Daniel :)

I´ve been bad at blogging, and have instead been enjoying my two beautiful boys in whatever "extra" time there´s been to enjoy. Oh, to think I thought I was "busy" when I had just one child and was not in school again! Life has been very, very busy, and very, very, very wonderful for the past 18 months. Daniel arrived and won all of our hearts. He´s such a joy, so smart, determined and full of life and love. He and Aidan have a special bond that fills my heart with a simple pleasure that nothing can come close to, and life feels full and fulfilling.

Daniel´s birth was a triumph for me. I experienced a cesarean section with Aidan´s birth, and it was amazing and peaceful. But since I doubted my ability to have a natural birth, I wanted to have one to prove myself capable. And it was an amazing experience. And it only got better from there. Daniel has brought so much love to our little unit.

Off to create a blog for both of our boys :)

I love you, John, Aidan and Daniel. You are the sun and the stars to me and you fill my heart with joy.

Depth

I have the pleasure and wonder of watching Aidan´s emotional and spiritual sides unfold.
We have talked about death, since Scot (John´s sister Roseann´s husband) and my young nephew Joshua both died in 2009. We all held each other in a big family hug after Aidan cried about death. He said he never wants us to die, and wanted to know what happens when people die. I talked about the spirit of a person always staying with those who knew them, and that a part of them would always be here. That seemed to comfort Aidan a little bit, but for weeks, death was the focal issue, and Aidan needed time to ask questions and explore his feelings about it. It´s a subject I have not fully come to terms with, so I don´t expect him to be completely comfortable with it either. I doubt most people are. Aidan seemed to grasp the finality of death in a way I would not expect a 3-year-old to do, and reacted to it strongly. It was moving and sweet in a way, to share such raw emotions and fears and work through it together.

when Aidan was 2, we listened to a sweet and haunting melody together. It was a Swedish lullabye called "Byssanlull," and it brought tears to Aidan´s eyes. He stopped playing and just listened, then started crying. When the song was over, he wanted to hear it again, and then cried again. I did not know that such young children could feel such things so deeply before I became a mother myself. My respect for young children has grown tremendously as a mom. Their capacity for love, emotion and spirituality is huge.

Aidan asked my aunt, who recently had eye surgery, how her eye feels and how she is doing. She was so touched by his genuine interest in something he does not have any real experience with, and the fact that he could in some way understand that it was difficult for her.

Aidan worries about life post-baby. His little brother is due next Saturday, and he is more anxious than excited. I think he knows that baby will change our lives, and he is not naive about that even though he has no real frame of reference for it. He´s also excited and happy, and hugs my belly lots and talks to the baby. So for him, like for us, the unknown holds its wonder while at the same time causes a bit of worry about how it will turn out.
He marvels at the tiny baby clothes. The first time he saw one of the tiny outfits, he said "wow, so small?"
He wants us to have one more baby after this one. We were talking about family sizes, and I said something about our family being composed of four people. He said "no, let´s have one more!" Haha, he wants the kids to outnumber the adults :)

Aidan is 4!!

I just love my little, big man!! Aidan is a caring, fun-loving, wonderful human being, and it is such a joy to be his mom!
We had a great party at Child Planet, a children´s play place here in Oslo. His guests were:

Taylor (Tonje and Kelly´s daughter and a great playmate to Aidan)
Maja (Bo and Jenny´s daughter)
Juni and Eirill (sisters and daughters of Frøy and Jørn)
Nikolas (Hilde´s daughter)

And Momo and Elfrid came as well! Momo made a delicious marzipan-covered cream cake, and I made some very simple vanilla cupcakes.
Maja´s gift was a huge plastic sword, and Aidan loves it. He asked me what it was, which was nice as he´s never had a toy weapon before. So he´s slowly losing his innocence, but as long as it´s with a plastic sword which he´s convinced is a pirate sword, we´ll be fine :)
Taylor gave Aidan a remote-controlled jeep, which I am going to like playing with. I have always liked remote-controlled cars, and so I get to play with it when Aidan is in kindergarten!
Momo gave Aidan a really cute electronic toy cash register, and Aidan´s loving ringing up our grocery orders and giving us our bags of food.
Elfrid and Ivar gave Aidan an airport set, and Aidan´s really enjoying it. It´s all over our living room floor. So it´s a big airport!
Nikolas gave Aidan a really sweet wooden xylophone. Aidan loves music, so he´ll get good use out of that.
And last but not least, Juni and Eirill gave Aidan a 3 cd set of Albert Aaberg´s stories and music. He was a Swedish children´s author, and I´m sure we´ll all enjoy the cd´s. I love almost everything Swedish when it comes to kids music and films!

After the party, we came home and Aidan was on a high. He said "now I know how to be a party man." Hehe!

"Do we speak Kjelsås?"

