Never ending raking..

Learning is what I do!

Right now Marlee is learnng so much every day. During the last week he has learned to
- open the bathroom door
- open and close the front door (a while ago)
- put on his rain boots by himself
- say Moon and Mobi (one of his best friends). They do sound very similar but the context will tell what he means
- put silverware and other kitchen utensils back on the right place when we empty the dischwasher

It is so much fun to watch him solve the challenges he faces every day!!

Every time I change a "poopy diaper" Marlee helps me to put it in a plastic bag. And everytime we are about to put it in the bag he sticks out his tongue. I have wondered why he does that and today I realised why. When I open the plastic bag I always lick on my fingers to be able to open it so guess who copied that behaviour :-D

This morning we all went to the American Embassy to handle Marlee's US passport. We had an appointment at 9 so it was all planned ahead and I thought that it would take about 30min. I should have known better when dealing with embassies... It took two hours. Entering the emassy was worse than going through security at an airport and we had to leave all eletronics (including Marlees toys and my headphones) and batteries by the enterance. When we got in I realised that I still had a pair of headphones is my purse, a small flashlight (with batteries) and a toy for Marlee with batteries. So much for having such a serious check up when entering the embassy...

I do not have much to publish but I can publish our best picture that we took the other day when we tried to take a passport picture of Marlee. The rules are very very strict. Our picture might not work because the background is not white enough.

I love porridge, with CINNAMON

Physalis lover

Marlee really likes the Physalis fruits that we grew in our garden. Maybe it is partly because they are so fun to eat when you have to "peel off" the little leaves before eating them? He is very good at that and he is also very careful to make sure he throws them in the garbage :-)

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This week I changed my working hours. I am now working 75% and I spread it out on three long days. I can do some work from home so I do not neccessarily have to stay in the office very late but can go home, spend some time with Marlee, and finalize my work after he has gone to sleep.

Today me and Marlee had a great day, partly at the open pre-school where he always enjoys being. Tomorrow it is work for me again and then Friday is being home-day again!

Catch up

It has been very long since I last updated the blog. Shame on me, but I have just been too busy.

Cory came for a week. He was supposed to stay for 3, and help us out, but had to go back because of a job. It was nice to have him here, even if it was short. Luckily my parents have been in Stocholm a lot this week and been able to help us out.



Trying out a potato that Cory had just digged up.

Marlee has started to eat a lot more on his own now. Most nights he wans to eat his porridge by himself. It always ends up in a pretty big mess, but it is of course worth it :-)

I almost forgot about the kittens. We have a homeless cat here who suddenly brought five adorable kittens to our garden. One day one of them was abandonned and we took care of it for a while. It was soooo cute and small. Marlee really liked it. After a few days the mother finally seems to care about her little baby again and she took it with her. Since then we have not seen the kittens anymore but the mother comes here almost every day.

Mushroom hunting

Animal sound

Today was the 1,5 year check up with the doctor and it went fine. Marlee is not talking as much as "expected" but the physical development was very good. The speech is nothing to worry about though and he saying a few words. Just the other day he learned a few animal sounds, cat, cow and horse. He is so cute when he make those sounds!! He can also point out his foot and hand. When looking in his book and there is an image of a plane he points up in the air and when there is a flower he tries to smell it. When the picture of pappa comes up he points upstairs because that is where he is and when there is a police car then he makes police car noise. It is so much fun to see how he learns more and more!

For those who do not understand Swedish Marlee is first making the cow sound, then cat and then horse. Then he gets bored... :-)

 

Lost in the forrest

A wonderful day even if the weather was not great. Started out with an exiting mushroom hunt with my friend Lisa. We all got lost in the forrest but by using google maps and a compass we got back to the car. It was never scarry but we were running out of time. Marlee got tired and hungry and we needed to be home in time to go visit some neighbours who had invited us for lunch. Marlee fell asleep in my arms on the way back to the car and he was such a good boy picking mushrooms before he got tired. We did find a lot of mushrooms today but unfortunately we had to leave a lot of them behind because of the time limit. But we will be back!

Alex, Marlee and I had a great time with a couple who lives down the road. Not a lot of people our age lives near by but these people we could actually walk to. Maybe not if you are an American :-P

My favorite part of my office desk

Our little gangsta
(unfortunately it is rather blurry but worth posting anyway)

Morning dance