Today the little guy crawled up to me very excitedly. He always has something in his grip, and today it was his favorite ball. After crawling to me, he crawled back away from me, sat up about a meter away, and threw it to me!
But for now I will simply enjoy the little throwing sessions we have around the house – he has a good arm, sometimes the ball zips by me and I don’t have a chance. Good thing that ball is soft!
Today was one of those days you dream of when you buy a house. Unfortunately my wife is away on a business trip, but the little guy and I made the most if it and it turned out well!
When we woke up, there was a beautiful day that unfolded before us. Mild temperature, sun shining: the day was ours to have. So after a good breakfast and a little play time, we went for a walk. I think the little guy wanted to see what the world had in store for him; it took him longer than 1 hour to fall asleep (normally 10 min!) – which was when we were back home.
Since it was nice weather and we have a big yard with lots of trees, I thought this would be a great opportunity for some leaf raking while the little guy slept. I have done this many times every year throughout my childhood and adolescence, and I would never have guessed that I would enjoy it like I did today. My son sleeping in the stroller with the blue sky, sunshine, and fresh air, while I do some meaningful work in the yard of our new house – it was enough to take away every stress in the world for that moment.
After the raking, I explored the yard a bit more. There is a lot more property than I knew of, so it was fun to look around and dream about the day we build a guest house. After that was lunch, and the little guy ate like a champ.
We had some things in the afternoon, most notably the electrician came and took care of some electrical concerns we had. Thankfully the problems were small and inexpensive to fix, so that added to the energy of the good day.
After a late afternoon snack, the little guy was tired so we went for a walk near the lake (4 minute walk away). The sun was setting and I enjoyed the walk immensely.
Finally, we enjoyed a nice dinner where the little guy ate a whole avocado plus a bunch of turkey, and that naturally led to a well-needed bath. After that, some play time, another short meal of porridge, a book, and the little guy was off to bed. See, a nice day, right?
It would be nice if my wife were here to share days like this, but sometimes you need to have nice days separately so that you can appreciate the company of the other person when they are there the next time. But then again, if my wife were here, I wouldn’t have been able to eat cheese puffs for dinner. 😉
The little guy has really been moving a lot! He has had a good combination thus far while back in Sweden: he has been healthy, he has had a lot of space, he has had a lot of people to play with him. And the end result of that is a very energetic little one who is now up on two feet just as much as he crawls.
In Sweden, it is popular to use a product by Brio that the little ones grab onto and walk around with. There are fancier plastic versions elsewhere in the world, but this one is super basic; made of wood, metal, and rubber.
He has this same one in Hong Kong, which we brought back on a previous trip, and now we were lucky enough to find one used for when we are back. The little guy loves this thing! He walks with it, uses it like a kind of scooter, stands in it, sits in it, pushes his possessions around the house, and so much more.If you have a little one, skip the plastic ones with the bells and whistles, and get one of these. Not only does it have adjustable tension for the wheels, but it looks good in an otherwise brightly colored sea of toys 😉
The little guy has had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with his cousins this weekend. They are ranging in age from 7-14, and that means they all play in different ways with him. But no-matter what, one thing is certain: He loves to be around other kids.
It makes me smile to see how much fun he has with the other kids, and while he ignores me during that time, I know that this ignoring comes because he knows I am there, he trusts that I am just a crawl or a cry away.
It makes me think even more about how important it has been for his socialization that I have not simply forced him to be at home with me, but instead I have made an effort to meet people and have him play with other kids. He has always been social and loved people, so paying attention to that part of his personality has been important.
I think to having a really social child means you have to push even harder to ensure he is around others who stimulate him (not adults) – this could go for anything in parenting, I guess. You just need to see what the little ones go for and make more opportunities for them!
We are finally in the last stretches of getting settled into the our new house! Of course it’s a small, old house, but it’s new to us, and it is exactly what we were looking for. And we couldn’t have got it without all of the help from my wife’s family.
Since we were in Hong Kong, my wife’s family helped out from the first viewing of the house. My wife’s mother for example did so much for us, not only attending the viewing, but working with the realtor, signing some papers on our behalf, and so on. My wife’s sister has been instrumental in helping get the place furnished. They have been a really good balance of helpful but also backing off and letting us have our space to figure things out. Basically they are really good at presenting options without a lot of pressure. In addition, today they took the little guy so that we could get some unpacking done – amazing how productive we were!
So how do you thank them? I can only say thank you to them so many times before it is annoying to them and to me, but the words “thank you” do not capture my appreciation of the help we have received. My wife of course also appreciates and sees the greatness of the help we have had, but it is her family so she probably doesn’t see how cool it is that they took this time away from their busy lives to help us out.
I think it will be so nice to have the house and spend time with the family. Maybe for now that’s all the thanks I can offer – plus some fresh chocolate chip cookies 😉
The little guy has been on a kick the last few weeks where he has decided not to eat anything sweet. So that means any kind of fruit; alone, mixed, purée, chunks, bits, or other are not going in or staying in his mouth.
