Familiar playdate

There must be something that draws me to Americans. Some kind of fascination. Something.

So when Chris had run into an American girl with 3 kids at a nearby playground and exchanged email addresses, I was all over getting to meet them. Due to "life", it still took a few months, but finally today we had our first play date. There was something familiar about it. Made me miss my friends in AR. At the same time, it made me feel fortunate to be able to add to my group of international friends. I hope we will have many more play dates in the future.

Au-pair reunion - we made it happen!

William and I took the train from Linköping to Copenhagen where we met up with Irina and Maja who flew in from Münich. There we rented a car and drove down together to Nykøbing, Falster. Grit and Milo took a 6 hour bus ride from Berlin and Mette drove down with Sebastian and Nicoline from Copenhagen. So there we were, almost 10 years after our last get-together. My totally awesome friends! And now with their really cool kids!

 

We spent 4 nights together in a beautiful house on the Danish country side. We hung out, played, went to the beach, cooked and spent the evenings, after the kids were asleep, catching up over wine. These girls are great! Hanging out with them makes me so happy! And now they are all wonderful moms!

Now that I am back in Europe I hope to make this in to an annual get together. I also plan to visit each one of them. I love traveling in Europe, and William is a great travel partner!

Living in Sweden Observation #18

When my male coworkers go on paternity leave it is "See you in 6 months!" (or sometimes more).

Preschool in Sweden

Just when we thought it was never going to happen, we got a spot at a preschool! It wasn't our first choice. And at first, we weren't sure we wanted it. But, the more we learned about it, the better it seemed, so we decided to give it a try. Considering William has never been in daycare/preschool, this was kind of scary. At the same time, we knew William wanted to get out more. Meet new friends. Learn new things. He just started this week, and so far we haven't left him there alone, but we are ready to. So is he. It's only 3 hours a day, so it is pretty easy. It's a great start for us. We feel pretty comfortable leaving him there. Living in the states (Arkansas) we never even considered sending him to daycare/preschool.

There are fundamental differences between parenting/schooling in Arkansas (USA) and Sweden. The biggest difference, that I will never get over, is the practice of spanking. Considering spanking was outlawed in Sweden the year I was born (1979), it seems very old-fashioned and I think it is utterly wrong! One of the main reasons we moved back to Sweden, was that we think it is a better place for kids to grow up. I hope letting William start preschool here in Sweden will be good for him, and for us. And that it will reassert our decision to move back.

Weekend visit to Copenhagen and Malmö

This post is very late. More than a month late. So I will be brief.

William and I took a trip down to see our friends Mette and Rene and their kids Sebastian and Nicoline in Copenhagen a weekend in March. Mette was my first friend in California, when I was there as an au-pair in 1998. Last time I saw Mette, seven years ago, she was pregnant with Sebastian. It was really cool to see her with her kids, and for them to get to meet William. I love visiting Mette and Rene. The atmosphere in their place is always so calm and welcoming. Breakfast is my favorite part, since they get fresh bread from the bakery for breakfast.

After our short visit in Copenhagen we met up with Chris in Malmö and stayed one night at a hotel. Chris had gone down to Malmö for a skate contest. We did all our travelling by train. I love being back in Europe and being able to use public transportation. It's so easy to take the train places, and William loves it too! Hoping to do a lot more of that in the future!

First time seeing turning torso :)

Au-pair reunion in the works

So looking forward to May 9th to 13th when we have our au-pair reunion in Denmark! In '98-'99, we were au-pairs in California and we've stayed in touch ever since. We've visited each other in Europe many times before I left for the US. Now, we all have kids. Actually, Irina, Grit and I had our first babies all within a 2 month period. Mette's kids are a bit older, 5 and 7. Grit and Milo visited us in Arkansas in 2010, but this will be the first time I see the other kids. This is also the first time all of us get together since 2003 or 2004, when we had our last reunion in Gothenburg. That time we included our boyfriends. This time it's just us mamas and kiddos. We've rented a house in Nykøbing/Falster, near the beach. It will be interesting to see how the kids communicate. One American-Swede, two Danes and two Germans.

Living in Sweden Observation #16

You get maternity/paternity leave retroactively when you move to Sweden with children. Received a letter today stating we have 480 days to take before William turns 8. Score!!!! Got the best of both worlds!

Living in Sweden Observation #13

The daycare / preschool situation is complicated! How do you find the right one? And if you do, how long will you have to wait to get a spot?