That Part Where I Update You About Our Trip

Right. You may be waiting for an update on how our trip is going. Unfortunately, I have been -- well at least Lucia and I have been -- so incredibly jet lagged there’s not much to report. Christmas was amazing, and Pete and I channelled our twentysomething selves to hang out with his cousins until the weeeeee hours of the morning (protip: do not under any circumstances do the math to figure out how much you’re spending at a Norwegian bar. You will be horrified. Best to just realize that when you’re back in the States). So there was some recovering of that, then there was yesterday where I was awake from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m., then slept darn near the whole day. Seriously. Pete tried to wake me up from 12:30 until FOUR p.m. Good god. There went the day. Last night I had some over-the-counter dramamine to knock me out for the night. It worked - I slept until 5:30 a.m. today. Hooray!  

Lucia on the other hand has been almost as challenging to get on a schedule. She’s impossible to rouse after a nap, and cried almost entirely through dinner last night and was so grateful to get back in bed at 7:30, depsite yelling at the top of her lungs: I NOT TIRED MOMMY. Sure, kid. Sure. 

So. Today we have big plans to head to the local mall (the fancy one) and wait for it -- eat Norwegian ice cream. If you haven’t had European ice cream, lemme tell ya, it’s worth the airfare alone, seriously. So creamy and rich. I’m slightly (and less so lately, which is odd) lactose intolerant and am throwing caution to the wind today for some Hennig Olsen Cookies N’ Cream. Oh yes I am. 

I am planning on having approximately 67 cups of coffee to keep myself awake today, then am hitting the dramamine again tonight. Pete’s brother’s girlfriend might stop by later to see Lucia (and us), so that’s fun. My favorite little cafe is not open until Jan. 2, so we’ll have to do that next week. We plan on going to Fløibanen Funicular at some point, which takes you up the hill then you walk back down on this nice walkway. The weather has been super windy and stormy, so despite having our cold weather gear, wind and rain are no fun to brave the elements (in my opinion anyway), which means yet another reason to stay inside. We’re also planning on going back to Ulriken (sans Lucia) which was probably my favorite thing we did last time we were here, but we’re waiting for the weather to improve. 

We’re also heading to the Gingerbread Village at some point, which hey, Wikipedia wrote about! Check it out:

Since 1991, the people of Bergen, Norway, have built a city of gingerbread houses each year before Christmas. Named Pepperkakebyen (Norwegian for “gingerbread city”), it is claimed to be the world’s largest such city.[6] It’s free for every child under the age of 12 to make their own house with the help of their parents. In 2009, the people of Bergen were shocked when the gingerbread city was destroyed in an act of vandalism.[7]

We were there in 2009! It was indeed shocking, but it was cute anyway. A lot of the houses had been rebuilt. 

I hope to have more of an update and photos soon.

Well That Was Awkward

Despite our love of our current daycare, we've been a bit dismayed lately with how aggressive one of the other kids has been with her; i.e. pummeling her on a regular basis. While the one parent (our daycare is run by a couple) intervenes often, we've watched the other Not intervene more than often, and well, that's not good. We rehearsed and rehearsed with her one weekend to tell her the things she could say when the pummeling/aggressive behavior began, i.e. "I don't like that" or "Please stop." This way she could feel empowered rather than us intervening on her behalf. Monday arrived, and when we went to drop her off that morning, the pummeling started almost immediately in front of Pete and I. We pulled her aside and said, remember what we talked about? Remember the things you can say? And our daycare provider had a good chuckle and said, Uh, you know Lucia beats the crap out of (said kid) every day, right?

Um. Awkward. So uh, we changed our tune with Lucia to ehm, also remind her that maybe beating up said kid is uh, not the best thing to do either.

ZZantaclause

In Norway, Christmas, or God Jul (which translates to Good Jule) is celebrated on Christmas Eve. In the past when we were here, Lucia was too young to understand the concept of Santa and what-not. But this year, we knew we had to set the stage so she would 1. know what to expect and 2. be totally convinced Santa brought her gifts to Norway.

