Kindergarten

This week my mum brought me to a place that she calls kindergarten. It's a really really warm place that is full of toys and other babies. In fact there are so many babies that I wonder why they want me there! But they do, so I went there with my mum monday morning. In the entrance hall I met Filippo, a big white soft teddy-bear. We made friends immediately and he told me a bit about the place. Then one of my girlfriends arrived, it was also her first day at the kindergarten. Her name is Alice and we meet regularly when she is out for a walk with her grandmother -she is really really sweet. Me and Alice went with two nice ladies, Giovanna and Letizia to a room where there were several other babies and we got to play with all the toys. Vow!!! On monday and tuesday my mum got to play with me, or stay in the room with me, although she is no longer a baby, but on wednesday she had to leave the room for some time. I cried a little bit when I realized that she had gone, but then I got distracted by some toys and I forgot about her until she was back. Yesterday, thursday, I didn't go to the kindergarten. That's because after lunch on wednesday I had 39°C fever and did not feel so well. My mum said it might be related to the immunization that I did early wednesday morning, but when my nose started running last night she had to think again. My parents tell me that all kinds of diseases pass easily between babies at the kindergarten, but I think I've made some kind of a record, for after only 3 hours of kindergarten I've got my first real cold! Today I got to go back to kindergarten, for I had no fever, and the nice ladies that my mum call teachers say that it's no problem going there with a running nose. In fact there are so many children there with the nose running at any time, that they are considering putting a turbine under their nose and use the mucous-flow to produce energy to keep the lights going at the kindergarten! Today my mum left the room where I was playing with the other kids for almost an hour. It was ok for me in the beginning, but be it the cold or the fact that I didn't sleep so well last night because of a blocked nose, but in the end the nice ladies called my mum and said that it was enough for today! Lets see how things proceed next week! Now I'll just concentrate on get rid of the cold, for kindergarten is much more fun when you fell good.
I also hope that tonight will be better than last night when my nose continued to congest so I felt that I couldn't breath and woke up many times. My mum always took me in her arms and tried to let me blow my nose, but I don't know how to do that. She said: how does the dog say? for one of my latest animalsounds is my own invention of how dogs do when they meet you out for a walk and sniff at you. But I was too tired to "do the dog" well, so I didn't blow my nose hard enough and in the end my mum had to use some solution to clean my nose. That was awful!! The worst thing I've tried!! But it did help, and I managed to fall asleep again...until my nose blocked again! Now my mum has bought also an equipment to suck the mucous from my nose. It's rather horrible as well, but it does help a lot. But now I have two days to cuddle and be cuddled by my parents, and if that doesn't scare away the virus then what will...?

Raining

Today it's raining. A lot. The rainy season has started here in the Po-valley, and my mum says that if we're unlucky it might last until March/ April next year! I can't even imagine how long time that is! But I didn't let the rain stop me from going outside. My mum wanted to wait until it stopped raining, but I said it was too long to wait until spring arrives, so off we went. I got to sit in my pram, under the rain-cover. That was nice. The raindrops played one melody after another as they splashed on the rain-cover and I did my own version of singing in the rain as we zig-zagged between the pools of water and my mum got really really wet. Our neighbour said that we were brave not to let the rain stop us, and said it was just as good it was not snowing, but she doesn't know that I have passed the first level of the little-viking exam in Iceland and the weather doesn't scare me at all. Sincerely I can't wait for the snow to come so that I can feel it and learn to know it!! When I went with my parents to see Hoffellsjokull in Iceland this summer the arctic storm blew down the glacier and straight into my face, but I just laughed and asked the storm if he couldn't do better than that. I also wished that the vecchiette of my neighbourhood had seen me then, for this summer they used to touch my bare feet and if they were slightly fresh they would comment on it, leaving my mum with a guilty feeling as if she didn't know how to dress me!
Well, of course it's nicer when the sun is shining, for then we can do just about anything we like, but it can also be great in the rain. When I've learnt to walk, I'll get me a good pollagalla and make sure that I jump in every pool that my mum zig-zagged away from today!

Dreampillow

Since I've started talking about my cousins in Iceland, and as Stina says that she finds Erla so similar to Kidda, I must tell you also about my cousin Marìa, which Stina might take for my mum!! She is a 13 year old fairy that beside pianoplaying, handball and other major hobbies, she also likes to handcraft things for me. She made me a hat with a grim face which scares away all bad people when we are out for a walk, and she also made me one of my dearest things. My dreampillow! It is a soft pillow with Panda-design and it makes my dreams so sweet! I won't fall asleep without it so if I feel that I'm getting drowsy and I don't have my dreampillow at hand, I make the effort to crawl to the other end of the bed to get it, so that I will sleep better!











My third icelandic cousin is the seven year old computer genius Hàkon. Not only is he my role model in one and in all, but he was so kind to give me a lot of his old clothes, so, thanks to him I won't feel cold this winter!

10 months!

Today I'm ten months old. Ten months...can you imagine! I celebrated that with a lovely steamed lunch, some mozzarella and finally blueberry-yogurt! Then I stole some bites from my mum's lunch, which I'm allowed to do, for that way I'll get used to more flavours!

And more about birthdays. Yesterday was the birthday of my cousin Erla in Iceland. She turned 17, which is a very important age in Iceland, for then you can get your driving licence! Erla has been too busy conjugating latin verbs to take the written exam, but once she can get around to it, she will have her driving licence. Maybe she will then drive to visit us!!
As Stina said that my last blog reminded her of Coraline and scared her, then I decided to put a Coraline-picture of my cousin Erla here with this blog and see if this also scares Stina! Erla has a great fantasy, and rather than putting buttons for her eyes like in Coraline (Erla read the copy of Coraline that Stina gave my mum 3 years ago), she put some wonderfully soft stones that she picked on the beach at Hvalsnes in Lòn. Can you be more cool than this at age 17?

