Author: Pappa on Leave

Day 158: Taking the Train to Oslo with the Baby

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Today was a long day.  We woke up and had a nice morning, and then we caught a 11:41 train from the town we were in to Oslo.  There was only one connection, but the whole journey was 10 hours.  With a baby. One who likes to crawl and move.  And explore his voice.

The first “leg” was only 3 hours, and during that time the little guy was happy to crawl around the area around the seat.  He was a little loud but there were two other babies who were louder, so he looked good 😉 (those poor passengers in a train with 3 babies!)

Then after a stop and change of trains in Stockholm, I fed him – and the next thing I knew he was sleeping like a champ.  He woke up and wanted to explore.  EXPLORE!  So he crawled around everywhere he could, as I followed him around like he was a puppy.  He crawled up to strangers, who he charmed into smiling at him, and basically by the end of the journey, even though he was relatively boisterous, he was a crowd favorite.  

There was a couple who were sitting diagonal from us (the row splits the seats so they look in opposite directions), and I think he helped convince the young woman to have a baby – he flirted with her the whole trip.

The only trip up was the last diaper change, which was a bit chaotic and messy, but I was overall very happy with how the journey went.  There is actually a little kid’s play area in the bistro car that I would like to share with the world and I will take a picture of it and do a post about it if they have it on the return train.  A play area for kids on a train?!  Only in Sweden.

See a few photos I took thru the window of the train of the Norwegian countryside!  It’s no Sweden, but still has a little beauty nonetheless 😉

  
    
 

Day 157: Roasting a Marshmallow in Sweden

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Today I found we had 1/2 a package of marshmallows left over from last week’s s’more adventure, so I mentioned to my wife’s father (who wasn’t there last week) that we should toast them after dinner.  

He mentioned to me that he had never had a toasted marshmallow, so that would be interesting.  NEVER HAD A TOASTED MARSHMALLOW!!  The man was born in 1950, he has been through a lot of the big events of the world, but he had not had a toasted marshmallow.  The injustice of this is almost incomprehensible.  I guess it’s what happens when you grow up in Sweden, but still, it is crazy that something so simple that is tied to so many fond childhood memories for me could not be universally shared.

So, after dinner, we went to the grill with the two 8-year-olds who also joined us for dinner (his wife’s grandchildren), and we stood around the grill roasting marshmallows.  He did his perfectly, and brought two others back to his wife and her daughter.

The 8-year-olds stayed with me learning how to toast marshmallows and enjoying multiple different variations (ie, eating a lot), and then a few neighborhood kids came by and asked what we were doing.  I told them we were roasting marshmallows and asked if they wanted to try, and they timidly gave it a shot.  They too seemed to get a hang of it after a few tries 😉

It is so fun and cool to me that I was able to share such a simple American right of passage tonight.  I am sure to them it was strange, but the adults said it was “typical American” (either because they have seen it in movies or because of the excessive sugar).  Regardless, it was a cool thing that really made the perfect Swedish summer day even more perfect.

Day 156: Majskrokar

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

In Sweden when your baby is at the age where they can hold onto things and want to chew on them in order to eat them, you give them “Majskrokar”.

These are basically boring corn-puffs -like Cheetos without flavoring.  Thus, they basically taste like air, with a little bit of corn.

People give these things to their babies when they are at the dinner table but not eating, in the car, or any time the baby needs to be kept busy.

A baby will be kept busy eating them because they are fun to chew on, but also because they are sticky when they get wet, so they can’t drop them.  The little ones are basically sitting there with this gooey blob of disintegrating corn-puff, chewing on until it disappears.  

Generally speaking, the only problem with them is the “collateral damage” – everything gets sticky.  The table, chair, car seat, and anything else that comes into contact with those sticky baby hands will then be covered with goo as well.  If it dries, it is a major process to remove it – like dried glue. Sounds like a great thing, doesn’t it?! 😛

 

a genuine majskroka
  
the remains of an “eaten” majskroka, plus a new one are stuck to the little guy’s hand
 

Day 155: How Much Travel is Too Much?

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

My wife and I were talking today about how it seems like it could be hard on the little guy to bounce from one place to another every few days while we are traveling.  One day here, a few nights there; a new city, new bed, and so on.  

He seems to be just fine with it, but there will probably come a time when he is a little older that he is not fine with it – when he needs less movement.  Or maybe not?

It makes you ask the question: how much moving around and how much traveling is too much for a child?  Does it matter?  Is it down to personality type and the individual child’s needs, or is there a general rule?  

I guess for me it seems like all we can do is give him the stability and routines while we are on the go, so that he never doubts that he will be fed, cared for, and loved.  If we do that, maybe (hopefully) we can be flexible and travel in a way that is healthy for him.

