Treasure Chests (and little boys)

Both the boys got little padlocked treasure chests for Valentines Day from their grandparents. Not 30 minutes went by before Benjamin came to me to ask how to open the padlock.

"Where are the keys?" I asked.

"Inside."

So I called Christopher over with his locked treasure chest.

"Where are your keys?"

"Inside."

I guess it was the safest place for them... Fortunately the quality of the lock made it easy to open with a well-wiggled safety pin, and we were back in business (and this time, I saved one of the keys).

Being Prepared

Last weekend, David and I had a night on the town - which for us means dinner without kids, and we're always home by 11. Anyway, as we wandered through the icy streets of Stockholm, David stuck his hands in the pocket of his coat (which used to be Daddy's) and found a set of Daddy's business/personal cards. David noted that every coat he has of Daddy's (several, since they were the same size) comes equipped with a pair of gloves and a set of cards neatly tucked into one of the pockets. So like him... and so nice to have a reminder of him in an unexpected way.

The Disappearance of Baby

One of my favorite jokes (from when I was about 10) -

"Why do you always find something in the last place you look?"

Punch line - "Because you stop looking when you find it."

Actually, the punch line should read, "Because you have looked in every conceivable place, in the car, in the bathrooms, in the cupboards, in all bags and backpacks, under the sofa, on top of the wardrobe, in the shoes... and the in desperation, you Googled it, and finally found a potential source for a new one on some obscure webstite in Kentucky... "

Yep, last weekend, Baby (Christopher's blue teddy bear) disappeared. Actually, he was gone for a couple of days, long enough for nobody to really remember when he was last seen. Christopher didn't even notice for a few days, and David, Annika and I only discussed Baby's disapperance in code when he was around, lest he should clue in that Baby was indeed missing.

Finally, on Monday night, after I had searched the house top to bottom, Christopher finally noticed. At bedtime, he started asking, "Where Baby? Him not here." When I tried to explain that Baby was surely having fun with friends, Christopher kept insisting, "Him can't walk." He got a bit tearful - as did I...

The loss of Baby was like losing a wonderful picture of Christopher, the one where he wanders in sleepily on a Saturday morning, clutching Baby by the paw. Or the picture of him sleeping with one arm around Baby and one around his 2-4 rags... Or the picture of him tromping proudly through the airport with Baby's head sticking out of his backpack... Neither one of us was ready to let go...

With Christopher finally asleep (with a stuffed dog, a poor substitute) and Annika looking over my shoulder, I searched the internet for collectors sites (Baby is a discontinued Ty Beanie Buddie named Baby Boy) and almost bought one, though I had second thoughts about where to have him shipped, and how to explain to Christopher how Baby had really spruced himself up... when my brilliant husband suggested checking the piano bench. Yup - there, looking slightly flatter, was Baby! I tucked him in Christopher's arms, kissed them both and snuck off to bed.

A Foreign Concept...

I was reading Annika's veckobrev from school - the letter from her teacher every Friday describing what they have done and what they will be doing over the next week. The teacher (Anna, by the way, not Mrs. X), wrote that with the snow, many of the children were bringing their cross-country skis to school to use during recess. Wow - for a Texan, that was a foreign concept...

Skiing to me is loading up the car with masses of equipment, driving 8 hours to the nearest slope, arriving late at night, and getting up early for a hearty breakfast. After parking a mile away and waiting for a shuttle bus to get to the mountain base, waiting in line with a pushy crowd to buy a lift ticket... well, then you're there for the duration - until the last lift closes.

Admittedly, cross-country skiing was not really part of my vocabulary until I was 25, and I had never tried it until a trip to Norway where a friend and I gave it a shot and were passed by old and young. Which, by the way, is true humiliation - puffing along, struggling on your skis while a 3-year-old whizzes past you, singing songs as she goes - and then her 80-year-old great grandma leaves you in a wake of powder... and on the only downhill part of the trek, you trip over your skis and get a fat lip from face-planting in the snow... but I digress...

Anyway, how wonderful that skiing could be something like basketball, that you just "pick up" for a 30-minute break!

So inpired were we that we rushed out today and bought (waxless) cross-country skis for the threesome, and wax for the skis that David and I bought ourselves two Christmasses ago and have never used. I am full of visions of how it will be - picking the kids up early from dagis, heading for the local golf course (with prepared trails - not ready to go it in the rough) and schussing along in peace and joyful appreciation of the winter landscape. Tune in next week...

Angels and Dreams

(on his 18th time out of bed)

Benjamin: Mom, I want to be a kid when I'm an angel.

Me: Well, Benjamin, I'm sure that would be fine. I suppose you can be anything you want when you're an angel.

Benjamin (with excitement): Really? Can I be a cow?


And Annika, who told me about her nice dream, when she got to play games with Morfar again, like when she was 4... so glad she remembers.

Christmas Letter 2006

The Neil Family News

December 25, 2006

Uroru Gos tu Afriku
Annika has started first grade, at age 7 as they do in Sweden. Taking after her mother, her favorite subject is math. She completed her first short story, "Uroru Gos tu Afriku" (Aurora goes to Afrika) in which the heroine manages to fly on an erplan, meet Mark (who wus veri smart), get marid and of course they livd hapli evur aftor, written in creative but phonetical spelling.

