Happy Birthday Xander

Someone turned 3 years old a couple of days ago. He shared a birthday brunch with his aunt Anna whose birthday is one day prior to Xander’s, and spent a gloriously sunny day in Tivoli with his parents.

Revolving door

Far is back home. Now it is Mor’s turn. I am spending the next two weeks taking a course as part of the EU research network my PhD project is a part of. This week I am commuting to and from Lund in Sweden every day to attend lectures and participate in social events with my fellow PhD students that are funded by the same grant as I. As nice as it is to be out and about networking and the like, I have to say it is kind of rough having to spend so much time away from home immediately on the heels of Chris’ three weeks absence. BUT I do feel lucky that I at least have the option of sleeping in my own bed every night and wake up with both my boys every morning

The End

Three weeks without Far are coming to a close. Xander and I have had fun being by ourselves, but we agree that it will be good to have him back. We’ll go to the airport tomorrow night and greet Far properly with a flag and perhaps a “Welcome home!” sign

The challenges of single parenthood have proven quite manageable. As expected, it is all about planning. Granted, I will no doubt enjoy not having to spend every night cleaning, doing laundry, or cooking for upcoming days, but all in all, it has not been bad at all. Planning the upcoming week’s meals in advance and shopping for an entire week at a time has probably been my biggest “aha moment”, and I hope we can continue this great habit even after Chris returns.

Without Chris to keep us company, Xander and I have had more dinner guests than ususal which has also been nice. Another habit to continue.

We have talked to Far on Skype/FaceTime every day along the way. At first, it was a challenge to keep Xander interested in talking to Far like this, especially with me in the room. But things changed dramatically for the better after Chris bought a Curious George book and started reading it to Xander over Skype. I was sceptic at first, but it worked. Xander loved it!! This is definitely something to remember for the fall when Chris is leaving for much longer, and it will be even more crucial to find ways to nourish the connection with Far.

Far might have had the pleasure of enjoying the predictably warm, sunny climate of SoCal during these past weeks, but he missed the experience of the first real summer days here in Copenhagen. This is something I had all but forgotten about Denmark — the way everybody rushes outside to enjoy the sun as soon as the temp gets close to 20C (70F)!! The feeling that the entire city (or country for that matter) is buzzing with newfound energy after a long winter, people just plop down everywhere with ice cream and cold beer, it is so amazing to experience. I love Danes for this tendency to drop everything else when the sun is shining and just hurry outside to enjoy it, because you never know when it might get chilly/cloudy/rainy again.

Anyway, here are some pics from the past couple of weeks’ X and Mor time… Enjoy!

Day 2

My morning view while waiting for the bus to work used to look like this.
Now, with Far out of town and me dropping Xander off at daycare every day, I get to sleep a whole hour longer in the morning which, as pretty as that sky may be, I cannot really complain about

Day 1

This morning meant goodbye to Far for the next three weeks. Chris will be in California boosting his dissertation progress by receiving more focused (and face-to-face!) advisor attention. Which means Xander and I are on our own.

We went all the way to the airport this morning, and said our goodbyes pretty much in the same spot where Chris and I used to part ways back in the days of long distance relationship fun. It was pretty sad, actually, although Xander was more focused on getting back on the Metro train (this was his first time riding the Metro).

Upon returning from the airport, this day one of Xander and Mor life went pretty well. We had planned to go to a big playground in Tivoli, but due to several unexpected bike-related crises, we had to postpone that outing for some other time. Instead, we spent much of the afternoon re-enacting our morning trip to the airport. Countless times did those poor little Duplo people have to go from the bus to the (imaginary) Metro to the plane and back. Xander had a blast with this and, frankly, so did I. We talked alot about Far and where he is going; however, in Xander’s version, we would always all go on the plane (and fly to Denmark).

At bedtime, for the first time all day, Xander looked at me and asked “where is Far?”. We’ll see how much he remembers come tomorrow.

