New jobs

Totally have forgotten to write about our job situations. Both Shawn and I have new jobs since after the summer holiday!
I´m still with the same employer, University of Gothenburg but have moved to the city campus into a permanent position. This is great in all sort of ways but especially since it is in an international environment and the team spirit there is great. Also, I work very close to where Shawn is located, only five minutes walk which allows for lunch dates :-).

Shawn got headhunted during the summer by the owner of a upmarket Personal Training studio. This is a great opportunity for Shawn which allows to further build his executive clientel. He can keep his own business but be able to offer the clients the most exclusive environment for training that there is in Gothenburg. Seems as if we both finally found our feet here!

Poor on keeping record

24 hours a day is not enough! Since the beginning of May it has been very hectic both at work and at home. Busy is good, it is fun; lots of events, parties and visitors! However, keeping up to date with people or even writing a few lines on the blog has been proven to be difficult. It is a shame because this is where we keep track of Noah's development and what actually is going on in our lives.

Noah's vocabulary has grown heaps and very fast the last few months. Every day he says something that cracks you up and sometimes even actually is worth considering even for an adult - I guess that is children for you!

Noah, Shawn and I talk a lot about garbage and how to throw waste in the bin and not on the ground. Worth mentioning, here in Sweden we are passionate about our recycling and Noah is totally following the trend; the weekly visit down to the recycling bins is a hit and he knows where to put what. So, we were talking about how the Earth doesn't feel well when we don't look after it and that we have to care for our planet otherwise it will get very sick. "Then we will have to take it to the doctor" Noah said. So adorable and so correct in a 3 year old's mind. I so wish it would be that simple!

Talking about planets, the last year Noah has been intrigued by the universe, everything from spaceships, planets, solar systems and the galaxies. We read books, talk about the universe and do star watching at night. It is to the point now that he has his own App about planets on the Ipad - think it is worth mentioning in the letter to Santa that it is time for a telescope!

That you can't have it all is well and thoroughly introduced and we have given Noah morfar's old piggy bank; an old barrel that takes a fair bit of coins. Noah is currently saving up for his next holiday! He is going to...Australia, to visit his friends Heidi, Chloe, Nathan and Cayla. He now has 9 Swedish krona - so sweet!

The love saga continues

There is nothing like first love.. We been so fortunate to have Frida and Fred's daughters coming to visit Sweden this year and Noah is over the moon that he has been able to spend some quality time with his dear Heidi. We've managed to spend a long weekend together on the country side as well as a city weekend in Gothenburg. The kids have had so much fun but this Saturday will be the final good bye before the Drouin family returns to Australia. Tears and more tears - we will miss you guys!

Question: Which country's flag is this?

Answer: Buzz Lightyear (of course!)

"We don't do like that"

There are things that we don't do eg. pull the tounge out or say bad words. This rule is well known in our family. Of course Noah now has figured out away to "almost" gets around this rule by saying: "bajskorv (poop)" quickly followed by "we don't say like that". Or pulling the tounge out when angry and then quicky saying "we don't do like that". Very cheeky.

On the topic of poop, which by the way is currently a very frequent discussed matter, tonight when going to bed we talked about just..stools. So I asked Noah if he knows where there poop comes from: "Daddy". Well, it seems that daddy spends enough time on the toilet for all three of us!! :-)

Development Talk

Twice a year we have a development talk at dagis about how kids are doing at school. This week Shawn and I met up with the teachers and had a chat. There were no big news and thankfully no naughty stories to tell. We already knew he loves the "letterland", knows his plusses and the clock etc. etc. However, there was one surprise and that is that Noah doesn't use nappies at school - not at all in fact. At home, the weaning of nappies has been a rollercoaster with a nappy free boy all last summer to an "on and off" period over winter. The teachers had asked Noah the other day if he wore nappies at home and he answer was just hilarious: "once in a while".

In the cabinet, there is lots to be found

Now and then Noah ends up on the naughty chair for a few minutes if he's been acting up. The other day, after the time out, I came back to chair to talk about why he ended up on the chair and why we don't do bad things in our family. We always ask if he fully understands the message in the end. This time I got a totally different answer to the usual "yes". Noah looked at me and said "Yes I do mamma, but I have chicken pox..!".
Surprised by his answer, especially since he doesn't have the chicken pox (and never had) and that he figured that good excuses can probably let someone of the hook, I replied: "Ok, Noah I didn't know. Can you show me where you have it?"

"Yes, it is in the cabinet."