7 months, day 3 - Lidingö

Friends welcomed us to stay at their apartment in Lidingö, an island suburb of Stockholm, while they were away for the weekend. Their apartment is right on the water just a short walk away from the harbor. Yesterday we mostly relaxed, but today we did all sorts of adventuring.

We started the day by walking through a nature reserve to a fantastic little lunch spot. Augie started eating before we got there:

James ordered off the children's menu (but asked for a larger portion), and I had spinach soup.

Augie ate the grass:

He also tried the dragon bush, but didn't like that as well:

After lattes and sweets, we trundled home while Augie napped in the stroller. We borrowed a kayak and took turns paddling in the sea:

Now we're back at our home-away-from-home, recovering.

7 months - Sunset in the Söder

(For the record, I don't know if it's accurate to say, "in the Söder" (referring to Södermalm, a neighborhood of Stockholm), but it sounds good to me, so I said it).

Whoa, Augie's 7 months old today! That makes him 7/12 of a year old, for those of you into fractions. I've been telling you recently all that he's doing, but here's a recap:

Augie has 5 teeth showing (with at least a 6th on the way, if not more). He has totally mastered commando crawling, as well as sitting up from a crawling position. He's soveryclose to regular hands-and-knees crawling and can go about 4 little shuffles before he flattens out. He can pull up to standing when he's in the crib. He's babbling more and more and has mastered saying "mama". We often wake up to him about six inches from our faces, rocking back and forth on his hand and knees with a big grin on his face (or him head-butting the headboard - thank goodness it's soft!). He loves to eat solid foods. His favorites have been roasted vegetables and Italian lentils (pureed of course). He seems to like anything with carrots in it. He is happy most of the time. When he sits, he loves to thrust his arms in the air, and it's what he does when he's delighted.

So that's that.

Last night we were invited to have dinner the home of one of two of James's colleagues, Maja and Ingo, a couple who live in Södermalm, a supercool neighborhood south of us. We weren't quite there for sunset, because that happens after 10pm, but we were there for the gloaming and enjoyed drinks and cheese on the roof of their building.

We decided to walk home after dinner - the first time we've been out and about around sunset since arriving (we're usually at home putting Augie to bed).

Leaving their neighborhood:

Passing through Gamla Stan, the old town:

And a little something to make you laugh:

Weekend adventures await!

6 months, day 31 - Moving, bonking, reflecting

The primary consequence so far of Augie's newfound mobility is repeated bonks to the head. Whether it's falling forward onto something (a toy, the floor from the bed), ramming forth into something (my teeth), or pulling something down on him (a kitchen chair), Augie's becoming quite adept at giving himself minor head injuries. Even after falling off the bed a few weeks back, he still charges straight for the edge when we're playing with him there, fearless as ever.

This is just the beginning, of course. Augie will spend the next few years exploring the capabilities of his body, learning about how his body moves and how it interacts with different objects, discovering again and again where his body ends and the rest of the world begins. Our job as parents is to foster this growth and exploration and help him to become competent and confident in his body and its movements. As I see it, our job isn't quite to prevent him from ever hurting himself - even if we wanted to, that would be impossible; our job is to give him safe but big boundaries, to make sure he doesn't hurt himself badly, and to kiss all the scrapes, bumps and bonks as he goes.

I'd really rather that he not pull the kitchen chairs onto his forehead, but these little bumps and bruises are the signs of a little boy exploring the world and his body. They reflect his curiosity and his strength, the little boy emerging from the baby.

A secondary consequence of this mobility (and strength) is that he can no longer play in the other room while we eat breakfast in the kitchen (or do anything anywhere else). A few days ago we could leave him in a room and know that he'd move around to get to different toys, but wouldn't really get in any trouble; now we can be fairly certain that the first thing he's going to do is try to pull something on his head or go bashing headfirst into a mirror or something. A new era in our parenting has begun.

But you didn't come here for all that, did you? You came to see Augie discover himself in the mirror (email subscribers, click here):

6 months, day 30 - Parkcapades

Another low-key day around here. James has been hosting/mentoring/torturing two undergraduate students here in Stockholm, and we had them over for dinner tonight.