Second Oscar

The second friend I would like to introduce you to is somewhat special. He lives in our house, but't he doesn't really share our space, so to speak. You see, he lives in a world that is paralell to ours! There are gates to his world in several places in our flat, one is the door of the cupboard in our room, this picture is taken there. This friend is very special to me, but he is also somewhat annoying. He always dresses like me, and copies everything I do. My parents call him Oscar, just like me, and I think it's rather bold of him to copy even my name. In fact I am careful not to show him my friend Bjalla, for I'm sure he would like to have her all to himself, for that's how he is. But he is fun too, so I shouldn't be complaining too much. When I go to sleep he sometimes calls me through the second gate to his world, which happens to be just above my bed (you can see that on the second photo). Then we play a bit, or until I'm tired and go to sleep. I don't know if he ever sleeps, for everytime I call him, he is there ready to play. Unfortunately he doesn't want to leave the paralell world to come and play with me in Oscarlandia, where all my toys are (there is no gate there), but sometimes when we go somewhere he comes with us!! I don't think my mum realizes, but sometimes I can see into his world as we pass a shop, or go to a bathroom. I don't tell my mum that he's there with us, for maybe she wouldn't be happy that he has followed us, I just smile secretly to him, and then we talk about it next time we meet at home!

Miss Bjalla

In the next two blogs I would like to introduce you to two of my friends that I love very much and that always bring a smile on my face.
First of all there is Bjalla, the beatle. I found her in my mum's old lab sitting on a shelf, under an increasing layer of dust. I got so excited when I saw her that I started shouting and my mum didn't know what was happening until she followed the fixing of my eyes and saw that I was communicating with Bjalla. She asked me to save her from the lab and be her friend, which I happily did. Once I was at home my mum washed away all the dust and I got to kiss and hug my new friend. Since then we are inseperable. Sometimes she is off to mind her own business, and I play on my own, but then she calls me in our secret language and off I go looking for her. She is very playful, and sometimes she hides under pillows or chairs so that I have to look for her, but then we laugh and hug once I manage to find her. I must hug her at least 20 times a day, normally I just throw myself over Bjalla and squeeze the breath out of her, like you can see on this picture. Then we chat and play until it's time to do something else. Bjalla has also introduced me to the meaning of jealousy, for if I find my mum or dad hugging my friend I go bananas and claim her all to myself! Well, if it wasn't for me, she would be bored to death on that lonely shelf in the lab! My mum bought her years ago but never thought of bringing her home, so I can't see why she should be so good friend with her!

New passion

Did you worry for me when you read last blog? I got a bit emotional when I was writing about the subject, I admit it, but maybe I exaggerated slightly...and I wouldn't want you to worry for me without a reason! Anyway, one thing replaces another (see, I'm getting philosophical about things) and so I'd like to introduce you to my latest passion. The swing!
I had tried the swing with my parents many times in the past, but I'd never liked it so they were reluctant to let me try it alone. But few weeks ago they gave it a try, and as with the kangaroo-bag it was love at first try! I laughed, I giggled, I snorted, I chuckled, I sniggered and I didn't want to leave the swing at all! Since then, we go to the playground at least 2 times a day and I get to swing all I like. Actually I get all excited when we start to see the playground and sometimes I cry when we leave it. But it's also nice to see the other children playing in the playground and sometimes I steel smiles and compliments from the other mum's that are there. So the good side about beeing too big for the kangaroo-bag is that I'm big enough for the swing.

End of an era...

I feel too young to be sad, too happy to cry and life is too beautiful to be completely paralyzed by the events, but I can't help it. When you arrive at crossroads in your life it's difficult not to stop for a while, reflect on the past or as in my case, take a dive into an ocean of nostalgic memories.
I've arrived to the end of an era. It was not completely unexpected and we have actually astonished ourselves for how long this era has lasted, but still the end was more abrupt than we had imagined. I know we have the backpack, and I'm actually looking forward to using that -but it's not the same. Judging from my parents talk I'll soon be walking -although I feel that my feet are still a bit too shaky to carry me around- and then I won't really need it any more. But still! Nothing will ever replace my dear old kangaroo-bag! I've used it daily since I was around 3 weeks old. It has brought smile to my face more often than any other object in my posession. It has brought me to more places than I would have imagined existed. I've dreamt about it at night and I guess I will for some time on, although it is now parked in the box of things no longer in use. I don't know whether it's me that has become too heavy or my mum too weak (I bet it's that!), but the fact is a fact and nothing to do but to accept it. My mum says it's a good practice, there are some bigger changes planned in our immediate future, such as kindergarten and (hopefully) moving to a new place. It's all part of that growing up thing...but hey, I'm in no hurry!!!

Just in case...

I thought I'd show you a picture of the unwanted toy that I wrote about in a previous blog. And I'd like to warn you, if you're a mum and will recieve a huge parcel from my parents, with compliments and all...you know what's in it! Or if you read in the newspaper that aUFO was seen flying over Pavia, and as a proof they publish a picture of a suspicious green thing travelling with the speed of light over the cathedral, you know that my mum has finally thrown the toy out of the window. But if nothing of this happens, and the toy remains in our custody (one doesn't really want to own something like this), then maybe my mum should remove the earplugs -for they might be the reason she doesn't understand me when I'm talking!

Talking

Can someone explain to me what happens as words travel through air? Is there some mechanism that mixes them up so that no one can understand them? Well, I find it somewhat puzzling that
when I say miao my parents understand that I'm imitating a cat and reply Miiiaaaooo, when I say iiihhh, they recognize the horse,
when I say vooohh they think I'm a dog...or well, my mum does -my dad insists that dogs say bau, wherever he gets that idea from-
when I say quaqua they play a duck
and when I say dudu they make the sound of the train that passes behind our house.
But when I say loud and clear Dear parents, my stomach is empty like a black hole, in other words, I'm really really hungry, would you be so kind to give me something to eat,
they say yes, we shall go and read a book for you
or
yes, mum loves you very much too Oscarino.
I don't get it, was I not being clear enough?? I do my best to understand the mumblejumble that my parents say, although I'm somewhat confused by the difference in the words that they use -each of them has their own words for everything, which goes long in explaining my father's bau-business. But maybe they just aren't trying hard enough to decipher what I'm saying...or maybe the words do get changed as they travel through air...

