The Adventures of Family Mattson: Moving to Norway

Friday, August 12, 2011

Moving to Norway

Moving to Norway.... I have to premis this post with saying that I probably have the most patient, flexible and biggest trooper of a toddler who ever existed. Our trip to Norway was not an easy one. We left the day after my brother's wedding (so up late and worn out from all the excitement). And our trip consisted of 4 airports, 3 planes, 2 lay-overs and very, very limited sleep, food we're used to, or opportunity to get away from crowds or uncomfortable situations. Maarit handled all of it (even getting motion sick and puking on the 2nd plane) with a smile and willingness to embrace the adventure. She was such a good girl.

Here is Maarit---sitting on literally all of our worldly possessions. We got everything down to one truck load!

Our family before the move.

Justin's family and us ...getting ready for our new adventure.

Maarit, Nana and Daddy after clearing security.

Look Mommy! There's our plane! (It is our plane.. I highly recommend Icelandair, they were great, very comfortable flight and VERY child friendly.)

Maarit...after many hours of flying and a 2 hour lay-over in Copenhagen...still going, backpacking her Special Bear through the airport.

Watch out world, we have a little adventurer on our hands!

Thought this was funny....B4 Stavanger, us after hours and hours of travel...we're almost there!

And ta-da! City center of our new town, Stavanger. (It was pouring rain and craziness when we got picked up by the administrators from our school----yes, crazy as that sounds the director of the school and both the primary and high school principals met us at the airport and personally took us to our temporary apartment, I am still in shock at how well they treat their teachers here, it's a whole new world!---- so due to all the rain and trying to make sure all our worldly possessions got to the right place I didn't take any pictures.) We were fighting falling asleep so we walked around the city center for quite a while when we got here...this is our new town:

Car free streets are wonderful!

The harbor...this is looking down the fjord, it is a very popular port for cruise ships, this was the biggest ship I'd ever seen, but the next day Nana and Maarit said they saw a bigger one!

And here's a classic Stavanger shot with sail boat and harbor.

Maarit on her first plane ride: Bye bye Minnesota!

4 comments:

Nicole JohnsonAugust 12, 2011 at 1:40 PM
Glad you made it safely. I'm already itching for a vacation. The town looks so beautiful. I really hope we can plan a trip during your stay in Norway. Have fun exploring the new places!
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AnonymousAugust 12, 2011 at 6:12 PM
Looks like you'll really enjoy the quaint city!! Kristi
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Sue KAugust 12, 2011 at 6:40 PM
How close was that plane in the video clip?????
Glad you made it!
Glad they treat teachers well.
Please come back in two years.
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mikeAugust 13, 2011 at 8:17 AM
Wishing you all the best time in Norway and really enjoyed seeing everyone at the wedding and reception. WinonaMike
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Gus's Sentences Age 2

Gus is starting to put together sentences and they are so cute I want to remember them.

-"Ok, my coming!"....as he travels around following Ditty wherever she goes.

-"Ohhh, scared me!" ....when he wants to pretend that something is scary to be funny.

-"Where go moon?"...anytime we are outside at night he needs to find the moon and talk about it.

-"Mommy (Daddy) my nigh-nigh"....when he's tired and wants to be snuggled to sleep.

-"No! My do it, my do it!"....most of the time when he is doing anything and we try to help too early.

"My boot on, my jacket on, my outside...my outside....my outside!" ....as he is getting impatient to go out and play.

-"Oh! Wow!"....when he sees something he really likes.

Gus's Top 5

When Maarit was about 9 Months I added a Top 5 book list and little known facts about her. I have to say that there are many, many little known facts about Gus. But the man will not sit still long enough to look at any books! So, Gus's Top 5 activities age 10, almost 11 months, list goes like this:

5. Gus does NOT stop moving, even in his sleep. He is the wiggliest, most active little man I have every met.

4. Gus loves to splash in water. Bath water, sink water, toilet bowl water, the dog's water dish. We can not keep him away from all the water sources in our house. He will sneak around to the back bathroom and scream when he finds the door shut. There have been many a morning when we've had to change his clothes because he's gone swimming in the dog's water dish before daycare.

