So much fun at daddy's work

Today Noah came along to Shawn's work "to do exercises" as Noah says. He loves it there as the studio is filled with equipment that a child easily can associate to a playground like balls, climbing things and swings. In the end Noah asked Shawn: "Daddy, is this really your work?". I guess Noah thinks this is what Shawn does all day:

"Morfar tomten"

Earlier this year we were watching a video of Christmas Eve from 2010. We were watching when Santa came to visit us and hand out the Christmas gifts. Everyone was in the video except morfar however Noah could hear morfar's voice on the video (...) and asked "where is morfar?". We replied that he was probably just in the kitchen which couldn't be seen in the video clip. Quite funny..

So this year..; Santa was really nicely dressed up for the event and had such big beard it covered almost the entire face. Such big beard that when we asked Noah to give Santa a kiss before he was going to leave, he just stated that Santa didn't have a mouth, just a beard. Later we watched the video clip of Santa visiting and afterwards we discussed Santa, the elves and the North pole etc. We asked Noah who he thinks Santa is and after a couple of seconds of thinking, he answered: "maybe morfar tomten". Ops.... ;-)

Christmas Eve

Starting the day with an early breakfast we saw the sun rise and were surprised that Christmas Eve would offer an absolutely stunning day with clear blue sky and sunshine. So we got dressed and went for a long walk and popped by the shop to pick up some last bits for the Christmas lunch. It was a very stress free morning and by the time the clock struck 1PM we were all sitting down to enjoy the traditional foods of Swedish Christmas.

At 3PM, as per usual..Donald Duck. In Sweden all Christmas Eve activities stop at 3 in the afternoon when the Donald Duck Classics comes on TV and everybody, absolutely everybody sits down to watch this that has become as much part of the Christmas celebrations as anything else.

By the time the show was over, the sun had set and it was time to await Tomten (Santa). And yes, he did indeed make it to our house this year again. All thanks to Noah for eating his veggies during the year ;-).
After opening all the pressies, it was playtime with all the new things. We ate some more later on in the evening, enjoyed a glass of glögg and just relaxed. Noah kept his spirits up all day - no tears, no nagging - just pure joy all day! I believe that the best gifts for this year was the kick bike and the family game that we managed to play X amounts of times before Noah crashed in bed at 10PM :-). Below are some shots from the day.

X-mas at Liseberg

With nearly 5.000.000 Christmas lights at the yearly Christmas market at the amusement park Liseberg, you can’t expect anything less than a brilliant visit! The park is closed during winter time but opens in December to hold a design and crafts market in the spirit of Christmas. Here you will find a variety of of goods from well-known designers and local artists and craftsmen. You can also taste and purchase Swedish traditional Christmas foods. Of course the rides are also open so you can enjoy the park the usual way if you wish.

Tonight on December 23rd, when the sun had set (around 4PM) we went to the park together with mormor and morfar that will be in Gothenburg over Christmas. It was perfect weather, around 8 degrees so not too cold and no rain. Since it is the evening before "julafton", Christmas eve which is the day we celebrate here in Sweden, the park wasn't overcrowded and we could really enjoy the market and what the park had to offer. Noah was of course not too interested in the stalls, he mainly wanted to drink his hot chocolate that we had brought in a thermos for him and then hit the rides. So we strolled the park, bought some goodies and Noah went for the rides while we drank glögg to stay warm. All in all, a very cosy and great start to the Christmas holidays!

A weekend of sniffles

A weekend that was dedicated for x-mas preparations, glögg party with friends and some baby prepping duties, ended being a weekend in bed instead. We have caught some kind of bug and there is fever, sniffles and eye infection in between the three of us. As so often, the little ones manage to keep up their energy levels quite well whilst the adults just fall..flat.. So today mormor and morfar came to the rescue and came to pick up Noah for a few days. As daycare won't accept that he drops in with an eye infection anyway and we, the parents are sick (but still have to go to work this week), Noah is better off with some country air and pampering by his grandparents.

Mormor reported back over the phone that when they had been driving from Gothenburg to Lundbrunn this afternoon, Noah asked them: "what did this car cost you?". When he got the answer, then he replied back: "So what did the camper cost you then?". Hilarious!

When I grow up...

Sitting on the tram today we saw an ad for a DVD about the NASA Space Station. Noah being fascinated of everything that has do to with space was quick to comment on the DVD cover and that he too wanted to go on a space shuttle when he grows up. I answered that it is possible if keeps up with his maths etc. and study hard when he goes to school. He asked if you need to buy a ticket to go out in space. Of course, he was very pleased to hear that if your job is being an astronaut, you actually get paid money to leave earth and go out and explore :). After a few seconds, he then commented: "It is a little scary so you should come along mummy". Ahh sweet thought!

Share even

As the oldest child in the family, you should be considerate towards the younger and as the oldest you also often are expected to be the wisest. And siblings are to share even, right? I believe that what most children are taught by adults across the world. So far we haven't talked about the whole "share even" thing with Noah as it lays quite far into next year before he will need to start to share his toys with the baby. So guess my surprise when he this morning, when I'm getting dressed, looks at my breasts and says: "One for the baby and one for me"! It puzzles me a bit that this is one of the future scenarios that he has been contemplating in regards to getting a sibling - especially since he went on solids, by own preference at the age of only 4 months. I don't know what to say..boys will always be boys ;-)?

Time for school photos again

This is 2o11's school photo from November of Preschool 2 at the International Preschool in Biskopsgården.