Last Saturday we went to visit friends of my parents. They've got twins that are a bit bigger than me and I had a lot of fun playing with them. Then when we were going back home, the twin's mum said she wanted to give me one of their toys. My mum said it was not necessary, but the other mum insisted, so off we went with one of the twin's toys. We could see the other mum smirking as everyone exchanged goodbye kisses, but we didn't "get it". We still didn't get it when we heard the twin's parents open a bottle of expensive champagne as we left or when we saw the lights from the fireworks as our car moved towards our home. Once we were home my parents put the toy on the center of the floor and I got to play with it. It is one of these toys where you can press a million buttons and turn things or open and close and they will make sound. Only that this one makes horrible sounds. Horrible-horrible-horrible! I actually like noisy things, so the first time I played with the toy we were all like: yippie...what a fun..haha!!! and we tolerated the noise quite well. Already the second time I used it, the noise started to get to my mum's nerves (daddy was lucky to be at work!). The third time I played with it my mum started looking for the off button.

BUT THERE IS NO OFF BUTTON !!!

One even has to use a screwdriver to remove the batteries!! My mum got histerical...
And that's when finally we got it!!!
Luckily for my mum the noise also goes a bit on my nerves, so I don't play so much with the toy. Otherwise she would be looking like the lady on the photo. And well, I guess my mum will be as happy as the twin's mum when she will be able to relay the toy to the next innocent parent-baby pair. Marghi...Francesca....Barbara...?

Three quarters

Yesterday I had lived three quarters of a year. This means that I've spent as much time inside and outside my mum's belly and I've transformed from what seemed just a small bean to become a sweet little boy. Isn't that quite amazing? I didn't celebrate the event, except that I got some extra kisses and cuddling from my parents, which was nice, and today I've taken a step into the tenth month -and who knows which adventures await me this month!!!

Something white and wet

Come october, come autumn -well, if that is what this is. This morning when I went for the daily morning walk with my mum, everything was changed! The houses, the trees, the cars, everything was covered with something white and wet. I wanted to touch it to see what it felt like, but the closer we got to it, the further it went away as if it was trying to escape from us! When we passed the rice-fields we couldn't see the trees that are on the other side, but I know they were there for I could hear the birds singing in the trees and greeting me like they do every morning. It just appeared as if they had been eaten by a big white and wet monster, that was lying there digesting the tree truncs and laughing. When we went to the bridge to say hello to the river, like we do every day, we couldn't see where the river came from or where it was going. We just saw a small piece of river flowing under the bridge before it melted into the white and wet thing. I wish someone had goven me a warning, for this change was far too drastic and far to sudden for me. Then suddenly the sun appeared and wiped away the monster in just few moments, and I could see (to my great relief) that everything was just as it used to be. My mum calls this monster "FOG" and tells me that if the weather is going to continue to be the typical Po-valley weather we're going to see a lot of it this winter. Hm...! I just checked the weather-forcast for the following days, and I guess we WILL be seeing a lot of the fog in the days to come (see the bars in the last column!). My mum is not so happy about it, she finds the fog a bit depressing. But I just told her to go out without her glasses and try to focus mainly on the beautiful colours of the leaves on the trees and if she gets sad I'll just sing her a song that I invent and that makes life a ten-million-times more sweet for her :)

International dinner...

Ok, ok, someone does read my blog, there are already some comments, and some people that have talked to my mum have said: hey, am I supposed to comment on the blog..ah? Which means they read it but would never comment on it. Anyway, maybe I shouldn't be bothered at all if someone reads this or not...in the end this blog almost serves as a diary also for me so...hey..here I am -happy as ever :)
I must say also that internet IS very useful for us. We search information, read news, and most importantly, we keep in contact with people! My parents have friends all around the globe, and of course half my family is in Iceland - so if today was, say, 25 years ago (come to it..10-15 years back is enough), either my parents would be writing snail-mail-letters every day, or they would loose contact with all those wonderful people. With internet we can keep in touch as if we were all living in the same street. There are no limits to what we can do actually!
Last night for example we had dinner with a friend of my mum that lives in Canada, isn't that awesome?? It was a kind of dinner where it was difficult to exchange food between plates, so to speak -everyone had to bring their own meal (and it really wasn't dinner time in Canada), but it was great. If you've got skype (and can't make it for a real dinner with my family -to which you are kindly invited) then please contact us on skype at dinner time, and we will be happy to share our meal with you.

Is there anyone out there?

No, I'm not looking for aliens. I'm just checking if anyone ever reads this blog. There are never any comments to my writing and I don't have a counter on my site, so how can I know? If no one reads this I might just as well stop writing...so here's my deal: I'll blog once for every comment I get from you...ok? So if you don't hear from me again...it's because I didn't hear from you!!!!!

Less extreme...!