Aidan has been learning a lot about different countries and languages, especially since our recent trip to Turkey. And some of his classmates in barnehage are from foreign lands, so he´s been extra curious about languages lately.
On a recent bus trip to the Teknisk Museum (Oslo´s science museum), he asked where the museum is and I said in Kjelsås, which is a nearby area of Oslo. He then asked me, "do we speak Kjelsås," assuming that they speak a different language there. He´s good at both English and Norwegian, and can switch between the two without a problem. He occasionally asks how to say something in Norwegian, as he is a bit more fluent in English since that´s what we speak at home.

Pictures!

"The whole wide world"

That is Aidan´s way of saying he loves something, or thinks its really awesome. Tonight while putting him to bed he said that he feels like a snail is walking on his hand. A few days ago a snail did walk on his hand, and he thought it was so cool that he could barely feel anything except a little tickle (it was a tiny snail), so he was obviously thinking about that. So he says, "I like snails the whole wide world!" I think I have said that something or other is my favorite thing in the whole wide world, and so Aidan uses the phrase when he really, really likes something!

Funny things Aidan says and does

A few mornings ago, Aidan woke up and sleepily said "Mommy, I want cake." His eyes were still closed, so he must have had a dream that involved cake. I sleepily said we didn´t have cake but could get some later. He started screaming, "BUT I WANT CAKE!" Crying hysterically, yelling the house down!! LOL! It´s funny now, though I wasn´t laughing when it was happening.

He makes me laugh all day with his wise, funny, silly sayings.

The bus obsession

Aidan knows bus numbers by sight, and calls out "there´s the 31E bus, it goes fast!", or "This is a new 31 bus, not an old one!" He knows the train and tram lines as well, and tells us whenever a 20, 25, 30, 33, 37, 59, 60 or 66 bus goes by. And he´s VERY into the distance the bus stops from the curb. If a driver is not too far from the curb (a little step), the driver did a good job. But if (heaven forbid) the driver stopped with a large gap, he or she didn´t do a very good job.
He drives his toy buses around at home, stopping at imaginary bus stops and judging how well the driver (himself) did. It´s so sweet!

A long overdue update!

Before my update, here are some pictures of Aidan at a music store, listening to a sweet Norwegian children´s music CD that we ultimately bought after listening to many others. He loves music, and sings all the time.






__________________________

I want to write as much as I can remember from the past several months! Sometimes I wish there was a constant video recording him, so I wouldn't miss anything at all! I want to remember everything always, as this age is such a precious one and he is so delightful (well, most of the time :)

Here are some snippets:

"I like lady babies best!" (we were talking about a baby boy who lives upstairs, and he came out with that while we were talking about visiting him).

"Mommy, those earrings are very pretty!"

"New York has lot people, and lot noise!"

"I want to be friends with the mouse" (don't ask, we had a mouse in his room, brought in by our cat and curiously enough, not killed. The mouse put on a show for us, and was not very afraid of us at all! Mousie got humanely trapped in a Cheerios box and taken to the forest.)

"I love Ricky, he's so cute." (Aidan loves our kitty :)

__________________________________________________________________________

There are lots more of course, but I can't think of more cute quotes right now. They just keep coming all day, and I love it! Aidan's a great kid, sweet and sensitive, and very interesting to be around. He is readjusting to his kindergarten, after spending 3 weeks in NYC with mommy and daddy and having a great time. We've figured out that between some language difficulties (we speak English at home and he speaks some Norwegian, but not as fluently as the other kids), and feeling intimidated by being around so many kids all day when there are no others at home, that it is overwhelming for him and will take some time for him to feel very comfortable there. He has a little friend who he adores, her name is Emma, and he sings her name all the time at home. It is so cute! He's building confidence, and it seems like a positive experience. Today the kindergarten is on a field trip to a local farm, and he has his veggie franks along for their hot dog grilling picnic there. I like their activities, relaxed yet fun, and I feel positive about the kindergarten. It is so much better than the rigid Montessori place we had him in before!

Pics!

An update on Aidan

We took Aidan out of kindergarten because we were unhappy with the place, and so was Aidan. It was too rigid, and there was not enough play time. Kids were expected to speak extra softly and never run indoors, and many toys were off-limits even though they were within reach of the kids (they need to be "trained" in how to use them first). So after 2 miserable months, we took Aidan out. It feels right!

Today's conversation:
Me: "Mommy loves you soo much (makes wide circle movement with hands) and even more."

Aidan: "Like this?" (makes same motion).

Me: "Yes! and even more!"

Aidan: "Where can we see the more? Can't see it, too big!"


Soooo cute!!

The journey

I thought I knew myself so well before I became a parent, but Aidan has uncovered a part of me I didn't know existed. I wanted to be perfect, or at least a really great mom, but I can't hide the flaws that cause feelings of mommy-inferiority because Aidan sees them. I'm not perfect, and I make mistakes I wish I didn't make even though they are within the sphere of "normal" (like not being consistent enough, and getting angry too fast), and it is hard to see them so often, and so clearly, in the eyes of the little boy I want to be a hero to.
The nice thing is that even though he sees the flaws, he wants to be with me, all the time, and that is sooo sweet!
So it's not all bad. I get a chance to grow as a person, he's okay with who I am, and I hope I'm good enough in the meantime--while I work at being perfect :)
It is truly humbling, and an amazing gift, to be a parent!

