boundless limits

...to a certain point at least.

I consciously try not to make assumptions about the girls and what they are capable of doing, and am open to them exploring where their limits currently are, within safety boundaries and with a spotting hand or nudging suggestions if I feel nervous or if they request it. At the same time I often find myself surprised by their successful tries at new things that I only then realize I assumed they were not yet able to complete.

A perfect example is Eliana on the new jungle gym. For some reason I assumed climbing up the curved rope ladder would be a bit too dangerous for her, but once I saw her on there figuring it out, I realized not only was she able to do it - in her big rain boots to boot, but I felt she was safe enough that I didn't need to be there spotting her, and could instead sit on the steps and relax, rest, and enjoy their enjoyment. The pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

I thought she would perhaps be too scared to cross the bridge, or unable to do it because her arms are too short to grab the ropes, but she first scooted across sideways a few times, before carefully turning to walk straight forward, focusedly grabbing the rope on each side for each carefully placed step she took. The pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

I thought she was too small to step up onto the ropes along the bridge like Leona was doing -- Leona had started walking across on the ropes rather than the wood, and Eliana kind of put a boot up toward one of the ropes as a test, and then decided against it...but then a few rounds later she tried again, and was suddenly standing there in a star formation, though did not try to scoot forward too many times. The concentrated pride in her success that radiated from her was priceless.

There are risks involved in the rounds they are making, especially for Eliana. She has to really concentrate the whole way until she's at the slide, and since Leona is bigger and more agile than her, and does things that are still too dangerous for Eliana, I notice my heart pounds a bit faster at times, seeing her movements start to mimic those of Leona's but pulling up short or modifying them to suit her current abilities.

And once, her concentration or balance slipped at the top of the curved rope ladder, and she fell through the 'hole', catching herself with an arm and neck, and her big boot catching another rope. I jumped up and rescued her, gave her a hug and said that was scary (she agreed verbally and body-languageally - she has the cutest body-language for "that was scary"/"I am scared"), and was moving toward the rope ladder again the second I set her down, without missing a beat. It kind of blew me away.


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new elementary school jungle gym

This Easter we saw something was a-building at the elementary school here, in the pit where there had previously been a climbing apparatus. This past Monday was its official opening and inauguration (all the kids at the school got ice cream in celebration).

We also stopped by, luckily between recesses, and Leona gave it a test-run.

 

On Tuesday we stopped by again, arriving during one of their breaks, and saw an ant hill - half the school, literally (approx. 30 of the 60+ kids), playing on it.

10 minutes later it was empty and both girls gave it a whirl. Eliana was able to do the rope climb-up, bridge-walk and slide without a hitch.

[Leona waiting for Eliana so they can slide down together]

[Eliana waiting for Leona to slide first]

 

Next day we visited again, and the girls did the same 'round' non-stop for 45 minutes - and they would have done it for longer if I hadn't dragged them away (I was tired and wanted to go home, as we by then had been out and about for 2.5 hours already).



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trust in others' sense of doing right - so Norwegian

There is a generally high level of trust in Norwegian society. You can leave your child sleeping in its stroller outside stores or apartment buildings (though parents will still keep an eye on the stroller in town, or have a baby-call placed in the stroller outside their home), if you lose some item of clothing or something else passerbys will often pick it up and place it on something a little raised nearby so that it is easy to spot if you are retracing your steps looking for it (so it is important you don't have your eyes fixed on the ground only!), if you lose a more valuable item people will either take it to the police station or take it with them home and post on the local "buy/sell/give away" facebook groups to try and find the owner, etc.

This past Wednesday I experienced another perfect example. We were in a town about an hour's drive from here, and I stopped by a store that I had three gift cards for, so I could use them up in time (it's the nearest place they have this store). I bought stuff for the total amount of the gift cards plus NOK 12 more, and was going to pay the "extra" with my bank card. But they had great difficulties letting me pay with the gift cards, and made a few mistakes that they weren't sure right then and there how to reverse and fix, one of them being that I had already paid the change in cash...cash I didn't have on hand and had to pay with my bank card.

They ended up just telling me that next time I came by the store I could give them the NOK 12 (about US$ 2.50 or so). I said I live in Innvik, and they said ok, next time you come to town then. There was no writing it down or anything, nor a "don't worry about it, we'll take care of it since we jumbled it up", but rather I owe that amount so next time I go there, no matter how far in the future that may be, the assumption is I will stop by and give them NOK 12 in change, because my conscience says I must.

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This was also the first trip we took with the girls in their new car seats. We got Leona's in the mail on Monday, where originally I was going to try and find a used one of the same type she already had (Maxi-Cosi Mobi...rear-facing up to 25 kg, and Leona is only almost 15 kg now so weight-wise could probably use it for another two years (?)), so that Eliana could have one too, seeing as Eliana is almost too big for the 0-13kg seat she's been using, and more importantly Cedrik is going to need it pretty soon.