Those who read the past two blogs probably think that we, the "italian-trio", are a bit extreme on certain things. If you know my mum, then you're probably thinking
well, yes, hmmm... they are...!!!
and maybe we are, from a certain point of view -although we are mainly just practicing what my mum calls heilbrigda skynsemi (healthy intelligence!). Only that it is sometimes bloody difficult in practice!
I'll take an example. As you may well know in these modern times, together with the inhabitants of the Linfen-region of China and Ranipet in India, babies are among the world greatest ecological monsters. Before we learn to control our weewee and poopooh we consume/produce several tons of diapers and the experts say that it takes something like 500 years for them to break down in nature!!! I don't think parents in general go around throwing the used diapers in nature -not even curious parents like mine (just to check how long it really takes them to break down), but they don't go around very proud of what they are doing to mother nature either. So, if the parents are a bit aware of these things, like mine are (or were..!!) they do something about it. So how do you think that my parents spent the evening of 28 of december, the day before I was born -their last childfree day for years and years. Candlelit dinner? Cinema? Romantic walk in christmas-decorated Pavia? No, theese geeks spent the evening on internet searching among the offers of re-usable diapers!! Then a couple of days after I was born and was desperate for my parents attention, my mum sent my dad some 80 kilometers away to spend a lot of money (those modern re-usable diapers are not really cheap!) to buy the chosen brand of diapers! Then my mum treated the diapers with some kind of wax to make them softer and dried that thing off with a hairdrier, then she washed them all and hung them to dry in their bedroom (our flat IS small). The thing scared the shit out of my parents when they woke up to my crying during the night, for the diapers looked like 20 dead chicken hanging on a line! The instruction said the diapers would dry in about 8 hours, but with the humid january-weather in Pavia, it took a lot more for them to dry and my mum almost refused to eat chicken after this fearful experience. When finally they dried, my mum folded them up neatly and put them in a big bag, ready to use. To make a long story short, that's exactly where they are still today!!! My mum only made one trial to let me use the diapers. I was 1 months old, and no matter how one-size-fit'em-all these diapers were meant to be, they fitted me just like a king-sized bedsheet would have done!
What's more, they completely blocked my below-hips-mobility and made me look like a pear -and I was NOT ready to face the pear-shape complex yet! You can see it on the photo. On the left I'm using the straitjacket-diaper, on the right I'm using a normal one (I'm only crying on the one on the right because my mum said she would make me wear the re-usable one again!). Just as good they didn't continue to use them, for I wouldn't be the happy crawling-standing-climbing rascal that I am today, if I'd continued to use them!!

After this frightening trial, my mum put the diapers away and planned to try again when I had grown a bit -which I did pretty quickly, but she never gained enough courage for a second try. Sometimes my dad asks my mum what happened to the diapers, and then my mum feels a bit ashamed and a bit guilty, so she says that she is just about to make another try. Then she never does because they take too long time to dry. Or, because our flat is too small to house a bin with dirty diapers waiting to be washed. Or, our flat is so small, and the weather is so unstable that we can't count on drying the diapers outside, and we can't have 20 dead chicken hanging all the time in our bedroom -with the baby and all......and so one (you get the picture?). Each time a new excuse -and my father sees his great investment gone up in smoke -and the last childfree evening for years and years, gone wasted. Let's face it, the ecological-monster-diapers are so handy and simple, that once you get used to using them, there's no going back to the washable ones! I guess my mum would not have made it in the good old boil-the-diapers-in-a-big-pot-on-the-stove days!
So you see, being extreme might be noble and worth a try...but it can be bloody difficult in practice.

P.S.
The diapers are for sale...anyone?

Additives addicted

I didn't finish all I had to say about food-flavouring the other day. You got the message that we don't like vegetables with vanilla flavour. Well, that's only half the story, for a part from the strange combination, it's the fact that they add flavouring at all, that worries us a bit. Why do they do it? In Italy, well, all of Europe, come to think of it, it's forbidden to add colour and food-preservatives to baby-food, but that's it, you can add just whatever else you like to the food (except maybe pesticides or something). And actually, if you want your baby to eat healthy and to stear away from other food-additives, you should not give him food meant for babies, for they are terrific. Next time you go to the supermarket, check the baby-yogurt for example. Read carefully the description of the ingreadients. Almost certainly you will find that most, if not all, contain artificial flavouring (if it's natural flavouring they specify it), extra sugar and if you're lucky...some real fruit and some yogurt.
I don't know if you heard in the news lately that food-additives can cause hyperactivity in children?

“A mix of additives commonly found in children’s foods increases the mean level of hyperactivity,” wrote the researchers, led by Jim Stevenson, a professor of psycology at the University of Southampton. “The finding lends strong support for the case that food additives exacerbate hyperactive behaviors (inattention, impulsivity and overactivity) at least into middle childhood.”

This is no new knowledge, people have known for years that they don't do us any good. There are also indications that food-flavouring can cause worsening of the symptoms for children with Tourette syndrom and there is probably no end to the list of what these additives can do to us.
The only reason that I can find for the producers of baby-food to sell these chemical-cocktails for small babies is making us addicted! Like for smoking..you start smoking before you know it's not good for you -well, or you think that you are going to live forever anyway...or that old age is so unappealing and so far away, that some smoking can not possibly matter -then bang, you grow up, are addicted to the golden dragon and have stained your lungs black on the inside!
Maybe the food-additives are not as bad...but what do we know? If it's possible to eat just normal, natural food...then why shouldn't we?

Vanilla-vegetables

Can I ask you something? Well, I'm a baby and although I've got my ideas about a lot of things, I might not get them right all the time. So here's my dilemma. If you are offered mashed vegetables with some meat for lunch (it might not happen to you often, but imagine being a baby and being offered this practically every day) would you prefer it with the taste of vanilla or just the simple natural vegetable and meat taste?
(please leave a comment to let me know what you think!)
Well, the reason I ask you is that a couple of weeks ago my mum bought the cereals to add to my food. At the supermarket there were only two brands, Nestle and Plasmon, and my mum brought home one box of Rice from Plasmon. On the box it's written that one can use it either to add to the vegetable broth or to milk and since Plasmon advertises a lot on TV (grow up healthy, is their slogan) she thought it was quite a good choice. The surprise came when she added the cereals to my food. First she thought that her nose was playing tricks on her, but then she had no doubt: the rice was vanilla-flavoured! A quick glance on the box revealed that Plasmon had added flavours to the cereal, but not a word about vanilla! My mum was rather disgusted, and wrote a letter to Plasmon to let them know what she thought. After a while the reply came

Dear Mrs. Valgardsdottir
We excuse the late reply to your request, and would like to inform you that vanilla flavour has been added to all our cereals after several taste-trials among a group of our clients, who judged that the taste of the cereals with added vanilla-flavour was better for their babies. Furthermore, the sweet taste helps the babies to get accustomed to more savory tastes during the first steps of weaning.

blablablablabla..! Now let's say that there are parents that prefer vanilla-flavoured vegetables and meat (I would be curious to hear them actually) -but wouldn't it be fair to KNOW what you're buying? Now take a look at the picture of the Plasmon-cereals! Can you see written anywhere that vanilla-flavour has been added? If you buy biscuits from Plasmon you can choose between Vanilla, Chocolate or No-flavour biscuits as clearly evidenced on the box. But if you buy the cereals, you get vanilla...or, well, you buy another brand...which is just what my mum did.

