Thursday 30 August 2012

Little H takes a road trip


I think I have been writing about Little H the animal lover a few times, but it is amazing to see her connect with manky, smelly pigs, sticky goats, dogs with bad breath and so forth. We try to have activities on her terms and when the opportunity of visiting a zoo and amusement park (Kristiansand) came up, we thought why not? We packed the car with enough clothes to last us a week, and drove the 3 ½ hour to get to Kristiansand. Well, since Pappa Kas drives the Spanish way, we barely spent 3.

At the hotel in Kristiansand the only thing we did, was to sleep and have a fantastic breakfast. The badly behaved H (where does she get it from?) sang out loud and clear in the breakfast room: “Naranjas de la Chinana, Chinana, Chinana” (Oranges from China) with a rather loud voice, to her mums despair.
I do not mind her singing this song every time she gets orange juice at home, but in a breakfast room at a hotel with a high percentage of exactly Chinese and Japanese guests, this was NOT funny. I tried to hush on both Loud H and Pappa Kas, but I think that both of them found it equally funny and continued singing. Kids…

The lions
We got to the zoo park by opening time and decided to prioritize the animals rather than the other activities. Little H was so excited! We saw giraffes, zebras, chimpanzees, lions and tigers to name a few. But H was forever on the search of the crocodiles. I do not know where she had gotten this strong wish to see a live crocodile, but eventually we found at least four and she was happy.

We wondered around to see the animals until it started raining cats and dogs. Basque / Spanish people do not handle rain very well, and I must admit that it was rather sad walking around with a sleeping H in the pram, getting soaked despite rain jackets, so we made our way back to the car and drove home.

I do hope that we were not caught in a speed camera or two as we made it home in 2 ½ hours.


Self portrait in Arendal
Sceptically watching the lions


Touching sticky and smelly goats (as usual)

Wednesday 15 August 2012

I can hear your heart beat


Being pregnant second time around has not been a breeze, but as it is coming to an end (well, I am still 10 weeks or so away from D-day),and I have notices that I have started to appreciating the strangest things, such as that I can still see my toes.

I went to see a friend the other day, which I had not seen in a month or two and the words that met me were: “Wow, you’re huge”, quickly (almost) saved by: “In a pregnant sort of way”. The fact is that I feel huge and heavy and spotty and old (my back aches). I want to sleep all the time and crave orange juice with a dash of tonic, which is very refreshing by the way. You should try it.

On Monday Little H came with me to the doctor for a check-up, and I explained her that we were going to check that Little M was fine. Every time I asked her why we were going to the doctor she said: “Baby M OK/baby M ha bra”.

At the doctors Little H got to lie down beside me on the bench, and the doctor confirmed that she did not have a baby in her belly, which H nodded to and agreed upon. Then the doc asked where the baby was. Little H immediately bent over and gave my bellybutton a kiss saying; “there / der”. Ah, a mother’s heart could melt.

The doctor then wanted to check for the heartbeat and both Little H and I could hear it clearly; the fast rhythmic beats. H thought that the sound came from the belly itself and put her head carefully down on my tummy as to listen better.

My heart melted. I cannot wait until these two girls meet in person.

Orange juice and tonic- seriously addictive


Friday 10 August 2012

Life is a Musical

Do you remember how it was to start school after the summer holidays? One year you were new and the youngest, the next you were older, wiser and more confident.


It seems like the same happens at a nursery. Little H is suddenly one of the oldest in her group and has taken charge from what we hear. Oh, dear…

Apparently she is bossing the younger ones about, taking their toys, occupying the swings (a recurring theme), but also taking their hands and showing them the ropes of the place. Showing leadership skills at the age of two? Or is she just being mean?

But it is not all bad. We have always known that she is a show girl, but for the past week or so she has totally let her talents for musicals come through. Life with Little H has always been like a musical, filled with spontaneously singing and dancing.

We can sit around the dinner table when she takes our hands, sings and kicks her feet in tap-dancing steps. We can sit together reading a book and she suddenly jumps up in the sofa to start singing and going into a head stand. She is never shy of doing a bit of ballet on the bathroom floor, standing in downward facing dog in the kitchen or doing some sort of tribal dancing while using the bin as a drum.

So it comes as no surprise that the staff at the nursery and a few of the parents have started commenting on Little H’s rock ’n’ roll moves when they play music and her eagerness to sing loud and clear both when encouraged and in inappropriate situations as when the others are taking a nap or she is having her diaper changed.

Where does she take it from? And where will this end? Do I have to start making dresses out of old curtains and run down grassy hills? Or will she develop red curly hair and freckles and adopt a smelly dog?

Monday 6 August 2012

Daddy come home!


Lady B and Little H had the house to themselves last week. Pappa Kas travelled far far away last Sunday only to come home this Saturday afternoon. That was almost a whole week away from his girls. It is not like he went on an exotic safari, but rather working away in the South of Spain – Granada.

Poor pappa Kas. The heat, the tapas, the wine, the swimming pool – it must have been hard for him to enjoy when he knew that Little H and I was sitting with our noses pressed towards the window looking out on the rain singing “Daddy come home!” – NOT.

Putting on mummys make-up
We had such a good girlie time. We painted our nails, we had discos where we danced ourselves silly. We had long lazy mornings with home-made smoothies for breakfast before walking to the nursery. Our dinners were quick and easy with lots of ketchup. When we went grocery shopping we bought everything we wanted, mainly all types of fruit, so do not worry about sweetie overload.

In order to tire out Little H, I arranged some afternoon activities. As Pappa Kas could do nothing to prevent H smooching her favorite boys I arranged some dates:

On Sunday we went to see Funny O, where we had burgers and the kids were giggling and tickling each other and behaving like the funny monkeys they are. There was a lot of hugging when we left, and I had to drag Little H away from Funny O in order to get home.


We went to play with Cool J, which H had not seen for weeks. There were some jealous banter over some toys, but you know Love starts with …. And there were plenty of hugging as well.

I decided that we could not hang with handsome boys the whole week, so we met up with cutie Anna and her mischievous sister Julia towards the end of the week. Anna and Hanna are very similar in age and they had a super time with each other while the mummies could catch up on gossip and have a good chat.

Little H is definitively having fun with Anna

The week ended on a high with half a day at the local playground where Little H did not want to get her cute little bottom out of the swing, making other kids and parents rather annoyed for not letting others kids use it.

By the time we got Pappa Kas from the train H had had such an exciting week that she had developed a fever. Oh dear, a whole week of fun can be too much.

Please Pappa Kas, when you go away next time, do not stay away for a week, BUT bring back as nice presents as you did this time.

How do you activate your kids when you are alone with them?



At the playground, dressed to the nines to impress the boys

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