The Candrians Down Under

Strawberry Sandwich

Strawberry, spinach, peanut-butter sandwich. Gotta love food that is as healthy as it is delicious as it is easy to make. Sometimes I cheat the healthy part and spread a little Nutella too, and then it is uber good.

For my tastes, it needs a good dense brown bread that's on the sweeter side. Toast it. Spread PB (and Nutella for a treat). Spread some defrosted frozen finely chopped spinach (I hope it's sold like that in the States. I discovered it here in Sweden. When it is hacked up really finely like a pesto it can be added to just about anything to boost the nutrition without being noticeable in the taste or texture.) Add strawberries and enjoy! Michael loves this almost as much as I do.

Today

Today started soon after I went to bed last night. Both kids are a little sick, coinciding nicely with Rob's work trip, so I pulled solo duty with getting up all night for both kids. Gotta love those Jack-in-the-Box kinda nights.

Today Michael told me he wanted to jump off the top of the house. I honestly have no idea how he got that in his head, except that he has been really into jumping off ever taller things these last few days. So I'm a little scared that it may have been an original idea.

Today Ella got really, really close to crawling. I'd say she did, but I'd be cheating. It was only a couple weeks ago that she hardly seemed to care at all about moving. Not till 7 months old did she even roll from her back to stomach for the first time. Now moving seems to be all she cares about and she's suddenly pretty whiny about wanting to get around.

Today Ella whined more than any other day in her life, I'm pretty sure. I think she just has a common cold - coughing, runny nose, low fever. But the lengthy sessions of whining got me wondering if I should take her in to the doc. But then she would seem perfectly fine and happy other times. Why is it that a kid will whine like they have the plague, but then you get them naked and suddenly they are chirping and giddy? For my kids, at least, nudity is like a cure-all. Or at least a good litmus test for if she's really awfully sick; just get her undressed and if she's still sad then I know to call the doctor.

Today I felt like I was cleaning all day long. Between Michael throwing up and having the runs (let's just say there were some silly fun accidents) and Ella's nose running like a fire hose and puking up from her coughing fits...well, shoot, what did people do before washing machines?!

Today I talked to Rob on the phone while he was waiting for his flight back home, and he told me that his day was pretty boring.

Today I exercised self restraint with sarcasm.

Today I built a pretty awesome train track with Michael.

Today I let Michael watch an entire full-length movie. I'm usually a t.v. nazi so this was big. Big on his part, too, because there have been a couple other times when I was going to let him watch a full movie (read - I NEEDED him to watch a full-length movie) and he always lost interest.

Today I felt a bit trapped with two sick kids and a missing husband, so I did a pretty great home-workout, complete with using Ella as a weight to add extra spice to boring old things like lunges, crunches, etc. I also did intervals of racing up and down our stairs (they run continuously from the 1st to the 3rd floor), and it was the best cardio I've ever done at home. Michael would have thought I was nuts if it weren't for the movie making him completely dead to the world. (Which is part of why I'm so leery of showing him too much of that stuff. And also why I wish I wasn't.)

Today was actually still a happy day. I'm sort of obsessed with my kids (obviously) and one of the best pieces of advice I've read was to not think about doing things for the little parasites, rather as doing with them. Even the not-so-glamorous stuff can still be turned into moments enjoyed together.

Try, try again

One of my favorite traits about Michael is his strong determination. Coupled with a 2 year old's need to explore his independence and a kid whose brain gets very fixated on specific scripts for how different events must play out, sometimes it feels like he borders on OCD.

Today's simple example was when it was time to leave the museum. Like many kids he always begs for "one last ______" before we can go. But if the "one last _____" doesn't go according to script, there will always be a meltdown until he can go back and do it again correctly. Today it was climbing up on a pole, pulling a rope, climbing down, then running fast down the ramp. On his run down the ramp there was a kid in the way who obstructed his clean line and made him scrub off speed to go around. Clearly, an unacceptable completion. He started having a fit as I tried to get him to put his shoes on, having a visceral need to go "try again" (one of his most repeated phrases). So I grant permission to go back to the top of the ramp and run down again. But, no, he can't just repeat step #4. He must go back through the entire long scenario, from step one, in order for his world to feel right. And it is pretty much always just like that.