I love IKEA

My dad sometimes says that the first time my mum felt at home in Italy was when he brought her to IKEA. Then she could be the practical scandinavian surrounded by practical scandinavian things!! I'm only half-scandinavian and I've never been to IKEA, but I still love them -for guess what, they know exactly what my tastes are!!! I don't know how they know where I live, but when we had just come back from Iceland they sent me 372 pages of a delicious catalogue. I still can't believe my luck. Page by page I'm tearing apart the catalogue, strapping every sofa or table or whatsnot that's on my way. If it wasn't for the fact that occasionally my mum feeds me with other brochures and journals I would have finished it already. First I thought my mum would say nei nei nei when I started strapping it, but to my surprise she didn't (she only does if I actually try to eat the pages). Then I found out that she has her own copy hidden somewhere (wait till I find that one..!) -she stole it from our neighbours' mailbox, but they are never at home (or not after the police came looking for them this summer), and usually they throw all publicity that comes to their mailbox on the street in front of our house -so, if you ask me, just as good that my mum saved it!

The world is my playground

Ah...life IS beautiful. When I wake up in the morning I play a little in bed and check that my toys have had a good night sleep, then I stand up and look over my parent's bed to see where they are hiding. First I can't see them -but there are strange landscapes under the bedsheets. Then I do my wakeup-call, and tell my parent's how impatient I am to start the day. That does the trick. They never fail to stick their heads out of their bedsheets when I start calling them. Well, at least my mum. My dad is better at hiding. Mum says that he's at someplace called work and I still haven't figured out where that is -which is strange, for our flat is really small. It's just a small hole really.

When my mum comes out of her hiding place I start jumping up and down in my bed, for I'm so excitied -I can't wait to start playing. Usually we start the day by playing a bit in my parent's bed, or maybe my mum reads me a book or two. Then when I start to feel that my stomach is a little empty I go and explore the milk-tanks. I need a lot of energy for all the playing to come. The world (our flat) has become my playground! I figured out how to crawl in the end of july, in Akureyri (boy, was my mum excited) and just a few days later I stood up for the first time. Since then I'm constantly on the move. I crawl, I climb, and have conquered almost every furniture there is in our small flat. My parents bought linoleum flooring (is that what it's called?) with the map of a town, and have covered the floor in the living-room with it. I'm supposed to play mainly there, but it's much more fun climbing the sofa, or under a chair, putting my hands in the VCR or catching things I'm not really supposed to play with -such as the remote control and my mum's cell phone! Why should I stick to the designated area when the rest of the flat is much more fun? When I go to places where I'm not really supposed to be, such as in the kitchen or try to climb the radiator my mum says nei nei nei nei and gives me the worried look. I know what it means, and do stop what I'm doing for a while, but then curiosity has better of me and I continue. Then my mum says again nei Oscar nei, and then she gives me a short lecture on why I can't, it's hot, it's dangerous, it's ullabjakk and so on -as if that makes me any less curious! Well, I'm young, and there is a world out there to discover...!

(Don't) mind the gap..!

I know, I know...! I haven't been blogging enough lately. It's just that I have a tiny problem with a big gap. I didn't blog for about 3 months, and every time I want to restart, this gap of 3 months is proofing to be like a grand canyon that I can't cross! I had planned to tell you all about what I've been up to the last few months, but since I came back home so many things have happened that every day I'm torn by the decision of whether to write about the summer (enough to fill a whole book) or just concentrate on that particular day....and in the end I just don't write anything at all! Would you call this a writer's block or a trivial-dilemma?

But enough is enough...I've decided to never mind the gap (maybe you'll get it in small pieces in the following blogs) and start to tell you what I'm up to these days.

Meez and meez dad

"

Meez and meez mum...

Happy birthday great-grandmother

My only great-grandmother is 80 years old today. I don't really understand how much that is, but hope that I will acquire first hand experience! Me and my parents didn't manage to go to celebrate with her and other relatives in Iceland, but I would like to send her all our best wishes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "LANGAMMA"

On the picture you can see me with her in Iceland this summer.

Back to Italy

Ciao ciao
We are back in Italy. Actually we've been here for a week, but my mum has been paralyzed by the heat and hasn't managed to blog for me at all. 33°C is maybe not so much, but it is extremely humid and then...when you've been cooling off in Iceland for a while, it feels like entering the sauna!! Finally today it is raining a bit and the temperature has dropped, and so my mum finds time to write a few lines. Actually I think she believes that this spell of fresh air is not going to last very long, so not only is she blogging for me but she using the opportunity also to bake a chocolate-cake (can't you smell it...mmm) and make the minestrona (vegetable soup) for me...or maybe -judging from the smell from the kitchen- she is making a chocolate-minestrona, which would be interesting!!! Now it's actually going to get warm and humid in our flat because of her activity!!
Well, but enough of that. I've just turned 8 months (yesterday) and continue to be a bundle of joy to everyone around me. When I'm not out for a walk, I spend most of my time exploring our flat. There's not so much of it, but there are still plenty of places to explore. The greatest fun is when I climb the furniture and go to off-limit places, such as the kitchen and the bathroom. I'm not really supposed to, so my mum comes running after me saying Oscar...nooooo. When she catches me, both of us laugh like mad, and it makes my stomach shake and sometimes I even get hickup or fall to the floor, for it's difficult to laugh and sit or stand at the same time.... then it's good that my mum is there to catch me!! But what a fun! I've even started to suspect that my mum actually likes that I do these forbidden things so that we can have a laugh !

