder and see this white stain.  I guess it's a fashion statement of sorts...

...or a battle scar.

Norsk Class and Silly Norwegian Laws

Today was my first Norwegian class.  It was mostly review, but I did learn some new things.  And more wierd language quirks- you live "in" a street and "on" a city (but not always).  You also live "on" a castle, not in one.  

I just got a crash course in Norwegian Tax Law.  My goodness, it makes no sense.

So, I make too little to pay any tax on my earnings, but the family still has to take 5% out and send to the goverment.  Even though I'll get it all back next fall.  You don't get to choose your withholdings.  And the government has to pay you back with interest.  The best interest rate in the country no less.  

So I guess it's good you don't get to choose your withholdings, because everyone would have everything they earned withheld.  Why not, if you get paid back with good interest?

And they tax everything here:

*An advantage tax for owning a home.  Not property taxes, those are seperate.  This is a tax, just because you have the advantage of living in your own home.

*Company parking spaces.  Does your company have a parking lot for you?  You get taxed for that if you own a car.  It's an advantage to be able to park your car in a company parking lot.

*Food your company provides.  You get taxed on any food your company serves you.  Even if you can't leave the job site.  Even if you can't leave the job site because you are in the middle of the sea. 

Apparently the running joke here is that Norway is the last Communist state.  

Monday

Not much excitement here.  Just a typical Monday.  I walked the kids to school and walked Aurora home.  I made fajitas for the family tonight, they really enjoyed them.  

Magnus is funny.  I hear the typical sound of trouble, the fast steps of a small person and the scraping across the floor of that person's chair.  I wander into the kitchen to find Magnus standing up on the counter getting into the chocolate.  He sees me and smiles conspiratorially.  

I ask him what he's doing and he giggles quietly, then says, "Shhhhh.... ookelade."  I close up the chocolates he's eating- which he helps me do- then he leaps into my arms for a ride to the ground.

Here are some pictures I took of the houses on the way home from dropping the kids off at school.

It's been really gray here the past couple of days.  I like it though, it reminds me of home.

Toddlers Are Wierd

Magnus and I are standing at the kitchen counter, him on his stool, eating oranges.  All of a sudden he turns to me and points; "Nei!" He says very seriously.  He then sticks his fingers in between my lips and says, "Åpent!"(open).  I open my mouth, and he snatches the orange out of my mouth and shoves it into his.  He then moves the oranges out of my reach.  I then ask him if I can have an orange,  "Nei!  Du kan ikke," (No, you can't).

I have no idea what that was about, but it was amusing.

More Progress With Magnus

Magnus and I have had several major steps forward in our relationship.

First, he bumped his head on the cabinet door.  "Ouwa!" he says and his eyes fill with tears.  Indeat of running for mom or dad, he turns to be and says "blase" (blow).  I'd fortunately seen Thomas blow on and ouwa earlier, so I knew how to do it.  I blew gently on his head, then gave him a kiss.  Everything was better.

Later that day he came and visited me in my room for the first time.  I heard foot steps on my stairs, and was surprised to see Magnus's head coming up my stairs instead of Aurora's.  With typical toddler x-ray vision, Magnus immediately saw the bag of candy that was behind me and my computer.  "Og den?"(what's that?) he points and asks as he runs across the floor.  He deserved a reward for coming to see me, so I took a strawberry foam squar out of my bag and handed it to him.  He toddled happily down the stairs with his new prize.

This morning he came up to my room again.  He actually came to visit me instead of his parents when he woke up.  I showed him my stuffed dog.  He liked thought it was hilarious that it was bigger than he was.  He petted my dog, kissed it, and attempted to pull out it's tongue.  He did listen to me, however, when I told him he should be nice to my stuffed dog and not hurt it.  He then wanted me to spin him around in my red chairs and for me to read him a story.

Soon after, Aurora made her way up the stairs and the party started.  We wrestled, we danced, we pretended to be different animals, and I gave "hest" (horse) rides.  Lots of fun was had by everyone.  

Moose Country

Toddlers Are Awesome

You can turn anything into a game.  Including being quiet.  Magnus snuck in a nap yesterday, so he didn't want t go to bed at bed time.  I laid in his room with him on the big bed and we played the Quiet Game.  As soon as his busy toddler body stopped moving, he started to get sleepy.  

He's in a pretty good mood today.  I helped him make his breakfast, and we played a bit.  Hopefully he's getting used to me.  Linda thinks Magnus also might be a bit resentful of me because Maria (their last au pair) is gone and I moved into Maria's room.  Magnus loved Maria, and I'm the stranger that took her place.