But then I decided against it, the main reason being she is almost kind of right on the verge of outgrowing it height-wise -- and this is the rear-facing seat with the longest back on the market. Since she is already 4, which is Norway's recommended minimum age to let kids start using front-facing seats, I decided it was way smarter to just buy the front-facing seat that I've landed on after a lot of hours researching different seats online (a Cybex Pallax 2-fix - she can use until she is around 11), since if she has a growth spurt we would have to buy it really fast anyhow. And man was she excited about it! Front facing baby!!!

As was Eliana when she realized that she got to upgrade to Leona's old seat. When I was done re-adjusting and re-installing the seats, I asked Eliana if she wanted to come give her new seat a dry-run. The excited joy that radiated from her was priceless. She climbed right in, and requested the straps be fastened snug, and then emphatically said "move". She was ready to go for a drive. So I drove her down to the garage and parked, and got a good few complaints from her that the drive was by no means long enough for her satisfaction.

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playgrounds and daily walks

These past several weeks I've been successfully taking the girls on longer daily walks.

During winter and the beginning of spring we didn't take daily walks because I'm not Norwegian enough - that is to say I believe there is such a thing as sucky weather, and my threshold is kind of low. And then there was the whole 'too tired to walk home - screaming on the roadside' that made trips out, or I should say the way home, not too enjoyable.

But Leona is Four years old now. She is big (her own conclusion), and so as mentioned before, she is suddenly totally ok on the whole outing - even when I know she is pretty tired (I'm exhausted), she doesn't complain. She also knows there's no spot for her on the stroller, so there aren't really any other options.

For a few weeks, when the weather was not 'pouring rain', the walks were done with her on her bike, meaning she wouldn't get as tired, but these past days she's chosen to walk, and still no complaints or breakdowns even when our excursion is for a total of 3-4 hours.

So where do we actually go for so long, you ask? Well, we either go to the hotel or to the playground at the school, and then also visit the kindergarten, a place she has suddenly started to feel much more at ease at, running around, getting toys to use in the sandbox, and sometimes even playing with one of the girls her age.

Personally I love the hotel, because there're rocks to throw in the water, pebbles/sand to play with, seaweed to toss around and investigate, the swing and climbing area of the swing set, really styling bench and table, and a super comfortable view...and we have it all to ourselves (peaceful for me).

[The beach, swing set, and bench/table we favor (where the stroller is parked and E is headed]

[the view - and to the left you see some rocks that are almost perfect for climbing...

just some places too steep on the water-side for my sense of safety]

[the girls like to push the limit of what is acceptable in terms of the climbing - this is within the limit]

[and who can blame them...that view is awesome]

 

I also love being at the kindergarten before 1pm, as the five year olds are at the school until then, so it's a lot more peaceful.

This, and because Eliana's naps have started to be taken later in the day (no longer starting at 9:30-10:00 as they have this past year or so, but more like between 11am and 1pm, depending on a myriad of influences), is why we now leave the house around 10am, rather than wait until Eliana's done napping. Eliana then naps either during the excursion or about when we get home.

Peaceful. Seems to be a trend I require.



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exploring our surroundings

Yesterday was a phenomenally good day.

In the morning, because I was super tired and felt I wanted to just hunker down and sleep (but knew that Judge was also super tired so if I woke him it would be all the same for the girls in terms of lackluster interactions), I decided to 'take it outside'.

So we got a few layers on - though totally sunny it was still just around 5 degrees C or so, and off we went to check on the lambs in the field across from the church, Leona riding her bike, Eliana walking, and me pushing the stroller (for E to sit in when she wanted).

Eliana is super into water right now - watching the water in rivers, sitting and jumping in puddles, and of course playing with water in the sink and bath tub. So after looking at the sheep and lambs from afar for a bit, we stopped on the bridge and the girls threw the rocks and seaweed they had collected in their jacket pockets a few days ago when we were by the fjordside into the water, and then threw leaves on one side before running to the other side to watch it float past and away.

Then we went to have a closer look at the sheep and lambs, before heading back home to get ready for our next excursion - heading to a nearby lake for a planned camp-fire hot dogs and bread day.

We first drove to the end of the lake, in search for the perfect spot, finding out that it was actually pretty far towards the beginning of the lake - I'm happy we did the full drive though, because we got to do some adventuring - see the beauty and quirkiness that is there.

[Judge and Leona heading to the pebble beach we decided on, to scout out the perfect pit-fire spot]

[around the bend to the left, the view was more spectacular, but the beach not as welcoming]

 

 

[in Norway it's common to make 'stick bread' where you prep the dough at home and then wrap it around sticks and bake it over the camp fire - I wrapped it around a hot dog, as I had made a 50/50 oatmeal/wheat dough so that I could give it a taste]

 

We all absolutely LOVED it there. The girls played separately for the most part, keeping themselves occupied at the water's edge, climbing and collecting things (Leona) and playing with the pebbles (Eliana), for ages. Then they both made themselves comfortable spots to rest for a bit (following Judge's lead).

[Eliana's fleece-lined rain pants and fleecy-furry thick-esque jacket made this a comfortable enough spot it seems]

[Leona, on the other hand, laid down some jackets and sweaters on the grass]

We plan on returning as often as the weather permits, before Cedrik is born, and then probably again in the fall (after exploring for other great spots around the other nearby lakes as well).


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