Day 154: Our Baby’s First Haircut

Pappa on Leave2 Comments

Today the little guy had a big first – his first haircut!  And let me tell you, he needed it.  It had become something of a joke to people who are friends to my wife especially, because it was getting quite long and it was not really even – and right after a shower, it was pretty puffy and out of control.

So, today we went to my wife’s sister’s place and she cut the little guy’s hair.  We set him on my wife’s lap, and to keep him still, we put an iPad in front of him (he has never seen one).  On this iPad was “Teletubbies.”

For some reason, all kids seem to be transfixed by this television program.   The writers must be majorly under the influence of drugs.  Our son has literally never seen any television program until this one, so he was just staring at it, also transfixed.  So, it was a double-whammy: 1) what is this thing with the moving pictures?  2) what is this weird program?

Meanwhile my wife’s sister made quick and effective action with the scissors, while I watched and took photos and tried not to freak out worrying about if he would turn his head quickly.

Next thing we knew, the haircut was over, and instead of the messy-looking aging hipster hairdo, our son had a smart and trendy little boy cut.  The haircut makes him look even less like a baby, so it reaffirms even more the idea that our little baby has disappeared and been replaced with a little boy.  But for now it doesn’t matter, I’m just glad he (and we) had a good experience with his first haircut! 🙂

we saved some of the hair – now what do we do with it?!

Day 153: Where Did Our Baby Go?

Pappa on Leave3 Comments

A number of times over the last few weeks, when I have looked at our son, our little 8,5 month-old baby, and I have seen someone else.  In his facial expressions, actions, and overall, I have seen a little boy – not a baby.  

That is not my little baby sitting in his mom’s lap looking out into the world.  It’s a little boy, eager to crawl off and explore.  It’s not a baby in the grass playing, it’s a boy who next time I stop and look, will be running, jumping, riding a bike.  I will blink and he will be in high school, then another blink and he will be off into the world.

Everyone says time goes fast when you have children, which I have learned now as our baby disappears before our eyes and turns into a toddler.  All the cool things that have been happening – the learning to crawl, the clapping he does when he is happy, the waving, crawling around with his favorite toy – these will be stepping stones to other new and exciting things coming soon.  It truly is crazy how fast it all goes!

Day 151: Ã…land

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

There is an island (or series of islands in an archipelago) between Sweden and Finland called Ã…land.  From Grisslehamn, it is a 2 hour ferry ride to the town of Ekerö, and then you can explore from there before returning in the evening.  Ã…land is technically the property of Finland, so the currency is Euro, but all the road signs are in Swedish.

Aboard the ferry, there are a lot of restaurants, some slot machines, and a very popular duty free store.  The duty free is like being at the airport, but the prices for most alcohol were nothing special – maybe beer and wine were a bit less expensive.  

On our trip, we went to a super cool hotel called Havsviden, which is fairly new and overlooks the ocean with a series of hotel villas.  The views are spectacular, and we had an amazing räkmacka (shrimp sandwich).  Then, we found our way back to the ferry while stopping at  Stallhagen Bryggeriet, a brewery.  They have a beer that is a recreation of a beer that was found in a shipwreck that was still preserved from the 1840’s.  Pretty cool!  

All-in-all, a pretty cool trip to yet another gorgeous place off the coast of Sweden.

                           
    
    
    
    
    
 

Day 150: Visiting Fishing Villages

Pappa on Leave2 Comments

Today we went to a charming fishing village called Öregrund.  In Sweden there are a lot of fishing villages – someone has to catch all the herring and other fish that is in the Swedish diet! 

I realized today that I really like these villages – maybe it is because I am from the middle of the USA, where we only see fishing villages in movies.  It turns out it doesn’t matter where in the world I am when I see the village, I always think they are picturesque and have a lot of opportunities to see beautiful things.  

See below for some photos from today and yesterday, when we visited another fishing village on the east coast of Sweden called Grisselhamn.

    

     
    
    
 

Day 149: Making S’mores in Sweden

Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Today we had a really nice grilled dinner in the beautiful evening of the fantastic Swedish summer.  There’s not much you can do to improve the evening, but you can always add a S’more to it and give it a try 😉

They don’t have graham crackers here, so we used “digestives”, a kind of whole grain cookie that is found basically everywhere in Europe.  They also don’t have Hershey’s chocolate bars, so we used Milko chocolate – it’s a Swiss chocolate that is pretty good.  They do have marshmallows, so that was no problem, and we just used the BBQ coals to toast them.

Everyone seemed pretty happy with the results, see the photos below!