Tagged: offspring

02
Nov
2007

AND THEN I TOOK A 2.5 HOUR NAP

Liz: (walking into the computer room, where the kids are playing Roller Coaster Tycoon) Hey! I haven’t been for a walk for 2 weeks because I’ve been sick…and do you know what that means? Martin: (rolls eyes) Karin: Maaaaama, I’ve been outside all day. Liz: It means YOU (points to Martin) haven’t been for a walk in 2 weeks! And YOU (points to Karin) haven’t been for a walk in 2 weeks either! Martin: And we’re not going now. Liz: You don’t love me. I see how it is. (starts to cry dramatically, leaves the room) Karin: (comes running to...

16
Mar
2007

KIBBLES & BITS

Sudden Rocket Thought Bombs: OMG, there are only 2 weeks left until vacation! *run in circles scream and shout* Conversations at the Dinner Table: Karin: I wish Grandma still had her pool. Liz: Yeah, it will be weird to walk into that room and have it missing. Martin: Yeah. Liz: She even knocked down the cement foundation in the basement. Martin: *amazed* GRANDMA did?! Anders: *makes a muscle with his arm* Liz: *laughing* Yeah, don’t mess with Grandma!! Karin: Mama, how did you know you were in love with daddy? Anders: What? How could she resist? Look at me!…Listen to...

03
Mar
2007

IN THE COMPANY OF SLUGS

Martin called his father from fritids (after-school daycare) on Thursday to announce he was running a fever. Anders picked him and took him home, where he slept from 1 p.m. until 5 that evening. He had a fever on and off the next day, home from school, and slept a great deal of that day away as well. By Friday night Karin had picked it up, and even Anders was dragging and not feeling himself. They got up at a decent hour this morning, though Martin was restless and awake until well past midnight and had breakfast at 8. I...

06
Dec
2006

GRANDPA’S UNDERPANTS, ALSO HOW TO DRIVE YOUR CHILDREN INSANE IN UNDER A MONTH

When it’s bathtime, the kids usually get about 10 minutes to play because it is also a chance for them to soak the dirt out (more necessary in the summer than now, granted, but still). Then I (or we) come in and help them shampoo and scrub down. A few days ago, when I came in, they were playing a Swedish children’s game the purpose of which is to get the other person to laugh. The rules of the game go like this: the person who is doing the provoking asks the other person questions. The provokee can only respond...

21
Nov
2006

WRITING IS THINKING WITH YOUR FINGERS

My days are sandwiched in darkness. Every morning shines a damp and lambent greeting from a rain-streaked windowpane. The street outside glows wetly, it brightens slowly with the cloud cover as the sun comes up and pales everything to a lighter shade. As I drive to work, quietly humming to the split-splat of water on the windshield and the swish-swish as the silver ribbons are wiped and renewed from the glass, the streetlights are just turning off. I’ve been barely taking 15 or at the most 20 minutes for lunch lately, it’s been so busy and with the clouds hunkered...

01
Oct
2006

YOU’RE IT

It will make me sad when my kids won’t hold hands with me anymore. We went for a walk this afternoon, in the soft-as-summer sunshine, or rather, Martin and I walked, and Karin rollerbladed in a teetery, half-confident way. One or the other of them was holding one or the other of my hands nearly the whole way. It’s hard to stride along when you are holding the hand of a child. It slows you down, it makes you match paces and it gives you more time to talk and to see things and point them out to each other...

12
Sep
2006

MOOSECELLANEOUS

Today the entire school went to the zoo. They had 3 buses, one of which was an “accordion” bus that drove all the kids and the teachers to the town of Höör (a town whose name is nearly impossible for non-Swedes to pronounce correctly and which always elicits a laugh), which is about 20 minutes away and outside of which is the lovely animal park known as Skånes Djurpark. The zoo houses over 800 animals of over 85 different species in a huge parkland with natural enclosures. Because the park concentrates on Nordic animals, there are no lions or tigers...

10
Sep
2006

WONDER WHAT MY ORIGINAL 1978 EDITION DARTH VADER HEAD NECKLACE WOULD FETCH ON EBAY?

The head cold had me down most of yesterday, enough that sleeping and editing was about all I could manage, and reading of course, which I can almost always manage. I don’t think it’s fair to be sick on a weekend. I’ve been re-reading the first 2 books of a trilogy in anticipation of reading the 3rd one which my mom had recently sent me. But this morning, when I picked up the 3rd book and opened it, I discovered that it was the SECOND book with a different title and a different cover! ARGH! Apparently, the British and the...

07
Sep
2006

STEREOTYPES TO THE RESCUE

3 girls in the senior class from the high school that our kids will go to in a few years sent a note home with everyone in Karin’s class announcing that they were starting a handball club for the young kids in Flyinge school. While they are primarily aiming at the 6 and 7-year-olds they made it clear that any child who was interested was welcome. Even better, they’re allowing the kids 3 sessions for free to try it out and it’s only 150 kronor for the rest of the term if they join after that. I asked Martin and...

06
Sep
2006

IT’S ALL UP TO ME NOW

Oh what a beautiful morning Oh what a beautiful day I’ve got a beautiful feeling Everything’s going my way! I wake up singing this in my head every morning these days. It’s been awhile since I really had that feeling, and I’ve missed it. What a bolt of energy this week has been. Things are looking really great for this year, although I’m going to be doing some re-thinking of my palette of commitments and activities in the next couple of weeks as I have to be sure that I have a good balance and don’t take on too much...

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