Virtually any time he falls or messes up something and gets hurt, he always has to redo it. He never really considers that maybe it was a bad idea in the first place or perhaps out of his little 2-year-old league. Mostly I am proud. But also a little scared.
A good recent example was on yesterday's bike ride (on his little pedal-less Strider bike). He found a steep embankment that he wanted to ride down. It seemed a bit over his head (rather bumpy/weedy and steep), but it was only a couple meters long and I figured it was grass so I let him go at it. Of course, he totally biffed it. He cried for a second and then said through his whines "Michael try again!". So he went for round two. I tried to discretely place the bike at a spot where the embankment is a little shorter. But he is getting too astute for my tricks. He all but scoffed at my attempt to put it at a lower, easier place. Showing what he is made of, he got back on the bike and took it to a spot even higher than the original location.
On round two he almost made it, but ate grass again at the bottom. Fell a little worse this time and got all tangled up with the bike. But had he had enough? Course not. In fact, the very thing that calmed him down was expressing "Michael try again". (Gotta love how he refers to himself in third person.)
On the third attempt he took the bike to an even slightly taller section of the embankment. With zero hesitation he kicked himself off, lifted both his legs into the air and went for it with 100% commitment and an air of gusto. He made it like a pro. I'm fairly certain the owner of Strider Bikes is going to be signing him onto a contract soon.

From My Balcony

on a beautifully frosty morning.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

This has probably been Michael's favorite song for most of his life. He gets a little goofy singing it for the camera.
By the way, I hate to bail out on goals, but I think my blog-a-day for a month is kinda stupid and I'll probably bail out soon. Let's call it re-evaluation rather than quitting.

Citrus Pulled Pork Tacos

Made these tonight with some guacamole. So, so good. A nice refreshing flavor from a pretty simple recipe. And it involves a crockpot, which is my favorite way to cook cause it means I can make it in the morning and then stay out with the kids in the afternoon, right up to dinner time.

http://food52.com/recipes/15824_citrus_pulled_pork_tacos

Lorena and Rob

Yep, it's about me and him, too. I like us.

Didn't get any pics today (sorry, Joy, it's Rob's fault) so I'm digging into the archives from November.

Today I timed myself running a mile and it was way faster than I expected, without a serious effort till the last lap when I realized I was doing pretty good. It was 5:53. Almost exactly 6 months ago was the last time I ran at the track and I ran it in 5:55, but it was an all-out race effort (Rob and I were smack-talking and took it to the track. He won.). So, without any special training I improved greatly, considering this was not even close to race effort till the last lap. It means a lot to me because I really like training and goals and now I have one that I think I can do in not too long - beat Rob in the mile and beat my record when I raced in high school. Oh, I love having something like that to work on and smile about.
I told Rob my goal and now he doesn't want a rematch. Haha. But now I've blogged it so he has to. We are a competitive couple and I'm not afraid to admit that my training motivation is going to be run a mile faster than him.
I think running might be more of my thing than biking for these next couple years while my body is a baby factory - easier to do in less time, safer, easier to do while traveling, and events I can do that are nearby. Although decidedly less fun than biking....oh well....you win some, you lose some.

Rob's rebuttal:

I already beat Lorena at a 400m and a 1 mile race. I don't know why she wants to keep losing to me at running races. I think we have already established my dominance in these distances. Granted, if we did anything longer then a mile, my natural speed would probably be over taken by her dogged determination, but that is why I keep the distances short. Even if I beat her at a 5k, she would probably challenge me to a 10k, and if I beat her then, she would up it to a half marathon. Eventually we would be doing ultra-distances races, and frankly I don't even like running, so I think I will draw the line at the mile.

Saturday morning

A morning hike at the northeast end of Lidingö and then brunch at Elfviksgård for Rob's Bday.

Happy Birthday Rob

Rotmos

Rotmos, or "root mash" is a food I've discovered in Sweden that I really love and wonder why it's not more popular in the States. At least I'd never heard of it. It is flavorful enough to eat without gravy or tons of butter and cream, and it is definitely more nutritious.
I just ate it today again today for lunch at a cute little cafe (from the 1700's!) Långängens Gård and thought it would be good to share. I was adventurous and ordered grissidan - literally, the side of a pig. I didn't think it was too big a deal considering I've eaten plenty of pork. But as I was digging into my third bite I noticed that the outer layer seemed a little hairy. Closer inspection. Yes. Hairy. I ate a hairy, fuzzy, pig. I sort of lost my appetite for it and really dug into that rotmos.
So, here's all it is - you just do like you do for mashed potatoes, but add in other root vegetables with the potatoes - carrots, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, swedes (rutabega)...whatever. Experiment. Make sure they are all boiled till soft, add some butter/olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mash em. Yum! I think adding a sweet potato gives especially good flavor - and I NEVER like those before (never cared for that marshmellowy yam dish at thanksgiving, and I think that was my only previous run-in with sweet potatoes).

Since moving here, I've also really come to like sparkling water and beets.

Boo-pa

Michael's Boo-pa Candrian came to visit yesterday. I say "Michael's" because I'm pretty sure he thinks he owns him. These two will be inseparable for the next week.