This has led to me worrying a lot, because in general the “snack” that he has been eating between major meals up until recently has been fruit. So now what?
He loves avocado and egg yolk, so those are things I can try to give him as a snack, but the real issue is that between meals, he doesn’t really go for any kind of food with substance.
This was really bothering me, because all the literature everywhere talks about how important it is that he eats, that you need to feed them between 70-100 calories per kilo that they weigh, and so on. But then I read something out there that really helped.
In short, you should not force feed your little one. Not only is it unpleasant for both you and them, but you are creating bad future habits about food if you do so. The idea is, if they are hungry, they will eat. It’s simple as that. If they don’t want a snack, ok. The important thing is that they have the food available to them and that they will do what they need to do with that food. For me that means he will play with the food, maybe eat a little, but overall he will be happy. For us, we still feed him baby food between his self-controlled bites, but we don’t force it, again, we just make it available (right under his nose!) 🙂
To be honest, it has helped take away some of the stress I was carrying about making sure he was eating enough. I think we always find a way to worry about these things, you just have to choose to let it go, and let them do their thing.
Today the little guy had a first: He was standing and using me as a guide, and then he squatted down to the floor, picked up a stacking cup, and stood up without me. Â He stood up on his own, without using help from something else or me to help give him balance. Â Cool, huh?!
It’s the craziest thing ever to see these “landmarks” happen before my eyes with my own son. Â I can only suggest to all the new parents out there that you take it all in. Â These things happen in the midst of normal, regular stuff. Â In the movies, the music stops or gets more dramatic, and the scene is focused on the event (eating, talking, walking, etc.). Â But in real life, these things just kind of emerge out of weeks of lounging in the “pre” phase – and time flies, it seems like just yesterday he was just starting to crawl!
One thing I think is unique and interesting about the supermarkets in Sweden (aside from the organic produce being almost the same price as regular produce) is that they give you free bananas to give to your child while you are shopping. Crazy, right?!
Here’s how it works: you go shopping with your child, and they don’t really enjoy sitting there. So, while you are in the fruit section, you find the bucket of free bananas and grab one for your kid to munch on while you continue shopping. Cool concept, right? I think this probably makes the shopping experience much better for the parents and children, but also everyone else there as well 😉
This morning I was getting ready to go while my wife’s mother was playing with the little guy. I could hear in the other room an incredibly contagious laughter that I could only smile when I heard.
What a great thing to hear a laughing child. To me, I really think it must be at the top of the list of the best sounds in the world. If you want to feel a warmth deep down, even on your gloomiest days, listen to the sound of a small child laughing – what a heartwarming thing to hear. And when it’s your child, it’s priceless. 🙂
The little guy is at an age now where he is not super happy with being fed baby food.  Actually, that is an understatement.  He will not WILL NOT eat anything unless we give him something to eat on his own.  This would indicate that it is time to move on from traditional puree’d baby foods, right?  Yes, of course, and we have largely done that – but there are times when he thinks he has eaten everything, but most of it is on the floor – so it is good to sneak a little puree’d baby food in there to make sure he is getting a real meal.  I do this by waiting for him to finish a bite of his own, and then give him a spoon of baby food.  We alternate and usually he is so focused on his next bite I don’t even think he knows that I am feeding him in-between bites.
I have found the world’s greatest thing for this time when he must feed himself, but maybe he has finished all the food I have prepared but we still need to feed him more.  With this product, the little guy gets to practice articulating those tiny fingers to pick things up and drop them in his mouth, as well as learn to chew on things in a way that is satisfying to the gums over the molars, which are starting to come in.  The magic thing I found are the Ella’s Kitchen “Puffits.”
The “puffits” are sold in a box with 5 bags per box for around 30 kr (27 hkd, 3,50 usd).  I believe there are 2 flavors available in Sweden, one with fruity flavors (the little guy is boycotting sweet flavors, including all fruits at the moment), and the one you see in the photo, which is cheese and tomato.  You can also see the size of the little puffs.  They are perfectly sized because the little ones can’t choke on them, but they still understand you have to chew on them before you swallow them.  Also, unlike all the other “puff-like” chew things, the flavor on these is in the actual puff, not in a powder that makes the hands all messy.  Nicely done, Ella’s Kitchen.
Ella’s Kitchen has really become the brand for food that I trust for babies more than any other.  I think the story on the brand is that the creator of the company was an executive at Nickelodeon and then had a daughter (Ella) that he made some food for, and then the brand was born.  Everything they use is organic, and they do not use weird fillers or other “funny things” in the products.  Their puree’s are good, creative, organic, and usually the little guy likes them.  In Sweden they are a great price, around 10 kr (9 hkd, 1,25 usd) per pouch.  In Hong Kong they cost at least x2 this, so I have found myself hoarding them when we go back to Hong Kong.  It looks like now I have another thing by Ella’s Kitchen to hoard 😉
A Father on Pappa Leave 