Mikkel Rev dreams

Early this morning, 5am to be exact, Aidan loudly sleep-said, in a sing-song voice, "Africa..." It was to the tune of a Norwegian song called "Mikkel Rev," and Aidan is completely besotted with the song. he sings or hums it several times a day, and even sings it with made-up words, just for fun.
It was so loud and clear, and it cracked John and I, who were sleeping right beside him, up!

Barnehage pics-with his fave teacher, and more

Barnehage (kindergarten)

There is a shortage of barnehages here in Norway, and especially in Oslo. We put Aidan on a waiting list for a Montessori one back in 2007, and were thrilled when we got a space--as we were looking for a place to buy and had kind of settled on one area way across town from the barnehage we got a space in. We then decided to buy a place in Tonsenhagen, near the Montessori school, to be close to it and because we liked the area.
Well, as much as we like the place, Aidan hates going. Yep, cries broken-heartedly every morning. It's been almost two months now, and he still can't get used to the idea of going there every day, even though he seems to like certain things, or at least, he tolerates them. He's very mommy fixated these days, especially with our recent move, and it seems that it's the separation that is the hardest part, as the teachers report that he does well once we leave. He cries about circle time, how he doesn't like it, even before we leave the house. Basically, the whole thing overwhelms him while he's growing from it at the same time, socially, with the other kids at least. We keep his days short. While many other kids are there from 7:55-4:15, we drop him off at 9:30 and pick him up at 1.30. We also keep him out one day a week, so that we can bond, especially because I work many weekends and eves. so don't get enough time with him.
I'm not sure how it will play out, and if Aidan will grow to like the place. It seems really neat, and is totally Montessori. There is lots of structure, yet lots of room for learning at their own paces. I wonder sometimes though about so much structure and routine for someone so young. Aidan's a bit of a free spirit, so it's perhaps both good and difficult for him.
This morning, Saturday, he asked several times "no barnehage today??" delighting at our "no."
I comfort myself with the fact that we keep his time there limited, although to him it probably feels an eternity as he waits for us--and he does wait, kind of go through it, waiting to be picked up again.
But there is some lightness here. His teacher reported on Thursday that he and a little girl have been holding hands, that both of them have initiated this with one another. So maybe love will save the (barnehage) day!

Fun remix- pics of Aidan!

Aidan loves trampolines

"You"

Aidan calls himself "you."
Very cute!
Since that's what we say to him when we talk to him directly ("do YOU want to eat now," etc), it does make sense when you see it from his perspective.
It's so cute when he says "don't kiss you" (yes, he doesn't like to be kissed as much as I'd like to kiss him!), or "you not like that nam-nam" in referring to himself and telling us what he likes and dislikes. He's starting to wonder why mom and dad call one another "you" as well, so it probably won't last long.
I love seeing the world from a 2 year old's perspective!

A little update

It's been so long since I've updated this blog. I've been wanting to post for ages, but haven't gotten to it. Since our last post, Sarah's got a new job that she really dislikes, and we've gone into major debt in buying an apartment in overpriced Oslo (one of the most expensive cities in the world for real estate!). It's been BUSY at our house!
Aidan, our little man, has grown so very much in the last six months! We've done so much fun stuff together. Aidan has:

come house hunting with us all over Oslo,
gone to the technical museum and explored old trains, planes and built fun stuff,
met John S and had a great time with him,
taken boat trips to and from Bygdøy-Aker Brygge,
walked on the roof of the new opera house and fed the birds there,
helped mom and dad walk dogs and feed cats,
learned to ride his tricycle and his mini-tractor,
swam at the beach at Bygdøy,
played lots at grandma Tone's house and is learning Norwegian,
visited lots of people and places, like Bo and Jenny, Sian, Tonje, Taylor and Kelly, Ketil and Eirik, and many more great people!

And wow, how he has developed and grown! Aidan's really tall for his age, and many people think he's 3. Aidan is energetic, strong and fun, and he loves to learn and understand how things work.

He's a sensitive, analytical child, and does not miss a nuance of anything going on around him.

It's fun to have conversations with Aidan. He really understands abstract concepts now, and it amazes me how sophisticated he's gotten in such a short time.
Today's conversation about the trampoline we jump on every day while we stay at Bo and Jenny's house until we can move into our own home:
A: "konalina's (trampoline) very windy."
Mom: "Yes, it's windy outside today!"
A: "Yeah, jump high with wind maybe?"
Mom: "Yes, maybe the wind will make us jump higher? We can try and see!"
A: Yeah, wind moves feet high!"
Mom: "Do you like the wind?"
A: "Yeah, wind not bright sun!"

Cute!!!! Fun!!!!

Aidan's Thomas the Tank Engine 2nd birthday!

Aidan had a wonderful time at his birthday party at Grandma and Pappa's house! Mommy baked 3 cakes, and we all played pin-the-number-on-Thomas while blindfolded game (which uncle Scot tried to cheat at, hehe! :), and had lots of fun!