I have enjoyed the extra time to dote on Ella. See her there chewing on a train track at the bottom of the second photo? She is SO the second child, and I am always trying to make up for it but falling short. But she has never noticed, not once. Today she woke up a little early from a nap and I had the chance to just let her snuggle up to me and sleep a little longer in my arms. It was sublime. Then we went on a walk together, just she and I. She got to check out any tree or branch or patch of plants she wanted to touch along the way. We chatted lots, just us girls. Gotta do more of this one-on-one time.

I am a child of God

Michael loves to just sing and sing and sing. He has Rob's ability to pick up on lyrics quickly. I think it is especially cute when he sings "I am a child of God" (a quintessential song for mormon kids) because he mixes up the lyrics "has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear" to "has given me an ugly home, with parents *kind of* dear".
Maybe one day I will find out it wasn't really a mistake.

Massage

The massage table remains one of my favorite things we own. Every now and then the kids and I have been surprising Rob by having it out for him when he gets home from work. I think this pic is from V-day. Michael is obsessed with lotions so he is stoked about getting unlimited access and applies it exuberantly. He also thinks it is great fun to feed us grapes through the little head hole.

The highlight of today was that the table happened to be left out, and Michael really wanted to give me a massage. He needs to work on his technique and pressure, but overall, I'd still rate it as a pretty fabulous morning activity. One of the very few times since his birth that I have been able to lay down and relax in his waking hours. He stuffs grapes into my mouth through the head hole as fast as he can get them in there, which leads to pretty chipmunked cheeks. I tried to tell him to wait but then juices spilled out of my mouth, which was pretty hilarious, and had us both cracking up.

A Blog a Day

I decided to post a blog a day for the next month. I think I need to exercise the part of my brain that deals with things simply and briefly and then lets go. So, I am going to just capture a couple random bits each day and see if I can just leave it at that. I just deleted an entire long paragraph detailing this goal along with a long chunk of self-analysis. It was a long complex ramble about simplicity. Nice.

So, here's to the start of a month of simple, concise (but still pretty random) daily thoughts.

Michael is constantly making me realize how ancient I am getting. He sees play telephones and has no idea what it even is! Then, today he heard an ice-cream truck and he proclaimed "that's a loud cell phone, mommy." (And, btw, I can't believe they are selling ice-cream when there is still snow and ice on the ground!)

Not so fun yesterday was going to our big storage freezer downstairs and finding that Michael must've found the switch and turned it off several days ago. Probably a good couple hundred bucks worth of food got thawed and had to be trashed. Sad.

Doesn't Ella look just like her dad? I'm still wondering if I actually contributed any DNA. They both happened to be wearing orange yesterday, so of course I couldn't resist a quick snap. I think they make a pretty gorgeous pair.

Winter Saturday

Yesterday was nothing special, just a pretty average Saturday that felt nice and I happened to get the camera out.
We went ice-skating with our friends the Endlers who loaned us skates and a nice pink helmet for sir Smalls. He totally works the pink.

The bar contraption is to hold on to to learn balance. But he thought it was more fun to fall. So he kept slipping and falling, on purpose, over and over and over again. I didn't think it was as much fun so I sat him on it instead and we skated around like this.

Beautiful snowy day for xc skiing. I usually prefer to do the hills in the forest, but yesterday was cold enough to go out on the frozen-over Baltic Sea.

And finally, some indoor time playing with the Lego Duplo train set I got Smalls for Christmas. It took multiple orders off of ebay to amass this awesome collection, and each time we got more tracks and legos, Rob would be like - Oh, I guess we can save this one for Michael's birthday. And I would be like - No, actually, it's for me. I actually really enjoy doing this toy with him and have fun getting creative with new configurations. But thank you, thank you Ebay, or I would have had to get a side job to pay for all of this (who knew Lego is so ridiculously expensive, particularly the train sets?).

p.s. Smalls does not have on pants because he is now officially potty trained. Hurray! Yes, most potty trained kids wear pants, but we went with this method and it worked out so, so great for us. Could do a whole other post on this. Thanks, Andrea, for posting the method on your blog - it sealed the deal for us.

This sledding pic is from last week, but we've been doing lots of it so I had to throw it in.

We've both decided that Swedish winters are actually not so bad*. (Compared to other places with cold winter climates, that is, and not compared to California.) Because as long as it is going to be fairly cold, it's actually sort of nice to have the snow stick and be white and beautiful. It hasn't gotten above freezing for over two weeks and we've enjoyed it a lot - it's easier to run and bike on soft snow than stuff that melts and then refreezes and is icy and sloshy, not to mention all the fun of sledding and xc skiing right out the door. I even invented this awesome running contraption for the sled using a resistance band and a rope - I can go running and drag Michael in the sled behind me, even while using my arms and keeping decent running form. He loooves it and I get in a great workout. It's pretty awesome and I've gotten some looks from people, surely envious of my genius contraption.
*that's a lie I tell myself till June. It could be true if the coldness was confined to three winter months, instead of, like, half the year.

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