My Norwegian has improved in the week that I've been here.  I have added more words to my vocabulary and I'm begining to get the word tenses right.  The word order is still a mystery to me.  I'm also getting used to the small differences- you get "on" bed, not "in" bed; you go "on" the street, not "in" the street.  I'm also not mixing my Spanish with my Norwegian quite as much.  

I have noticed my English is deteriorating, I'm starting to speak and write in Norwegianized English unless I'm careful.  

Today is my day off, but I think I'm staying in for most of the day.  It's quite rainy out today.  I'll probably go to the store a bit later for some Cola Light.  Highly exciting.:P

Time to Take the Boat Home and More Construction

Winter is coming here in the far north, so it's time to take the boat out of the marina and put it in the yard.  

Magnus and I watch the operation after a boat ride across the harbor.

The best part for Magnus was the ride in the truck afterwards.

That's a two lane road, believe it or not.  Some roads are even narrower.  It makes driving a bit nervewracking.

Aurora is skipping rope in the street when we return.

Magnus watches from the safety of the trampoline.

Afterward the kids play on the new digging machine.  Matthias "drives" while Magnus hitches a ride.

The digging part is done.  Now it's time to fill in the hole with rocks.  This, along with the pipes and plastic, should solve the leaky basement problem.  We also have sewage again!:)

Now that big brother is off doing other things, Magnus takes his turn driving.

The Many Moods of Magnus

Magnus was afraid of me again this morning.  I think Magnus has figured out that when he's with me, his parents sometimes leave.  This makes our relationship rather interesting.  Sometimes he wants to play with me, other times he runs from me screaming.

Last night, I gave him a bath and put him to bed.  He asked a few times for his mom, but he wasn't overly upset by her absence.  I was able to distract him before any clouds burst.  Thankfully, Magnus will go straight to sleep when put in his bed, so there were no crying fits in the night.

This morning, Linda wanted me to get Magnus ready for play group.  Magnus refused to go anywhere without his dad.  With much coaxing he let me dress him, but he refused to look at me.  I tried to give him a sticker, and he angrily refused it.  But he soon decided it would look nice on his backpack.  We then made peace by playing with his Eyore doll.  He stuck close to his dad until he was having so much fun he forgot he didn't like me.

Linda came with me to play group after she returned home.  There was no way Magnus would go peacefully without her.  Linda stayed almost the entire time.  Magnus would sometimes play with me, and sometimes run from me.  We ate lunch together with relatively few hiccups.  He wouldn't talk to me, but he'd listen to me.  

We walked home together alone.  Magnus ignored me for a bit, but quickly warmed when I asked him to look for blueberries, mushrooms, and hop down the path.  By the end of the walk we were holding hands and he was excitedly talking to me.  

The rest of the day has been the same off and on behavior.  He has been a little sick these past few days, I'm sure that doesn't help.

My Day Off And First Solo Outing

I spent the day exploring the city of Tønsberg.  The original plan was to attempt a bike ride into town.  It's about a 2.75 mile/15 minute ride with several twists and turns.  Despite my best efforts to memorize the streets and landmarks, I was a bit nervous about making the trek alone.  Luckily the torrential rain put a stop to that idea.  

Instead, I took the bus.  The bus is about $5 per trip here, but when you compare it to the cost of driving, it's really not that expensive.  The bus system is easy to navigate from my part of town.  One bus will take me to the mall in the middle of the city.  The bus drivers here will also make change, which is very convenient.

The shopping mall here isn't laid out quite as nicely as the malls I've been to in the US.  There's many twists and turns and a skybridge that's only on certain floors.  There's two grocery stores inside the mall, along with two convenience stores.  One would think that was a bit of overkill, but I guess not.  

In Norway, it's best to avoid shopping at a convenience store.  Everything in a convenience store almost double the price of a regular store.  A 16 oz soda, for example, is $2.30 in a grocery store.  That same soda will cost you $4.30 in a 7-11.

The rain stopped for a bit during my trip, so I was able to wander around the city and take some pictures.

More Norwegian Food

This is another of my favorite Norwegian foods.  It's Reindeer sausage.  I don't know why it's blueish purple,  I've had reindeer steak and it certainly wasn't that color.  Given that it's sausage it's probably best that I don't look too hard for an answer.  

In Norway it's important to make sure "hest" isn't an ingredient in your sausage.  "Hest" is horse meat and is a common sausage ingredient. 

Strangely enough, the U.S. has one of the largest taboos against eating horse meat, yet the US has a fairly large horse meat export business.

This next picture is another common Norwegian breakfast/snack item.  It's liver paste made from pig liver.  It's actually pretty tasty.  It has a very mild taste, and doesn't taste like pork at all.  This is the first thing children eat on their bread here.  They've even got a brand called "my first liver paste."