Sounds easy, but the past few weeks she's been constantly talking about Santa and how she wanted him to bring her presents to California, not Norway. I explained that because we were going to be in Norway for Christmas, Santa would be coming. And because Norway is closer to the North Pole, he'd be coming on Dec. 24 instead of the 25th.

So the 24th arrived and amidst the fog of jet lag, we managed to only have to threaten her 5-7 times earlier in the day that Santa only brings gifts to good girls who ahem, listen to their mommies and daddies. Shortly before we danced around the Christmas tree, and said goodbye to Uncle Ole Morten, who unfortunately had to "go to work." We told him we'd see him in the morning. Then we danced around the tree, ring around the rosie style, until we heard the doorbell.

IT WAS SANTA!

He arrived decked out with a very long white beard (Funniest comment of the night came from Pete, saying "Looks like a ZZ Top Christmas!") and white shaving cream all over his face to better disguise himself. Lucia immediately was curious: "What's that white stuff on his face?" I told her it was frost, since he came from the North Pole. She replied, "I don't like that." So hilarious.

Santa handed out presents to Lucia and Pete's cousins Thomas (age 5) and Ylva (age 2). They basically freaked out and then it morphed into Opening Presents Frenzy 2011, where all 13 of us lost our minds and opened our presents at once. For some gifts, I have no idea who gave us what but man it was so fun. The living room was a disaster area strewn with paper and we were all exhausted afterwards. The best part of the night, aside from ZZ Top sighting, was when Pete's grandmother, who celebrated her 90th Birthday that night, opened her new iPad and let out a huge gasp of surprise. We hope to be able to teach her to call us on Skype so she can see Lucia a bit more. After we said goodbye to Santa, Uncle Ole Morten luckily returned "from work" and was able to participate in the gift-opening frenzy. Fun!

Hope your Christmas was very Merry!

Of Course They Are

Lucia: Come see my people!
I
Me: what are they doing?

Lucia: having lunch and watching a movie!

Preschool

I was, well I guess I could speak for Pete here and say that we were, not the type of parents to get super amped up about preschool. I've heard horror stories of the application process and having to have your kid be evaluated to make sure they have the right temperament,and having to go through multiple screenings and to me anyway, it just reeked of some sorority pledging process (and I say that as a former sorority girl) with snotty teachers and even snottier parents.

Meaning: we were just not interested. Lucia was blissfully happy at her daycare, which is run by a former preschool teacher. 

But as her little mind has developed in the past few months, we've watched her be able to -- and really enjoy -- recollecting the details of her day, the previous day/night, going over the sequence of her day, and bringing more and more art projects home. It's been awesome. We also found out that the oldest kid at her daycare (who is only older by 3 weeks) was going to preschool 2 mornings a week, which meant Lucia only had little babies and a 2-year-old to hang with. Which isn't devastating, I know, but maybe not ideal for her little mind. I also have to fully disclose that I was painfully jealous of the feedback that Mary and David got about Danny, and most importantly, the feedback about things they could do at home to encourage his development. Man. I wish we had that with our daycare. It just seemed like she needed more of a push, and was maybe outgrowing her existing daycare.

So we started thinking about it. My obsessive research skills came in super handy, as I was able to narrow our search down to preschools that were 1. highly rated by other parents, 2. close by and 3. offered all-day care. With Pete's schedule being insane and me tied to my desk, a half-day/morning shuffle 2-3 days a week wouldn't work for us. The shortlist was made, and emails were sent. To our surprise, a Reggio-Emilia/Waldorf/Montessori-inspired (which makes me want to roll my eyes just writing it, I know) school was offering a tour yesterday. We brought Lucia along, and hilariously, on the drive over she declared that she loved the school (before she had seen it). Classic Lucia. 

