August and his blocks

We've had these great Tegu blocks for a while, but August really discovered them a couple weeks ago. He loves them, and he's so creative with them. He's made airplanes, boats, helicopters, trucks, ice cream, leaf blowers, and more out of them. It's wonderful to watch his imagination burst forth and to see the creations, games, and relationships he comes up with.

With no help whatsoever from us, August made this airplane:

Fierce:

Funny:

Leif's first swing

Do you think he likes it?

We found a new park

Our Norwegian neighbors tipped us off to a park we hadn't been to, across a long bridge on an island called Kungsholmen. We all three (four!) walked there this morning, then James took the bus to work and Augie and I played. It was fantastic! It's got so much for little ones to do and explore, both climbing/play equipment and areas designed to ignite the imagination. I saw a dad from our local park there, too, and he was there for the same reason I was - sometimes we just get sick of going to the same place every day (twice a day). I'm very excited to take Augie there again and again!

 Flying high on the swings:

This slide was really big so I tried to go down with him the first time - but he just pushed off without me and left me at the top! He ran up the stairs and went down again about 5 times. He loved it.

These are Augie's favorite things on playgrounds: he rocks back and forth like a wild man.

One of those high-imagination areas: a "garage" where the kids can give all the bicycles and tricycles and carts tune-ups and such:

Apropos of nothing else in this post, the view from our living room window:

Sliding up, sliding down

Augie spent most of today saying, "upp" (emphasis on the 'p'). Sometimes he said it to actually mean he was going or wanted up (or down), but mostly it seemed that he said it just because he could. It's almost shocking how much he communicates now, signing "more" or "please" or babbling away when he wants something, pointing and sometimes demanding the object of his attention. He is becoming ever more willful and gets very angry when he doesn't get what he wants. He power surges, often smacking a door or chair or wall or whatever's nearby when he's upset. I suppose he takes after his mama...

He had loads of fun at music class this morning, took a nice long nap, and then woke up ready to play this afternoon. We went to the park to get some outdoor time.

He went up the slide:

He went down the slide:

 

And then he discovered the best way to go down the slide:

 

With a smug look of satisfaction, he did it again:

And again:

And again:

Baba's birthday weekend

I wish I could tell you that we had a fantastic, exuberant birthday weekend for James, but we don't do anything in fantastic, exuberant style anymore. In fact, I'm not sure that we ever did. We did take a fantastic family nap this afternoon (from which Augie hasn't woken up at 7pm as I post), but that hardly counts as a birthday celebration.

Saturday we went down to our old neighborhood from last summer, Vasastan, and got pizza and calzones for lunch. Later in the afternoon we went to a playdate with kids from Augie's class at preschool. We were one American couple, one American-Chilean couple, one Swedish couple, and one American-British couple (us), each with two kids. The kids around while we talked housing, Swedish society, gluten-free eating (one of the couples has just published Sweden first cookbook for people with allergies) and, of course, kids.

This might be the best action shot of Augie we've ever taken:

Today we went to one open house - and it's the closest we've come to bidding on a place. While the apartment could use some updating, it's in move-in ready condition, with south-facing windows overlooking a huge park in one of our most-desired neighborhoods. (Click here to see, though the link will only be good for a couple more days). The downside? The apartment is on the third floor, there's no elevator, and the staircase is winding and narrow. The only place to park a stroller is in the basement. This may sound like a minor inconvenience, and it would be if we were just the two of us or the kids were much older; but I can't imagine carrying two babies (plus groceries, diaper bags, etc.) up four flights of narrow stairs several times a day. It's not just inconvenient, it's dangerous (and I'm generally a daring kind of gal). It felt good to get excited about a place, though.

Have a great week.

Late winter fun

It's possible that I'm engaging in some wishful thinking by calling this "late winter", since by all accounts spring doesn't actually begin in Sweden until May. But it's starting to feel all springy around here - even the crocus are starting to bloom! And we've had more sunny days in the last week than we did the first month that we were here (a Swede told James the other day that there were 8 hours of sunlight in Stockholm in December. 8 measly hours!).

Saturday we had coffee with friends - a couple who have the only other Quasians we know here in Sweden. The husband is from Canada, of Chinese descent, and the wife is Swedish. Their kids are pure Quasian. We went with them to a skate park, where their 5-year old daughter biked circles around Augie (who loved it!) and Augie ran up and down the ramps.

On Sunday, we played in the orchard in the backyard.

11 months - Augie at the playground

I'm too tired to use words.