Another thing that I have recently discovered, is how to make myself invisible. It's quite simple actually. I just pull things such as my sweater or a towel over my face and I disapperar! My parents start to call Oscar where are you? and maybe they think that I've gone to the bathroom or the kitchen or something. Then I just pull the towel down again, and boy do they get surprised when I reappear. I think this could become a useful trick in the future, hehe!

Well, I was planning to tell you also a bit about our trip to Iceland, but that will have to wait, for now I'm going to give my mum a big hug.

Greetings from iceland

Hiya, everyone
There are several reasons for why I haven't been blogging lately. But they can be summed up in lack of internet connection and excessive travelling!!!
Right now I'm in Iceland with my parents, and boy am I enjoying myself!!! The viking training is going really well, I think I´ve passed the exam with honours. By now I´m able to crawl fast as a ferrari, I´ve got 2 teeth that I use on any object within a 50m radius, I can sit up, stand up and walk the stairs, and well my smile is as broad as ever. But these things have kept me very busy and actually I logged on because I just wanted to say hello to all of you, and let you know that I´m still around, then I'm off again to continue with my things ! But I'll be back soon.
Until then...BIG hugs from me and my parents in ICELAND

Pappa

I don't always understand my parents!! One day they take you to see some wonderful animals in a pet-shop and you immediately fall in love with a beautiful rabbit and wish that you could embrace it and its lovely soft fur. You even dream about it during the night. Then the next day when they are preparing your lunch they tell you (and I can never tell if there is sarcasm or serious enthusiasm in their voice) that today they will add meat to your lunch for the first time

- today you will eat the meat of rabbit Oscar

they say, and they're surprised that you are not thrilled about it! I know that Helga, a friend of my mum, would be as shocked and disgusted as I was about this news! How could I know that it wasn't THE rabbit that we saw in the shop that I was forced to eat? I imagined my dear little friend being cooked in a pot and was not amused.

From this you can also see that after the bad start, I've now started eating solid food once a day. The day after the accident, my mum told me (somewhat proudly) that now I would start eating solid food. I sniffed a bit in the air and could smell something burnt...but it was only the remains of the smell from the day before. This time my mum didn't look from the pot for the hour it took to prepare the broth and there was no way around it, I had to eat the food that day. You can see a video of it on my photo-site (prima pappa). 3-4 days later my mum added the meat of rabbit to the broth and now she's even added some parmesan cheese to it. The first few days I ate without complaining -I was rather curious about this new way of being fed. But on the day of the rabbit I refuted to eat, closed the mouth and put up an angry look -but my mum started making strange sounds and letting the spoon fly towards my mouth and before I knew it I had eaten all the food she had prepared! I can't believe that I fell for the old aeroplane trick -again and again!! I must be more aware next time!

Video

Finally my parents have started putting some videos of me on my photo-site.
Take a look!

Bad start...!

My mum has something like 5000 cookbooks. Sometimes she shows me these books, tells me the name of the colour of the cover and then she tells me that she cant wait to introduce me to the various tastes of the world. Until today I used to get carried away with her enthusiasm, and I used to watch her and my dad curious when they were eating. But no more. I've started to have my doubts. Serious doubts -and for a good reason.

I'll tell you what happened. Today my mum wanted to start to give me solid food ! She had prepared her self mentally and equipped herself with all the necessary things, the vegetables, the ricemeal etc. and then started making the brodo. After half an hour she tasted the brodo and was quite happy with the results...mmmm he is going to like this, she thought. Yeah, right! Then she continued doing whatever she was doing and forgot all about the cooking, until she started to smell something in the kitchen...! She thought of all possible reasons for the smell, until she had to face the facts:
MY FOOD IS BURNT!!!
My mum had to use miracle-products to save the pot -you know, one of the things they show on TV that you just spray on the crust which gets so scared that it runs away by itself. It didn't really work like that, some old fashined scrubbing was also necessary. But the pot has been saved, and my mum says it's ready for a new attempt tomorrow!
But maybe it's best just to stick to breastmilk and fruit for some while..!!

More friends

Since I've started introducing you to some of my friends, I'd like to introduce you also to a particularly good friend of mine. This is Tommi. He lives in France with his parents (Marghi and Mauro), but luckily sometimes he comes to pavia to visit friends and family. Me and Tommi have done things together since we were just a couple of mm long. Before our arrival was official our mums went together to Lyon, to the countryside around Grenoble and "climbed" to the top of the Fort de la Bastille in Grenoble. Later we went to Iceland together where we climbed mountains, bathed in natural pools and went for long walks in our mum's bellys. Now we are a bit less mobile, but we are growing very quickly so who knows which adventures await us!

Friends

I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends, Matteo, Lili, (Me), Carolina and Luca. I think we are rather lovely all of us, don't you think? These babies have been part of my life since november, yes you read right...since before I was born- when I used to go to the pre-natal course with my mum (Riccardo, Marta and Martina are missing from the photo). After we were born, and our mums stopped being like complete zombies, we started seeing each other again regularly, so that our mums could exchange advises and stories, and well, talk to someone that is as interested as themselves in talking about sleep and shit and all! We normally meet in the park in front of the castle of Pavia. The first time we met it was rather cold, and you could see tired mums, with dark rings under their eyes and running noses (for it was still cold) sitting on the benches of the park, breastfeeding (the record was 5 mums breastfeeding together...what a sight -should have brought the camera then) or cuddling their puppies and checking if everyone was getting as little sleep as themselves or if the colour and frequency of our "waste" was within the normal range. Now that summer has arrived we put a blanket under a tree and then we play with eachother while our mums continue to exchange stories and advises.
If you look closely on the picture you will see that I'm holding Lili's hand. Well, actually both her and Carolina are sort of my girlfriends (if you've visited my photo-site recently then you've seen me holding hands with Carolina as well!). Well, what can I say? The girls are crazy about my hair and as I'm the biggest and oldest lad in the group the girls are not interested in the other guys! But even if I like both Lili and Caro (which by the way are very heterozygotic twins- or better to say, hetero-parental twins, i.e. they are born on the same day, but have different parents!) then I think I'm too young to commit, so I just enjoy the attention that I get! Well, and getting the attention of young mademoiselles like them is quite a change from the attention I get from the nonne of our neighbourhood!