We arrived, and were basically blown away. The place is so freaking cute; we sat on teeny chairs and watched the "acorns" which is Lucia's age group, do a sing along and learn how to sit in a circle. Apparently, impulse control is a huge deal for a three-year-old (we both nearly slapped our foreheads: so that's why we have to tell her to please be patient so often), so sitting in a circle and waiting your turn is uh, a skill they have to learn (Look, we never said we were early childhood education specialists!). We watched that for a while, then went to continue the tour but Lucia didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and watch the kids. So cute. We looked at the nap area and learned about the snack time (which is served family style with the teachers sitting at the table) and toured the "pinecones" room, which is where the 4-year-olds are. 

Then we went outside, and nearly fainted from the awesomeness. First? They have two goats and chickens that the kids get to "care" for. They have an outdoor play kitchen made of stone and wood (!), huge garden, and composting and gardening is one of the activities they do. There's a slide and an old wooden boat for the kids to play in, and other types of activities for them to get into. Lucia immediately asked, can I go play? Of course, kid. Apparently the place was designed by the owner/founder to maximize learning through movement and activity. Um. Yes. Each month they learn about a different artist or classical musician, dance, yoga, creative problem solving and making dream boxes. 

We walked back to the car grinning ear to ear. We found a preschool for her! She'll start in March and will go three days a week, and remain the other two days at her current daycare.We're thrilled, and I guess we're now those parents who care about preschool. Funny how things look different from the other side. 

Little Perfect Tree

We debated getting a tree since we won't be in town for the actual day Santa Claus arrives (which also varies by country; in Norway, since it's closer to the North Pole, they celebrate on the 24th). But people started putting trees up and I could see them in windows and was sad that we weren't. $20 later, we had our little mini tree. It's just a hair taller than Lucia, which meant she was super psyched about decorating it. The only lights we had were those horridly cool-light LEDs, so Pete ran to the store to get the warm light  LEDs, and voila. Another benefit of having a mini tree is that it was decorated in about 15 minutes. We put the huge skirt around it and the three of us put the star on together. We're getting excited for the holidays. 

Hi Daddy!

Poor Daddy has been working craaazy hours to launch his company's products, so that means Lucia and I spent a lot of time on the weekends together. This particular day, we had a mere six errands to run (!) and stopped by Starbucks to refuel. Lucia tried their oatmeal for the first time, and declared it delicious (meaning, she at the whole thing).

Thankful

Our trip to Delaware for Thanksgiving, or "back East" as they call it out here, was uh, eventful on the way. Lucia developed pinkeye literally as we flew across the country and had an allergic reaction to something she ate so her lips were gigantic and red, almost like candy lips, when we arrived. Good times. 

Still, we had such a lovely trip. Mimi, my mom, was recovering from a scary bout of pnuemonia, so we took it super easy and carefree. Pete unfortunately had to work a lot, so Lucia, Mimi and I spent a lot of time together hanging out and well, just enjoying each other. Lucia got a new doll with tons of outfits (how apropos) from Mimi and Big Papa. She named her new doll The Lucia, so she would constantly ask, where's The Lucia. One day she panicked when I put her down for a nap because she needed The Lucia to keep her safe while she slept. Ok then. 

I think one of the things she enjoyed the most was hanging out with her cousins. Aunt Kate was incredibly accomodating, providing a carseat for us to use and well, playdates with my nephews. Don't tell anyone, but I also think she really enjoyed french braiding Lucia's hair. :) 

I was able to unplug from Facebook, Twitter and incessant chatter they create and found myself blissfully unaware of what so-and-so posted about outrage/heartwarming story of the day. It was wonderful, and a lesson for me in stress management. I talked with my parents about my career plans, and Pete and I got to go out for an amazing dinner date and talked about our future plans.

All in all, it was a super relaxing, awesome vacation. Big thanks to my parents and Aunt Kate for making it so special. 

Hei/hi

Some pictures to tide you over while we unpack...