Lately

Felix keeping a very firm grip on the wheel a couple of weekends ago…

The blog has been quiet lately because I have been busy. Every spare moment (i.e. every moment in which Felix is sleeping and I am not) I have been marking essays. They are all done now save one. Despite this, it’s not going to get any easier till July. The next big deadline is the end of May – my level three Norwegian test, and before then I also need to finish my syllabus for my teaching next semester. In the midst of this I’m trying to straighten out the house a bit to make life more streamlined. And one week after my Norwegian test, I’ll have fifty exams to mark. I have one day a week to myself – the rest of this must be done in the evenings. One day at a time.

Despite this Felix and I have been enjoying ourselves. Michael was in America last week and I was impressed with how calmly we kept things together. Yesterday Felix and I spent an hour in the park in town. Felix poked sticks into puddles with some bigger kids, and then ran round and round in the rotunda while the seagulls reeled about us. And today Michael was back, bearing gifts, and we had the loveliest day all together again.

It’s Michael’s birthday later this week. When I asked Felix what he thought Daddy would like for his birthday, he thought about it for a minute, then said ‘beads’.

 

Greetings

I love how my Swiss friends always kiss on both cheeks (though I always forget).

I love how Felix always says, slowly and sweetly, ‘Mummy!’ when I pick him up from the barnehage, as though it were an unexpected treat, and he gives a little smile and trots towards me.

And I love how a South African woman I met today in a cafe told me that South Africans are very into their hugs, and I got a hug from both her and her three year old son as they left.

 

2nd Birthday Party

Felix had ball at his birthday party today: he loved the attention, the friends, the presents, the jelly, the vegetarian hotdogs (he ate three!) and the cake.

The photographer in the house is complaining about the quality of these images (as you can see he’s in the photos not taking them), but I reckon we had so much else to do that it’s an achievement to have any sort of a record. Our house was full to capacity – five of Felix’s friends came (not counting the baby who slept in her carseat the entire time), and 8 of their parents – German, Swiss, South African, Irish and Norwegian – and everyone had a nice time. Then everyone went home and we all had a nap, which was nice too.

 

36 hours later

We are back in chilly Norway. The house feels small. The snowy expanses were very beautiful when we came in to land. Felix was an absolute darling throughout the whole trip. He slept quite well and the rest of the time was cheerfully occupied observing and commenting on everything that went on. He loves planes. He loves airports. ‘Lady make it dark!’ he declared when they switched all the lights off for landing. When we finally arrived in Oslo after stopovers in Singapore and Frankfurt, he said ‘more plane! More in the big plane!’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘we’ve had enough of planes now.’ He looked out of the window. ‘More plane! Blue one!’ ‘Do you want to go in the blue plane?’ ‘Yeah!’ He was so excited when we got off the plane that he ran all the way to the luggage belts with only one crash. He was still talking about the planes on the train home.

Our good friends picked us up from the train station and cooked dinner for us, which was about the nicest welcome back imaginable. Felix finally and comprehensively conked out about an hour before we arrived in Halden, so we laid him down on their sofa and he didn’t make a sound.

Now we are home and the fire is burning. It is hard to say goodbye to the beautiful light-filled love-filled days in Adelaide. Having a toddler to supervise on the long journey back, I haven’t had a lot of time to dwell on it. And here I must hit the ground running. I have a Norwegian test on Wednesday and another one next Monday; I’m back at work on Tuesday, and on Thursday I have four hours of tutoring at Oslo University, with some preparation still needed. (I’m tutoring an introduction to British literature subject this semester, which is exciting.) When this crazy fortnight is done and dusted, I have a meeting about some other possibilities for the autumn. I take a deep breath. I will do my best.

 

Twinkle twinkle

Felix and Mala take a much needed break after the excitement of opening all the presents.

 

Felix makes banana cake

Last weekend Felix had such a nice time taking over my kitchen.

I think the cinnamon was his favourite bit.

He then enjoyed the fruit of his labours with one of his best friends. A little man after my own heart.

 

A day in the woods

Every weekend, whatever the weather, Norwegians go into the forest, make little fires and cook their lunch. Last Sunday some of our friends invited us to join them, and it was a lot of fun. Remember these photos? It was so sweet to see the little guys together again a year later.

Just how do I get to that truck?

And after reading Blue MIlk’s post about photos of the invisible mother, I just have to include this photo too. It may look like the babbies are pretty self-sufficient in the above photos, but that is an illusion!

 Our friends cooked us pancakes.

After their lunch, the little guys slept in their prams while we ate more pancakes.

After that a couple of intrepid Norwegians changed into their running gear and went for a run (did I mention it was freezing?). Felix woke up and practiced his walking. All in all, a pretty perfect day.

 

Deep breath

Sunday afternoon with friends and scones.

A little boy who has learnt to head-butt the kitties with great affection.

A knitting project slowly materializing.

Soft warm black cat, purring.

Ear no longer leaking noxious goo.

It’s looking up.

 

A little birthday party

Today some close friends came over and we had a little birthday party for Felix. Good friends are so precious. In this photo you can also see: Felix’s lion, which was a hand-me-down from a very lovely lady in Idaho Falls, who has a son a couple of years older than Felix (Felix adores this lion, so my cake was an attempt to approximate it); the curtains my Grandma gave us; the coffee cups and milk jug my Nanna gave us for our wedding; tulips which reminded me of the ones you can see here; a vase which was a birthday present from the barnehage; a delicious cheesecake made by my lovely Norwegian friend; a colourful bowl that my parents gave me when I moved to York; a candle holder that Michael acquired many many years ago, long before I met him; and the gorgeous cardigan that my Mum knitted for me while we were in Australia, shortly after these photos were taken. So although we are a long way away from our families, we were pretty much surrounded by love. And Felix seemed to like the cake.

The little guy had a good time playing with his birthday presents and his new friend Pearce.

In the background in this one you can see the walker that we spied in a shop in Adelaide, but Michael’s parents bought for Felix in Germany. It was a happy day. Surrounded by love, indeed.

 

A most beautiful afternoon

We took Felix to Brighton beach again this afternoon, intending just to get a coffee and then have a stroll along the sand. Felix had other ideas. Mum held him while I kicked off my shoes, and she said she heard him gasp when he saw the ocean. He wriggled and wriggled, so we put him down to play on the sand. But he was off like a shot, crawling full-pelt towards the water. Mum caught up with him and stood him up in the shallows for a couple of minutes, then carried him back. He was away again immediately, ‘like one of those turtles’, as Michael put it. I ran after him, but there was no way he was standing up this time, he wanted to sit in the water!  We didn’t even have a towel with us, but we stripped of his clothes, slathered him in sunscreen, and let him go.

He had the most fabulous time. He crawled straight into the water, and even went quite deep at times, but not too deep. The little waves splashed him. He splashed them right back and clambered around and dug his hands into the sand. Then he spotted a two year old girl and crawled over to her, and they played and played, splashing and picking up shells. I chatted to her grandma. And I do not tell a lie when I say it was one of the loveliest hours of my life.