FIVE MONTHS

Isn't it scary how fast time is flying? My parents have just learnt to say that I'm four months old, when I become fourandahalf (and at my age it is much too imprecise saying that I'm four months old when I actually have half a month more!!) and then they just blink their eyes and I'm five months old! I'm becoming bigger every day, I learn new things every day and life continues to be pretty good. Oh, and in case you are wondering, it's official: I am a good sleeper :)

Summertime

I was wondering if this was maybe the best time of the year to be born -i.e. if you are born in Italy in times of global-warming and all. Think about it -you would leave the pleasant 37°C environment of the womb (...che nostalgia!) and the only difference that you would notice, once you'd be out, would be the lack of amniotic liquid and all that light!
But when you're born in winter like me (even if my parents say that this year we only had pseudo-winter, for it never really got cold), and your mum makes you go through a hard viking-training (after which wind, cold and rain don't scare me at all) -then you start to have difficulties when the quicksilver starts boiling in the thermometers! This week the temperature has been around 35 degrees...in the shadow -probably over 50 in direct sunlight, and we are close to the temperature of the sun in our car! AND IT'S STILL ONLY MAY!!!! How warm will it get in june...or...july...or, well, august!!! This temperature should be forbidden by law. Well, and can't they send just a few degrees to Iceland where it was actually snowing last week? Because of this temperature me and my mum go out for walks only early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and still then we're sweating. For the rest of the day we just doze off in our flat, or play that we are Pekka in the Sauna! Just as good that we're going to Iceland for a month and that we've just booked a flat by the sea for one week in June.

Another downside with the summer are the small spitfire-planes!! They are really annoying! Maybe you are just about to fall asleep when they approach you with the speed of light and the sound that warns you of an imminent attack. I got two bites last week -which maybe wouldn't have been so bad if my mum hadn't overreacted and bathed me in some after-bite solution -before reading that it contained ammonium!! Not only was I stinking (!) but my delicate skin reacted badly and I looked as if I had something terminal!
My parents tell me that Pavia is particularly popular amongst the spitfires -there are hundreds of millions and billions of these annoying creatures here. My parents are planning to pack me and my bed into mosquito-nets to protect me from future attacks, but I'm a bit afraid that the spitfires might be able to bomb their way through it!!!

The third and last downside with the summer is more personal. My mum has just bought me a pair of sunglasses -which is actually good, because the sunlight disturbs me a bit!!! But the downside is that after trying on all sunglasses made for small babies that we found in Pavia my mum decided that they were all either too expensive or too big for me. In the end she found a compromise between the two, i.e. the size was right and they didn't cost a fortune -only that she forgot to check if they looked good on me or not! So rather than looking extremely cool with one of the too-big-too-expensive sunglasses that we'd found, she got me a pair that made me look like a baby-Elton John!!! No wonder people laugh when they see me wearing them!! I hope she takes this as a lesson -you can't put a price-label on looking good!

O happy days...

I did NOT have a sleeping-problem. I had NOT inherited the bad sleeping habits of my parents. I was NOT teething. The change of season was NOT effecting my sleep-pattern. Then what? Well, I was simply the offer of bad habits of my parents. The fault was theirs, not mine (although they did what they thought was best for me, not knowing better). But the important thing is not to look for the guilty ones (yeah, you can see that my mum lends me her fingers to write this) but that things have actually improved. I sleep well both during the day and during the night.

So in one day the pattern changed from waking up 2-6 times a night -as I've done the last few weeks- to sleeping 11 hours without interruption with the great bonus that I fall asleep by myself now -something that my parents have been hoping that would happen for some time -but dind't know that I had it all in me, all I needed was the opportunity to try. Needless to say my parents are on cloud nine and I'm blissfully happy myself. Of course it means also that I have said goodbye to my fairy for the last time (we hope). I miss her a little bit, but hey, one has to go on with his life, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to visit me forever.

I can hear you asking what the trick was. Well, imagine going to sleep in your bed as every night; after a few hours you wake up finding yourself on the sofa in the living room. Wouldn't you be terrified? Even an adult would start screaming not knowing which supernatural force had moved him at night. Then imagine a baby falling asleep either in the arms of the parents, or even while breasfeeding, and then wakes up in a bed (even if it is its bed) without the parents around. It never failed to scare me I tell you...! So I'm sure you'll find it normal that I called my mum, which would arrive, terribly tired, nurse me and then put me to bed. If I wasn't completely asleep, I would start to complain the moment I was put back to bed, my mum would take me in her arms again, I would calm down...and so the night would pass with neither of us getting good sleep. But how did we get out of this vicious circle?
Welll, on friday my mum when to sign me in to the daycare. She arrived at the moment that the kindergarten-teachers were putting the babies to sleep. My mum sighed and asked how could they make all these babies fall asleep when she had this great problem with me. The teacher let my mum talk for a while -she was a very good listener-and then she suggested a solution. Previously my mum had talked to my doctor and to the psicologist that had given the prenatal-course, but neither of them had listened and neither of them could point out a solution. The doctor had actually suggested that my parents give me camomille-tea when I wake up at night ("for he is probably just a bit thirsty!") and the psicologist had said that some babies do and some babies don't have a problem like this. Both of them said that it would pass, although no-one could give a guarantee of WHEN. But the teacher, who is used to look in the eye of tired parents (my mum had slept only 2.5 hours the previous night) knew what she was doing. She suggested a book called "Fate la nanna" written by a Spanish sleep-expert called Estevill and said that many parents had solved the problem using the method described in the book. My mum was enthusiastic to say the least. She ran home, breastfed me and then we were off to the center where she stormed the bookstore and bought the book. Then we went straight home where I was put to play by myself while she practically ate the book. That same night she put in practice the method described by the book with the results that after two minutes of crying I fell asleep by myself before 9 o'clock and I slept until 8 the next morning. For weeks and weeks we had been TWO MISERABLE MINUTES OF CRYING FROM A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP! My mum was so excited during the night that she didn't sleep at all, she kept saying to her self IT WORKS, IT WORKS and her blood was full of adrenaline.
Maybe it's still early to say that I'm a good sleeper, but the trend has been turned with great consequences on both me and my parents. I'm more relaxed during the day, they are more relaxed and we all have more fun than before. Life is simply GOOD

P.S.
On the picture above you can see how I fell asleep in my bed yesterday afternoon (I slept 2 hours, which was very rare the last few weeks), lying sideways in the bed, hugging Yogi the bear.