With a toddler's daily iron requirements, them liking liver is a godsend.  

Babies love it.

Kids love it.

I love it too.

More Construction Fun and Magnus's Bad Day

Today we have water, but no sewage.  I hope this situation changes soon.  Otherwise I'm afraid I'll get up in the middle of the night and forget to not flush the toilet.  That would be an unpleasant mess.

The two boys are cranky today.  Matthias was upset that handball was at the same time as his diving lessons so he'd have to choose one or the other.  He spent his homework time crying even though the rule is he does his homework first, then he can go to his other activities.  Then he had to cry about that.  In the end, he decided on handball.  He was a half hour late because of his homework.

I think Magnus is sick like I am.  His good morning mood quickly darkened when it was time to go to play group.  He refused to leave unless his mom came, so both Linda and I took Magnus to play group.  Once there, he stuck close by his mom's side so she couldn't leave.  Linda thinks this is because she took him to kindergarten in the morning yesterday, but she had left for work by the time he came home.  

After a lunch battle (we'll never use the same box for both our sandwiches again) Magnus felt confident enough to explore outside on his own.  Linda told him she would be leaving to pick up Aurora and he was fine.  He spent the next several hours making "ookelade" mud cakes and icecream and carting them around the playground on his tricyle to give to other kids and parents.  

We had a few tense moments when I had to take him away from his fun to go to the bathroom, but everything else went well until about 2 pm.  That's when he asked where his mom was, and actually waited around for an answer.  When he was told that his mom was back home, his stormy mood started again.  He was supposed to leave play group between 2 and 2:30 anyway, so I decided to leave sooner rather than later.  Everything involved tears after that.  He cried as he went to the bathroom one last time.  He cried as I put his shoes and backpack on.  He cried when he pushed open the door and fell.  He sniffled as he said "ha det" to his friends and teachers.  I was finally able to distract him by getting him to look for bilberries to eat.  

Of course it couldn't be over that easily.  A little further down the path he stopped to pick up an ant.  He hasn't quite learned that ants bite, and I wasn't fast enough to save him.  The ant bit his finger, and now there was no settling him down.  He cried the rest of the way through the forrest and into the house.

The storm continued of course.  He was angry that he couldn't have crackers, or anything else from the cupboard (he did have a sandwich).  Next, I hear Magnus shrieking upstairs.  He was angry that his big sis spoiled his fun.  Magnus was putting toothpaste on his baby doll and using Aurora's tooth brush on it.  Aurora, the good big sis, took the doll and toothpaste away and started washing the doll.  I picked up Magnus and took him downstairs.  

Once downstairs, he was back in the cupboard again.  This time succeeding in getting some crackers.  I tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a trade, the crackers for half of his sandwich.  Magnus successfully got both from me, mostly because I just wanted a moment of peace.  Negotiating with a 2-year-old is never a good idea, however.  He was soon back in the cupboard for more crackers.  This time, two fists full.  I took away the crackers this time, and told him no.  This started the crying again.  Aurora helped me explain to him that dinner was very soon, we would eat then.  Luckily, mom came home soon after, and he was instantly calm.

I'm up in my room now preparing for an early bed.  I think I have a bit of a fever.  Tomorrow is a day off and I plan to go into town and try not to get lost.

Magnus in the Morning

Magnus didn't see any pictures of himself on the walls, so Linda showed him pictures on the computer.

Magnus geeking the camera with a very fierce expression and his spoon in his mouth.  His eye is a bit swollen because he was bitten by a mosquito yesterday.

Norwegian Food

Brunost, or brown cheese, is a Norwegian specialty.  It's a sweet, caramelly tasting whey cheese.  It's a very tasty breakfast or snack food.

Kaviar comes in a tube here and is also a breakfast favorite.  It's also very tasty.  Kids like it too.

Milk and juice don't come in plastic containers here.  The milk container is strangely shaped, it's shorter and longer than the American version.

View From My Room

This is the view from my window.  There's not many fences here.  The neighbors have a fence around the play area to keep one of their kids in.  Their youngest doesn't like to listen or follow rules.

Where I Live

This is the home I live in:

And this is the construction:

This is the view out the back door.  Sleepwalking can be hazardous.

This was the site of yesterday's broken water main.  I suggested we just finish digging around the house and make a moat.  My idea wasn't very popular.

What's left of the front yard.  They still don't know what they'll do with all the dirt.

That concrete terrace is also going to have to be removed.  With a sledge hammer.  Thank God that's not my job! 

My Room

I'm still getting settled.  Jet lag has taken it's toll on me.   I did manage to snap a few pictures of my new room.  I'll get more photos taken soon.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the dropzone when I was out there on Sunday.  I'll take pics next time.