Nordgren Family in London

First day of school (Helena)

krisje — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:23:07 +0000

The day has finally come for Helena to go to Nursery School. All last year she was so jealous that we dropped Ilias off and she couldn’t stay. But now she got to stay. She seemed right at ease, hardly even saying goodbye to me, although I think she might have been a bit confused and didn’t quite get it that when I said goodbye it was because I was leaving her there, not because we were leaving together. In the end, I just said goodbye and sent her off to play. Thor and I went home together. It’s very quiet at home now. Well, “quiet”: he’s playing in the babygym so I can hear an endless repetition of low-battery tinny sounding Mozart and/or nursery rhymes.

Ilias is having his second day, and he was totally fine as well. I guess they are growing up. Blub.

First day of school (Ilias)

krisje — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:38:29 +0000

Today is Ilias first day of school. I’ve dropped him off succesfully and he seemed right at ease. His teacher is called Miss Rundle so his class is RJR (Reception J. Rundle). The first two days he is only going until 1.30 pm so he has a packed lunch there and then comes home early. From Wednesday, he can stay all day from 9 am to 3.30 pm. He’ll have the school dinners then. I think those will be alright, since Jamie Oliver recently saved the world.

Ilias came home from school tired but happy. He said he had fun and played a lot. Miss Rundle told me he fell while running, and he did have a little sticking plaster on his knee, but he wasn’t very bothered about it. He is looking forward to going again tomorrow. I must remember not to put Nutella in his packed lunch as they’re not allowed anything with nuts in it because others could be allergic. This evening at bedtime, Ilias wasn’t sure whether maybe he wanted Bush to come along to school tomorrow, but we settled on it that Bush would stay home and wait for him.

Thor’s party

krisje — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:14:17 +0000

We had a big party for Thor on the 30th and 31st of August. Part one was in Essen and part two was in Bonheiden. It was really nice to see all of our family and friends! And it was the only weekend all August that the weather was actually nice.

We’ve decided to get one big gift for Thor, which is a swingset and slide for in the garden. It’s coming next weekend. A great big thank you to everybody who contributed to it!

Baptism

krisje — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:11:43 +0000

On the 13th of July, Thor was baptized at our local church.

Husqvarna

krisje — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:07:22 +0000

Farmor and Farfar and Lukas have come over for a visit for a few weeks so they can be here for Thor’s baptism and so Lukas can spend his summer holiday with Bo. Bo’s taken time off work as well, so the house is busy and full! Since there is a recession on – Mr. Brown denies this but all the signs are there, including the maxi-skirt coming back into fashion – we thought it would be a good idea to buy a sewing machine. But of course there is no such thing in our tight family budget. So Farmor and Farfar offered to buy it for us in return for eating us out of house and home (just kidding, we love having them here!). It also counts as an early birthday present for Bo. So we are now the proud owners of a Husqvarna Viking Emerald, Swedish quality made in Taiwan. Now to learn to sew…

Teddy Bears picnic

krisje — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:36:59 +0000

Today we went to the Teddy Bears Picnic which is an event for families and children, packed with information stalls where kids can usually do something like messy play or colouring for free. A few bouncy castles cost 20p a go, and there were even some farm animals. Of interest to me was the National Childminders Association stall because I am working towards becoming a childminder, and the National Childbirth Trust, because I know those people. Met some old new friends again. Must remember to stay in touch. I was a bit disappointed by the Mobile Toy Library. They had a good selection of toys for different age ranges, but most of it quite basic. I mean blocks, beads, shapes… They had packs as well with things like a story book and some puppets and play ideas to go with it, but let’s face it, most of those kind of things are well worth buying and a lot of it, you’d already have if you’ve got enough kids. They do sell craft materials at wholesale prices which might be worth investigating.

The kids saw a dinosour and gathered balloons and a goodie bag, went on the bouncy castle painted some pictures and saw some farm animals, and Ilias got to do some karate. When he turns five, he can go to the karate club (if we can spare 4-5 pounds a week that is). He did like it, and the boy who was holding the pillow for him to kick said he was very good. We think it might be nice for Ilias to learn how and when and who it is ok to hit and kick. The instructor said they instill it in the children. One of the little ones had come to the lesson and said “I didn’t hit grandma this week, because I know if I do I can never come back here again!” Ilias was shy about hitting and kicking at first… he must have thought it was a set-up and he’d get into trouble. But once he was convinced it really was allowed, he loved it.

After that we popped over to the playground in the same park (Valentines Park in Ilford) which was surprisingly nice. I’ve had some pretty disappointing playgrounds in my neighbourhood so far. Kids good and tired when we got home.

Beware of nice ladies dressed in white

krisje — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:22:19 +0000

Thor had some nasty experiences on the 12th and the 16th of June. I took him to the GP’s office, where he was (as usual) surrounded by sweet ladies dressed in white feeling broody and smiling at him… when suddenly one of them stabbed him with a needle! Twice!!!! Right in both thighs. Poor boy. But now he’s protected against a whole list of diseases.

Only days later, he had to go to the children’s clinic to get the BCG vaccine, another injection which is for tuberculosis. It is supposed to hurt a lot and turn into a sore and eventually leave a scar, but he didn’t seem to have any trouble whatsoever. Now I have to contact the clinic to let them know he hasn’t scarred. Funny though. He hasn’t got the best skin really. Gets nappy rash in disposable nappies but not in cloth ones, and he gets dry spots on his arms just like I have. But apparently he is completely immune against tuberculosis. Come to think of it, he hasn’t really been ill much, even though he’s in contact with Ilias who goes to nursery. Must be all that amazing breastmilk he’s eating!

Pairs or pears.

yendor — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:49:32 +0000

The following played out while reading a book with Ilias.

Ilias: Look bananas. I must count them. It’s one… two… two bananas.

Parents: Yes that is a pair of bananas.

Ilias: Noooo, that’s not pears. That is two bananas.

Parents: Two of someting is a pair. So these two bananas is a pair of bananas.

Ilias: But it’s not pears, it’s two bananas.

After a lot of laughter Ilias decided we where joking and told us we where silly. I guess this is a great example of the classic English problem of words looking or sounding the same.

B.t.w. Ilias still doesn’t get the concept of a pair but he has a while before he is due for that kind of math.

mudd the organiser

yendor — Sat, 24 May 2008 08:50:40 +0000

I seem to have brought some structure into our home network with the help of a small Win2K3 SBS server. Most of the benefits are in the realm of systems administration but there are a few very good points for the users, such as backups of files, roaming profiles etc.

There is a bit of a problem with the backups though. I have a LVD-SCSI DLT tapedrive but my controler card have gone missing between the last house and this one. It’s probably a very good indication I need to organise my mostly quite outdated hardware but perhaps I should just get an external HDD and replicate the lot.

Safe to say my home network isn’t mission critical but my wife is my most important user.

Wii bit disappointed

krisje — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:57:02 +0000

Turns out the Wii Balance Board wasn’t measuring right because of our soft carpet. We’ve sorted out that problem and now my BMI isn’t good at all. I’m definitely overweight… But the workouts are still fun. Even Ilias is allowed to go on the Balance Board now, and he knows he MUST NOT JUMP on it!