Food for thought

A couple of weeks ago I started to widen the spectra of tastes! After 4 months of exclusive breastfeeding my parents decided it was time that I tried something new. Don't misunderstand me -it's not because I don't like the milk or that the production of this fluid of life has started to go down. My parents simply thought that it would be nice to try something new, it would get me used to the spoon at the time they start to introduce solid food and it will give me some extra vitamins and minerals -which cannot but do me good. Besides, it was suggested by my doctor! So now, after the breastfeeding sessions my mum puts me in my chair and gives me a kind of dessert ! By now I'm familiar with the tastes of apple, pear and banana. The first time I tasted the apple and the pear I wasn't that thrilled about it, they tasted a bit -well, what can I say -different! My mum tried to add a bit of her own milk to them, but it wasn't quite the same. Still, after a couple of days I started to eat them with great pleasure. The banana on the other hand was love at first sight. My mum finds me a bit funny while I eat, for I chat all the way through the feeding
-mmm mmmm mmmm mmmm
something like this is what I say and my mum likes to interpret it as "yummie yummie" an interpretation that wouldn't be so far from the truth.

The introduction of fruit to my diet has had dramatic effects on the contents of my nappies -which after my sleeping pattern is the second most interesting subject to my mum. Can you imagine! In the last 4 months my mum has actually aquired a technical vocabulary of nappy-content that is so rich that she could give a University-lecture about it. The fluidity, the colour, the frequency and the abundancy, all is a subject of her daily examination (which she then dutifully reports to my dad when he comes home from work -much to his despere). And so it was that after the first time I had eaten banana my mum was extremely startled when she changed my nappy. She took the nappy and examined it closely (sincerely I thought she was about to eat the content, as she kept it so close to her face). Then she let out a small shriek and ran to show it to my father.
-He's got worms. WORMS...maybe that's why he's not sleeping so well (remember she was on an eternal search for the root of that problem). LOOK!
My dad was actually brushing his teeth at that moment and from his face it was clear that he was pretty shocked as well -although I suspect that he was more shocked by the fact my mum thought that he would be intersted in such a close nappy-inspection, than actually by it's contents!
After a short, but intensive conference, my parents concluded that what they saw in the nappy wasn't actually worms, but the fibers of the banana! What a relief. Although my mum was just slightly disappointed not to have found the reason for my sleep-problems!! A couple of days later the contents of my nappy became again the subject of close inspection. I had eaten apple the day before, and when my mum changed my nappy she could (sniffing in the air -hm, as one does) actually smell the apple! My mum wouldn't have been more surprised if there had been a 500 dollar bill in the nappy! Then she argued that, well, when he eats only milk, the nappy-contents actually have a sweet milky smell (it IS frightening how familiar she is with all aspects of these things), so why would it be surprising if it smells of apple after eating one? The thought actually cheered her up -apple smelling shit, maybe there was even market for it! Then she continued cleaning me (yes, for she had ignored her duties while doing her little research -leaving me dirty and a helpless witness to the scene). It was then that she realized. EUREKA! It was the wipes that she used to clean me that smelled of apple. The nappy-content had just its, well, usual nappy-content's smell (don't force me to analyse it closer!). In a couple of weeks my parents will start to introduce solid food to my diet, and who knows which surprises it will offer at the time of nappy-change to my curious mum!

P.S.
I've started sleeping 10-11 hours without interruption during the night, and I've learnt to fall asleep by myself, but I'll write more about that in my next posting

Update

Fidd-fiju
(my mum claims that this is a whistling-sound) ...I'm calling your attention for we're back in Pavia -well, actually we came a week ago, but hey, we have had other things to do than just hanging on internet all day long :) The trip back from Arezzo was quite nice. I surprised my parents by sleeping until Piacenza -I would have slept all the way if it hadn't been for heavy and slow traffic around Firenze which delayed the trip by half an hour. This was very unexpected (the sleep, not the delay around Firenze which should always be scheduled in your travel plans!) as lately I don't sleep so much during the day (not to talk about the nights...but that's a different story!). At the pay-toll station in Piacenza we stopped to empty the milk-tanks and then the last part of the trip I trained for the infant-multitask-championship. I chatted continuously until we arrived to the doorstep in Pavia, while keeping up to 5 fingers in my mouth AND kicking my socks of. I challange any baby my age to do better :)
The first few days at home were a bit sad, only me and mum -no dad, no grandparents, no big garden to play in and no cat to play with. The weather was also rather bad, after months and months of dry weather we had heavy rain for some days. My mum had to bring me out in the kangaroobag, armed with an umbrella, trying not to be hit by the lightnings. You can see the hail that we had one evening on this picture! And the answer is NO, we did not go out that evening, even if it might have been an important part in my viking-training! Now the high-pressure area has arrived in Italy and the forecast is for 30°C this week. We're already sweating!

Lately my parents have been informing themselves on their own sleeping pattern while they were young. Well, my sleep-problems shouldn't come as any surprise to them..I guess they are living their own kharma with me...! If that's possible! My mum hardly ever slept during the day and my dad went through a period where he didn't sleep at all during the night! The sum of the two of them is...well, ME !