We took a short trip to Norrtälje today – what a great place! It’s like a cuter, more charming, and bigger version of Linköping, a city further south, but also worth visiting for anyone passing thru Sweden.
We walked around town a little and visited some boutiques, stopped for a great meal at Ed’s Burgers, and my parents enjoyed ice cream while we had a nice cappuccino. Definitely a good place to go if it’s a little rainy or you want to get out of the countryside and into a bigger town for the day!
There are a lot of different foods that are possibly eaten at a breakfast in Sweden, but the “everyday” breakfast is what I have come to enjoy. When I moved to Sweden from the US, I ate cereal and maybe a banana for breakfast, but eventually I adopted a more Swedish yogurt and egg breakfast.
They sell yogurt by the liter here, and there are so many flavors it can make your head spin. A lot of them have quite a bit of sugar, so I stick to natural most of the time. When it comes to yogurt, there is also an option called “kvarg”. There’s cooking kvarg and eating kvarg (I don’t know the difference); basically the kind you eat is a super dense version of yogurt. So it’s like a thicker and less liquidy Turkish yogurt, with even more protein.
Eggs in Sweden are boiled either soft, medium, or hard, and served with caviar – and this is the only way they are cooked. Not fried, scrambled, or any other variation. Just boiled. At first this was weird for me, now it’s something I have come to like (but I still fry an egg sometimes). The caviar is a special and acquired taste, and it is somewhat salty and smoky most of the time, which I liked immediately and will sometimes eat on a sandwich, too.
Add to the breakfast some perfect sunshine and Swedish summer weather, and you are off to a great start to the day 🙂
yogurt, muesli, and swedish strawberries kvarg, swedish strawberries & blueberries
If you ever find yourself in the east coast of Sweden in the archipelago, stop by just outside the town of Älmsta at the ice cream cafe called Bondens Glasskalas. That’s right, I said a cafe of ice cream – we went there today and the ice cream dish was my lunch.
Apparently they have a dairy across the road, so you are eating homemade ice cream with milk from the dairy. It was fantastic ice cream, and an absolutely awesome experience. Check out the photos below, which include the menu and the view from the restaurant.
There is a baby toy that our son got a few months ago that will keep him entertained when we are in the car or if he gets bored in the stroller. It’s the toy below, by the brand Baby Einstein. the music sounds like it might make your head explode, but you get used to it
Basically it’s hard plastic and it plays music when the baby presses the button. Then another song plays when the button is pressed again. The songs are some kind of fast playful version of classical songs. It also has 2 volume levels ;).
So, if you have a baby who is maybe looking for a bit more stimulation while on the go, this little gem is highly recommended!
Today we were laying in bed as a family, which has become a nice little morning routine while we are away from Hong Kong. This morning, in the midst of the playing and crawling and clapping of hands, the little guy sat up, looked at his mom, and said “Momma.” This wasn’t just babbling “mamammamamma” – it was straight up, looking at her and saying “Momma.” My wife was tired and just laying there before this moment, but she sat up with excitement – it was cute.
We were a bit unsure if this is actually his first word, or if it was just a well-timed mini-babble. But, after that, my wife said “daddy” – and he looked at me. So it seems clear that he knows our names, and just chose her label as momma instead of the maybe more complicated “daddy”. It didn’t hurt my feelings like I have heard can happen – I am just pumped that he is starting to talk a little (it reminds me to really watch my cursing now). Anyway, he has a special “momma connection” so, it is no surprise that it was momma before all else.
It’s crazy about these milestones and how / when they happen. These are the things that happen in the midst of worrying about everything else – I’m just glad to be here for it all. That’s a little bit about what Pappa Leave is all about, I guess. 🙂
We are now at my wife’s family summer house in the east coast of Sweden, in the archipelago. It’s a wonderful and peaceful place where you can hear the sound of silence and just relax, eat good food, and de-stress.
My wife has 2 weeks of holiday now, so it will be really nice for us as a family to spend some time together without anything else on our minds. Looking forward to it!
