Hjemmelengsel

I think E is homesick for Eugene, or at least our old house there. No surprise really, since it's more than twice as big as the unit we're living in right now, but still a bit sad. He's also complaining about one of the boys in preschool being mean, which makes me really sad. But of course with boys that age there's no way to know if E is being mean right back (or even starting it) without observing them. The Norwegian attitude toward preschool appears to be to let the kids play on their own (as wildly as they want) as much as possible. I know intellectually that is a a good thing, but I hate the idea of someone picking on E, or even worse him picking on someone else with no intervention.

Last night I took a few more snapshots of our living arrangements here. It was so outrageously messy that I couldn't resist documenting it. Part of the problem was that we bought a big lot of used furniture, much of which we didn't really need. So we're still trying to sort out what to do with everything. In the meantime, KE and I took the day off to shop for things like a vacuum cleaner, a refrigerator, rain gear for E, and other practical stuff. We work really well as a team for that kind of thing.

Here are some of the least ridiculously messy snapshots:

E's room--really it's not a closet, even though it looks like one. We're all still sleeping on foam mattresses. Fans of Scandinavian design will recognize the ubiquitous "Tripp trapp" chair produced by Stokke.

Our bedroom. This is where we're storing all th extra furniture...


The bathroom. E trusts Norwegian toilets so much more than US toilets. I think it's because there's less water in the bowl, so it's not as scary. I do really wish we had a shower enclosure or (better yet) a tub. Thankfully there is a great big tub in the other unit.

Living room. Not much to say here, other than that we also bought some more Brio train tracks yesterday, so E and I built this to celebrate:

Now I happen to think that's an incredibly cool train track! I discovered Brio when I babysat as a teenager, and swore that if I ever had a kid we would have tons of it. We're on our way!