This is from yesterday, Augie's first attempts at hands-and-knees crawling:

After dinner we all went to the park, where Augie entertained:

This shot shows more of the park and the football fields in the background:

And this is my favorite Augie photo bomb to date (those are the two students, Bruna and Alex):

6 months, day 29 -

In all my excitement yesterday about talking and standing, I forgot to mention something else Augie has developed: teeth! He's had the bottom two for over a month now, but in the last week or so he's sprouted 3 top teeth! It's very hard to get him to sit still while smiling, but we'll get a picture as soon as we can.

We didn't do much today; I'm exhausted from going out and about every day, so we decided to stay close to home.

Augie started the day with some gymnastics. At least, that's what I think this is:

As is the new norm, I had trouble putting him to sleep when it was time for his first nap. I heard him moving around and peeked through the door to see him working on his pull-ups:

Eventually I got him to sleep, and when he woke up two hours later he was very happy:

So we went to the park:

And Augie nibbled a bit:

I tried to settle him down for one last nap for the day. As usual, I heard him moving around, so I peeked in to find him entirely upright, standing perfectly still - his best stance to date! The picture isn't great, but you can just barely see him staying on his stripy feet:

6 months, day 28 - Aging prematurely

I don't know whether the title of today's post refers to me or to Augie. I certainly have more grey hairs than I used to, but I think that coincides with meeting James moreso than with having Augie. In the last 36 hours or so little Augie has done so much that I find myself sitting in the kitchen with a glass of white wine, palm to forehead, wondering where the time has gone -- where it's going. Augie's made a couple huge leaps, and I'm still reeling from them.

Augie's been so consumed by physical developments that I mentioned to James last week that he really isn't babbling much and doesn't seem anywhere near his first word. That's pretty common with boys from what I hear, so I didn't think much of it. But then over the weekend he started to say "ning" a lot. Intentionally. That's not really a word, at least not in English or American, so we didn't think much of it - but we did start calling him Little Ning. But then he spent most of today saying "mamammmmm" (or "momomommmm") while looking at me and giggling (okay, and also while looking at the ground and eating grass); he said it enough that I'm officially declaring that Augie's first word was "mom"! (Well, "momomomom" to be precise). I don't really care what his first word is/was -- I'm just amazed that he's suddenly talking!

But Augie's other big feat of the day is far more terrifying, and it's what has me sprouting more grey hairs as I type, holding my forehead in my palm. I had a terrible time settling him down for his afternoon nap - I could tell he was tired, but he just wouldn't go to sleep. A few minutes after putting him in the crib the first time, I came back to find this:

You can't quite tell in this picture, but his right foot is planted on the crib mattress: he's trying to stand up.

None of the normal tricks to settle him to sleep worked (nursing, walking him out, singing lullabies), so I let him play for a bit:

I went to do something in the kitchen until a new sound rattled from the playroom. I dashed to the playroom to find him gripping the top of a toy kitchen, trying to pull himself up! The rattling was the toy pots clanking together. He can't stand on his own yet - he doesn't seem close - so I was really surprised to see him trying.

I tried nursing him again, but he just wouldn't settle down - he kept grabbing my bra strap and pulling, trying to pull himself up. I gave up and put him in the crib, hoping he'd calm himself.

A few minutes later I came back to see this:

Yeah, that's what you think it is: he just pulled himself up to standing! But he only learned to sit last week! Isn't there supposed to be at least a month-long grace period during which Mama and Baba slowly become accustomed to the idea of their baby doing things for himself, where we take a few days to baby-proof the apartment and gaze lovingly as the little tiger sits contented in his new skill? When we show him how to pull himself up by helping him a bunch of times, and then he takes a couple weeks to practice before he actually does it?

That's not going to happen, is it? He's going to keep blazing ahead, watching and learning and practicing, trying to do everything he can at Mach 2 while Mama and Baba try their hardest to hold on, to keep up, to slow down, to nestle into his neck and inhale his soft baby smell and remember, capture, savor each shining passing moment before, one day, he spreads his wings and jumps out of the nest - and flies.

(For the record, immediately after he stood up, I nursed him for about 30 seconds and he finally fell asleep.)

6 months, day 27 - Midsommar

As I mentioned before, we were invited to spend the midsommar (midsummer, in case that wasn't obvious) celebration with a colleague of James's and his family at their summer house in Årsta Havsbad, about 30 kilometers out of the city. Check out this video to learn about midsommar if you're interested. Midsommar is kind of like Thanksgiving and Fourth of July in one: it's all about food, family & friends, and some summertime shenanigans.

