This day has been haunting me.  All this time I’ve had mixed feelings about it.  I know he needs to relate to other kids, and learn to play with them and so on.  But I also feel that he might be too small.  I think this is typical for all moms.  I can’t wait to have some free time for myself, but I also don’t want to leave him alone for too long.   The good news is that he’s only going to be there part time, and I will be with him in the afternoon.  Well, we’ll see how this all works out. His first day was ok, since I was there the whole time. His second day, was ok, but not as good as I thought it would be, he wanted to be nearby, and when he wasn’t, he would shout after me. I also want to take my time… I don’t want him to be there the whole day yet, cause Ximena is still here for 12 more days, and I want them to play together too. So I thinks it’s good to start leaving him, but it’s also good for him to be home.  The way the system works here in Sweden is that you take two weeks to introduce him to this arrangement.  The first 3 days he stays for only 1 hour and you work your way up to whatever many hours you are going to leave him. 

This monday I left him for the first time for about 30 min. and he cried the whole time.  When I came to pick him up he was sooo red and he couldn’t stop crying.  I felt awful.  On tuesday I left him too, but this time outside and they said that he was very happy outside, but as soon as he went inside he wasn’t as happy.  Then he saw me coming in and he was crying desperately.  It was worse than monday.  I’m hating this whole process.  But I guess this is the way it is for everyone.

Well, we’ve been taking the kids everywhere.  So it was time to go to the Zoo (Skansen).   We have been so lucky with the weather so far, it’s been very nice and warm.  We fed them and put them to sleep.  We looked at some animals and Daniel got to ride on the horse again (second time this month).  Lupita was following him while I was taking some pictures. He was sooo excited about the horse until……  the sound of a tractor nearby reached Daniel’s ears. He suddenly forgot where he was… and what he was doing…. he was all over the saddle!!! all of a sudden he lost the grip of the saddle and he was riding without hands, pointing at the place where the noise was coming from,  I was running behind them and my mom was being dragged by Daniel and the horse, who just at this precise moment decided to pick up the pace as well.  It was like scene from a cartoon.  Until finally they all stopped and we tried to get back to normal. 

We also went to the petting zoo, in this area you were supposed be able to play with some of the animals, but there weren’t as many available as we thought.  Only the goats were very social.  Daniel and Ximena went to touch them.  One of them was very nice and was very close to both of them, but the goat felt a bit crowded and took a sudden jump, right  in the face of Ximena.  I think Ximena was in such a shock that she didn’t even have time to cry.  She was just surprised, but nothing major happened, she was fine.  I think that the best part of this trip is the fact the they are both adjusting to each other, Ximena and Daniel.  And they start to play with each other, they get along great.  Well, I know that Daniel is my son and that I am probably biased, but he just is such a nice boy.  He’s not the kind that fights, or the kind that doesn’t share things.  Of course this might all change now that he is starting Day Care, but so far he’s just too nice.

Esta foto es de mi hermana y su hija Ximena, caminando en Hammarby. Hammarby es el área donde me mude hace ya casi un año.  Es un área muy nueva y en contínuo crecimiento.   Es una ciudad modelo, en cuanto a infraestructura. Todo se recicla, esta rodeado de áreas verdes y tiene muchas áreas de juego para niños. Para que se den una idea, parece un set de cine, como el de "Truman Show".  Hoy decidí enseñarles los alrededores, y caminamos alrededor del agua, aprovechamos y les dimos de comer pan a los patos y cisnes. Los niños estaban felices! y nosotras también la pasamos muy bien.  Mi hermana y mi mamá me contaron la odisea que les pasó para llegar a Suecia.  Habían tomado un vuelo con Ryan Air. Una aerolínea de descuento que es muy estricta con los límites de peso.  Yo le había hecho a mi mamá unos encargos de México, pero resulta que mi mami me trajo los encargos de tamaño Mayoreo, asi es de que la cosa se puso buena.  Mi hermana enojada porque mi mamá había cargado con un bote de pozole que pesaba mas de 5 kilos (de acuerdo a su versión) y bote de Gatorade de otros dos kilos. Para no hacer el cuento largo tuvieron que sacar un chorro de cosas de las maletas para balancearlas en peso y despues todavía las hicieron regresar a dejar mas cosas.  Seguro que alguien se apiadó de ellas pues la verdad que una de sus maletas pesaba demasiado. 

Well I don’t know how well you are following Hakan’s site, but as he said it correctly…. it’s true… I was puked on several times on my birthday, and I spent it in the car on our way back from Norway.  That was not the initial plan, but as time went by, this is how it all turned out.  I love the outdoors, but I honestly got bored.  It wasn’t as fun to go alone mountain biking.  And hiking with the stroller wasn’t that easy either.  And since we don’t have one of those backpacks for Daniel, well  our options were limited.  So when Daniel started not feeling so well at night, I thought it was best to just pick up and go home.  It was a bit easier traveling since he fell asleep during the day.  We still stopped a few times and we ended up in a very fun playground at some point.  We also had to make an emergency stop when Daniel started puking.  Well, all in all, it wasn’t the best birthday but I was very pleased with our day and happy to make it home safe and sound.

My mom and sister had also arrived the same day to my house, and just seeing them was my best gift.  Ximena, my niece was sound asleep.  I heard she was having a lot of fun with Daniel’s toys, so it was hard to put her to sleep.  Apparently Ximena had had temperature for a couple of days, but she seemed to be getting better, I just couldn’t wait to see her in action.  I kept picturing her walking, talking and doing her specialty…. SCREAMING!!! She is quite the screamer, and I knew it, but she is my niece, and there is nothing she can do that would make me love her less.  I had so many plans for us to do in Sweden, I just hope we have time to do it all.

The next day Hakan decided to do some exploring of his own.  He took the bike and went around the same place we walked yesterday and literally just explored all other trails in the area.  It seems like every trail ends up in another beautiful lake, with crystal clear water and nice backgrounds.  The trails are so well marked you almost don’t even need a map.  There are great signs everywhere, and this is indeed a heaven for hikers in the summer. In the afternoon we did a bike tour together, with Daniel on Hakan’s bike.  It all started nicely until all of a sudden it started raining on us, not a light rain, but it was pouring!!!  The good news is that while Hakan and me might be suffering with lack of preparation, Daniel always has his rain coat, his water, his food, everything…. just in case, everything he could need.  So he was fine, but we got soaked!!!! It was a 17 km ride, and by the time we got back the sun was shining again, so we stopped to let Daniel run around a bit more, and we walked the last part to get to our cabin.  We were quite tired and we still had to come up with something for dinner.