In addition to violin, tennis and figure skating, she has started horseback riding and loves it. She spent a week of all-day riding in Switzerland in a throw-them-on-the-horse-and-go school, and then started at the local stable in the mom-has-to-lead-the-horse variation. Despite precautions (and mom’s lead), she still managed to get thrown, proving the merit of investing in safety gear, even at the entry level! She is back in the saddle again, and feels that she is one step closer (one fall closer?) to becoming a "real rider".

She would very much like a horse for Christmas, but understands that Santa requires parental approval (which is not very likely).

The Food Chain
Benjamin is a charming 5-year-old, and has just started mini-hockey, which he loves. Though he really has very little clue what he is supposed to do with the puck, and the facemask is mostly to protect him from the other kids’ sticks, his skating has improved immensely, and he can’t wait for the next class.

Despite his mom’s current occupation, he rarely plays with toys, preferring couch cushions and blankets, as he builds forts and houses – clearly a future real-estate professional. When not consumed with construction, he is setting up for a party or a store, or pretty much anything involving consumption of cookies.

Benjamin spent the summer learning to swim. After a couple of weeks of splashing around with no progress, he mastered the art of swimming forwards, and now looks remarkably like a fish in the water.

His most recent interests have been in the food chain and in understanding real and imaginary. Questions range from, "What do dragons eat?" to "Is Pooh real?"

Benjamin would like for Santa to bring him an ice cream machine so that he can expand the offerings at his cookie store.

I NOT Little
Christopher is a big 3, and the biggest insult you could deliver would be to suggest that he is little – which results in immediate tears and an insistent statement, "I not little – I big!" Of course, his constant companion is still Baby Two Rags, a blue teddy bear and two (or more) burp rags.

Not willing to be left behind, he tried skiing last spring (at age 2 ½). He LOVED it, going straight down the hill, held back only by the ski reins. He managed an hour or so at a time, before tiring so much that he put his head down on the snow to rest, like a tiny tripod. He is now ice skating as well, and enjoys it as long as he isn’t expected to do what the rest of the group is doing – Mr. Independent!

With all our travel over the past year, Christopher is now premier on United, probably one of the younger members, and one of the few who likes to take a bath with his silver card.


Cash Flow Crisis
David’s property business, Genesta, is doing well, and keeping him traveling to Finland and Baltics. At least there, nobody expects him to speak Finnish!

Leigh has now dived into internet retail with her toy store, ABC Leksaker (A, B & C after the children, and Leksaker meaning toys). The business is growing, and the inventory is expanding even faster! ABC is still a one-person operation, and Leigh is feeling a bit like Santa’s elf, packing and shipping over 1600 orders, 400 in December alone!


Unseasonably Warm
In a country where everyone complains about the length of the winter, we are surprised at the number who are now complaining about the lack thereof. It will be a green Christmas in Sweden, save for the lucky family who manages to win a truckload of snow in a newspaper lottery.

The warmer temps have not harmed our seasonal activities – skating in all its forms. We now spend three hours at the rink every Saturday with hockey, figure skating and beginning skating. However, the mud content of the kids’ clothes has even led us to dream of freezing temperatures - and snow!


Sad News
Last year, we were called back to the States right before Christmas, and last year’s Christmas letter never got sent… or even written. Leigh’s father was not doing well, and we expected the worst. His condition improved, and we celebrated his 75th birthday with him in Lubbock in May. However, he passed away in July, and luckily we were there with him. We miss him greatly.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

The Neils

The Mysterious Uncle Benny

In Swedish dagis, the kids do lots of crafts and gifts, especially around Christmas time. They usually wrap them and take them home to be given to various family members. Imagine our surprise when we received a package labeled "Merry Christmas Uncle Benny from Christopher". We racked our brains, trying to imagine who he could be. Christopher's uncles are Mark (Mak), Doug (Duk) and Rob (Wap), but nothing even approaching Benny or even two syllables.

Of course, Annika should have prepared us... One day when she was about 2, we were looking at an IKEA catalog (as one does in Sweden) and she started pointing at the pages and saying "fuck". Given that that particular four-letter word doesn't make up a large percentage of David's and my vocabulary, we wondered where she could have picked it up. I asked at dagis, and they were as mystified as I was, until we realized that the place for all their papers is a FACK, with a very long Swedish A-sound. Of course, we haven't met any French seals yet... (foque)

So back to Uncle Benny... we finally realized that Christopher tends to drop a few letters in various words. His word for "everybody" ranges from "eh-be" (which I mistook for Eva for a while) to "eh-biddy", and somewhere in the middle, the dagis must have heard Uncle Benny.

Christopher and language will be interesting. He is very talkative, and demands his share of attention. Many car journeys are made with his insistent "Mama, tak ME!" repeated over and over again. Benjamin gets so frustrated because Christopher's demands for air time interfere with his thought process, not to mention sibling peace.

Christopher has learned that most people understand him even if he speaks English. Every morning he starts the day being greeted with a "God morgon - hur mår du?" to which he replies without fail, "Good." However, many of his words are not so clear. Benzie and Aka are his siblings, "Piss" is fish and milk is a two-syllable word (me-yulk). Anything beginning with an S gets pretty creative. "Kwong" is strong, "bleepy" is sleepy, and snow is just plain "no".