James, Augie and I slept in the little house on the property; about 20 feet from the main house, it held a bed, a table, a little bookshelf and this view. (We went to the main house for things involving running water):

We had lunch (pickled fish, new potatoes, local schnaps), then walked to the town's midsommar celebration along a footpath:

And emerged from the woods to find this scene. At the center is a maypole, and around it people are doing fertility dances:

But not Augie, who was sleeping:

We trundled home to have fika and play a Swedish lawn game:

The three of us sat on the dock for awhile, watching the water, surrounded by sun and wind and nature:

And eventually we settled into a delicious dinner of fish, potato salad, grilled vegetables, and I don't know what else. We talked late into the evening, as the moon rose over an island in the distance:

It was the first night that we've really been able to notice the light all night; in the city, we're surrounded by buildings and can't quite see the sunset or gauge how dark (or light) it is at midnight, but out in the countryside we could. When Augie woke me around 1am, I stepped outside. It was still a bit light, though the sun was below the horizon. By 3am it was morning light.

When we got up around 9am, we tried to take a dip in the Baltic Sea, but this is as far as I got:

That's our little house on the left, and the main house set back on the right:

We had breakfast and played the wooden stick game again before heading back to Stockholm:

This is out of chronological order, but here's a shot of Augie's response to, "It's time to take a nap."

As far as I can tell, the point of the day is to surround yourself with friends and family while eating and drinking heartily, soaking in the sun, surrounded by nature. If I were to invent a holiday, it would be exactly this. I look forward to incorporating this day of feasting, drinking, and having fun with people we love into our family's traditions.

6 months, day 26 - Recovering

We had a nice midsommar celebration with friends, and I'm exhausted (even though we took a family nap when we got home). Tomorrow I intend to post lots of pictures of the day-long celebration, but right now I intend to do nothing but relax. Enjoy this family photo.

6 months, day 24 - Drunken sailor

While Augie slept for 2+ hours during his morning nap today, I was inspired to think about what else I could do with this blog. (While Augie slept for 2+ hours yesterday, I was inspired to nap with him). As is, I'm putting absolute minimum effort into it - a few pics, a few words, et voila. That's largely because I'm writing at the end of the day, when I'm tired, cranky, and ready to watch vampires online. And when Augie only takes 45-minute naps during the day, which is all he would do before the last month or so, I just barely have time to pee, answer an email, and pay a bill or call customer service for something-or-other before he's up and ready to play. But I could totally get used to this 2-hour-nap thing and use it to, I don't know, write something thoughtful or clever, or put together a nice series of pictures that tell a story. I spent the day thinking about it and got quite excited, so keep your eyes open for an occasional more-than-minimum-effort post.

(By the way, we've been invited to a colleague of James's summer house to celebrate midsummer (midsommar), so we will be entirely away from the Internets until late on Saturday. Don't expect any posts until Saturday night at the earliest, but more likely Sunday).

Augie's newest skill is sitting; that is, pushing himself up into a seated position from lying down. He first did it about three days ago, and now it seems to be all he wants to do. In fact, he'd rather sit up than sleep. You can guess how fantastic that isn't for Mama and Baba.

Here's a video of the new skill (email subscribers click here):


The funniest thing is that he often looks like a drunken sailor when he's practicing. He'll get caught against a table or chair or wall and won't be able to get up, but then he grabs a hold of something and just...well, just holds on. Kinda like if he were drunk, and on a boat careening from side to side.

I mentioned sleep - tonight we tried putting him down in his crib to sleep. He often spends some time rocking back and forth and kicking his legs, settling himself down into slumber. The crib isn't quite big enough for him to fully execute the sitting-up maneuver. Recently when we'd walk in while he's trying to settle himself, he'll be half on his back, gripping the bars of the crib, a tired, confused look - a drunken sailor look - on his face. But tonight, we heard him squealing, and came in to find this:

We put him back down and left. Not 90 seconds later I went back in to find him sitting up, facing the other side of the crib. And not 3 minutes after that, he was sitting up in the middle of the crib.

I hope that soon he wearies of this new trick and just...sleeps.