Today I woke up to a “THUD!” sound. It was the little guy, he decided to crawl off the bed while I was sleeping. My wife and I were at her dad’s place where there is no baby bed, so the little guy was sleeping between us. When my wife got up to do some work this morning, it left an open space for the fearless little guy to explore. And boom, he explored right off the bed.
Fortunately the bed was fairly low to the floor (about the same height as him), and fortunately it is a padded and carpeted floor. So, the sound was loud, but he stopped crying right away and was his regular self during the day, didn’t throw up, didn’t get get extra sleepy, or anything else. It was a big scare for all of us.
When something like this happens, you feel like a horrible parent. I cried just as much as he did when I picked him up to comfort him, and I worried all day – is he going to be ok? Is he going to develop as he should? Will he still be a happy baby? When my wife and I talked to our parents and other family members today, the response was generally “oh, he fell. That happens.” But for us, it was like: “BRAIN DAMAGE!! HORRIBLE FEARS! The worst possible scenarios ever!!” But after reading about it online and talking with people, we realized that he just had a typical fall, and there should be no more worries. Yeah right. If it were only that easy. Next step: bubble wrap store.
The Smultron is one of those delightful Swedish things that you have never heard of until you are here. It sounds like a futuristic animal, or some kind of Disney character, doesn’t it? It’s better than that – it’s a tiny, supersweet strawberry.
These little gems grow wild and are very, very small. So, that means they are very, very sweet. Compared to a regular strawberry, these are tiny and packed with flavor. Regular strawberries are ready huge and boring compared to Swedish strawberries, but the smultron really is cute in how quaint it is, while also being surprisingly flavorful.
If you go for a walk in a small town and look along the bushes as you go, or if you go in the forest (maybe looking for mushrooms or blueberries), you will see smultron if you are lucky. Then, it’s up to you: try to collect them or just pop them in your mouth. Chances are really good that there will not be enough to collect, so it’s probably best just to go for it immediately ;).
If you go to a trendy restaurant or bar in Stockholm or up north (maybe in Luleå or Umeå) they might have a smultron cocktail (mojito or martini, maybe) – in any case, if you get a chance to try anything smultron, go for it!
Tonight we had dinner at one of my wife’s sister’s houses. It was full of family and children of various ages running around. Lots of family, but not too many people so that it is stressful. Perfect.
I was in my own world during a momentary whirlwind of various Swedish-language conversations (sometimes I can’t keep up, so I have a moment to myself), and I looked outside. I saw there, in the perfect evening sunlight, on the swing, my son being pushed back and forth by my wife’s sister, his aunt. He was loving it. Laughing, smiling, and having a great time. She was also laughing and seemed to genuinely love the moment. I did not want the moment to end – I wanted it to stay forever as it was. I realized all at once how much I love my son, and how quickly it all goes – he is already 8 months. I realized how easy it is to be caught up in the day-to-day and miss it all.
I noticed later how my son was being passed around the table from one loving relative to another. He will never be this age again, and he is getting heavier (and wants to move around on his own more and more), so those moments when this will happen are disappearing before our eyes. So, this night was special. Twice, I looked around, and it was like a movie – but I couldn’t press the pause button. All I can do is remember it and hope for more beautiful scenes to come.
Yesterday the little guy had a check-up with the nurses in Stockholm, and we found out he is ahead of the curve with his development – Tjoho! I don’t know why this is exciting – why should it be? After all, as I explained to my friends when I met up with them later in the day, child development goes in spurts, so it could level out or slow down – and if it does, I shouldn’t be worried, so in the same way I shouldn’t be excited if he is “ahead of his age”.
Nonetheless, I was proud as a dad when I heard he was “ahead”. Why not? He is my son after all, so it is re-affirmation of my stellar parenting that he is ahead, right?! ;P. On we go, just doing what we are doing the best we can – I just hope he stays healthy and keeps developing at a good rate. 🙂
A Father on Pappa Leave 