First taste of summer

Silence from our end for close to a month but we are still alive. Hibernating, I guess you could describe it as. This weekend, however, there was no reason to stay cooped up inside, as the sun finally showed some power, burnt off a depressing layer of mist that hung over Copenhagen for a couple of days, and kicked the temps above 15C for the first time in a looong time. With nearly no wind, this basically means bikini weather for us sun-deprived Danes!

We started a gorgeous Sunday with no particular plans by going on a family run in the sun. In Copenhagen, everybody tends to gravitate toward the lakes surrounding the city center when it comes to strolling or running outside, and so did we. This route came with the added benefit of feeding swans along the way we strolled back toward home and stopped at our new favorite playground for a while.
After lunch, Xander and I made the trip to Chr. Hansen and back, and upon returning, we spent a couple of glorious hours on our balcony. It was so warm and wonderful, and really gave us a sense of how much we are going to love and use that balcony over the summer (I hope I’m not jinxing myself by saying this!)

All in all – a great weekend where the three of us got to hang out uninterrupted, almost like in the good old Irvine days.

What a year and what a week

As most of you must have gathered, this week was our wedding anniversary. Our first “real” anniversary after four years of marriage. Amazing to think of all the things we have experienced together since that sunny February Friday in Tallahassee in 2008! I cannot express how much I am looking forward to whatever new adventures the next four years with my man will bring <3

Besides our anniversary, which we celebrated with a very nice evening out on the town (movie's) thanks to great babysitting assistance from Anna and Jacob, one more significant event occurred this past week: Thursday marked Xander's transition from vuggestue (0-3yo) to børnehave (3-6yo), meaning he has now left the group of babies and toddlers behind and joined the older kids' group. Luckily, both groups are in the same building and Xander has spent quite some time with the new group over the past couple of weeks, whic is probably why the transition has been going so swimmingly thus far. Xander clearly enjoys being in the new group and I see signs that he is receiving tons of new input and impressions every day. Our couch is now a pirates' ship (which is not something we came up with) and it is obvious that Xander's language skills get boosted immensely by being surrounded by kids that actually talk (he was pretty much the only talker in the young kids' group). Fantastic to witness! And really unbelieveable that he is this old/big already!!

After an eventful week, we all needed some stress-free low key family weekend time, which is exactly what today was for us. Lazy morning, long semi-aimless stroll in the sun, drawn out lunch, Bamse on tv in the afternoon, and finally Chris' delicious creations from the kitchen for dinner. With wine. Perfect quality time

Tomorrow I have a reunion with middleschool classmates over lunch. 12 people, most of whom I have not spent significant periods of time with since 1997. What to wear??!

Weekend and anniversary

So managed to return sooner than two months. Hooray. Before it gets too far in the rear view mirror, I feel like I should comment that for the first time since May 21st, 2008 (give or take a day), both Ida and I slept in a house without Xander on Saturday evening. We went out Saturday night with some of Ida’s colleagues, a mix of Danes and Germans with another American thrown in for posterity sake, the real treat came the following morning. To just sleep and sleep without either having to get up, or feelings of guilt that someone in the household is up tending to Xander was wonderful. To slowly enjoy breakfast and tea and go about the morning at an easy, self-directed pace. It was, in short, everything one could hope it to be. It also helps, of course, that Xander and mormor and morfar were all looking forward to it as much, if not more, than us and were, as far as reports go, equally pleased with the night. 

And tomorrow we get to celebrate our “1st” anniversary and, thanks to Anna and Jacob (Ida’s sister and boyfriend), we are going to the movies tomorrow night. I can still recall Ida coming through Tallahassee airport, suitcase broken, and the anticipation and joy at that moment. As we, so youngly and naively, have gone from newly weds seeing if we liked each other enough to stick around, to new parents and now to a new country, it has been quite the eventful four years. And, hopefully, one day we can re-do our vows where I take Ida (e’da) and not Ida (ida) as my wife  

Family Art

Our family as interptreted by Xander and I and expressed in play dough

Mor – Xander – Far