3. Gus's favorite game is playing ball, he loves to throw balls, chase balls, 'catch' balls.

2. Gus would climb the stairs 100 times a day if we would let him.

1. Gus's all time favorite activity is pulling hair- while at the same time- biting your face and smacking you with the other hand.

He thinks this is hilarious.

Our Favorite Maarit Moments, February 2012

As we play or go about our day, every once in a while Maarit will stop what she is doing and give me or Daddy a kiss. Then she will say " I love you Mommy, that's all." Or "I love you Daddy, you're my friend." It is so precious, it just about stops your heart.
Maarit is counting really well. She counts from 1-16 in order really well, and she is counting items 1-7 consistently. This has made for lots of fun playing Uno.
Maarit currently loves to read letters and tell their sounds. She finds letters everywhere and excitedly tells us what they are and how they sound.
Maarit likes to set the table and have other jobs at home. She really likes to help and chats to us about her day while she is doing a job. It is a wonderful time to hear about things she is thinking of and makes me smile that she tries so hard to help us.
Maarit loves to pick out her own outfits. She has the funkiest Punky Brewster style and it is really fun to see what she comes up with.
Maarit sings songs to us...her favorites at the moment are the Angelina Ballerina Friendship Song, Jingle Bells and The Days of the Week Song. She sings as we walk to school, when she plays, when she's trying to fall asleep and any time she thinks we are not watching. It's wonderful.

Funny Maarit-isms Spring 2011

"Mommy you're berry fart!" - This was Maarit telling me that I was 'very smart' it was so very funny.
"Farckles & Frinkels" Maarit's words for Sparkles and Sprinkles...she has a hard time with s + consonant so they usually come out "f", it's adorable
"Foozies" how Maarit says smoothies which she makes with Nana
"Hook up to my buffers Daddy!" while backing her bum into Daddy's legs so they can run around the house like trains...Daddy is always the caboose
Maarit singing..."Up in the sky...no reply" (not sure where this is from)
"Daddy, you're a stinky butt!"
"Last Day"- how Maarit says yesterday
"Neighboys"---Maarit's word for Cowboys
"Mommy, you're my best mommy!"

Danger Mouse Activity

May 2011 Maarit continues to pursue Danger Mouse types of activities daily. Yesterday was one of her all time best though. She decided that she could ride her Thomas the Train UP the stairs with Elmo and Duckie. Needless to say, gravity intervened and she managed to crack her head exactly on the corner of the wall. It was a very sad event in our house...hopefully never to be repeated!
July 2010 This summer, scary of all scary, Maarit will grab a stroller or a wagon or something to push and run down the driveway saying either: "you run away!" or "you go in the road own-self!" She thinks this is very funny because she knows the rules about going in the road and because she wants us to panic and chase her. Good thing we live on a quiet street in a quiet town!
March 2010 Our sweet little Danger Mouse now crawls up on any chair or couch and stands up and shakes her butt really fast. She stands on her high chair, the coffee table any other chairs. You can not leave her out of your sight for any amount of time because she'll be up on something dangerous having the time of her life!

Maarit's Stories- Age 25 Months

Maarit is becoming quite the story teller and has developed quite an imagination. We love her funny inventions; here are a few cute ones:

- Maarit has imaginary bugs, not imaginary friends like most kids her age-bugs, I love it - they're usually worms or catapillars. She will hold out her hands and say, "here is a purple catapillar mommy- you hold it." She'll check on you later to make sure you still have it.

-Maarit told Daddy the other night that she couldn't brush her teeth because "Mommy vacuumed them all out."

-She loves to invent stories of things she does with Karhu- such as " I was reading story about Dinos to Karhu and she was scared because the Dinos were really big and wanted to eat her. Karhu hid under blankets!"

She is quite a talker these days. There is never an end to the amount of adorable things she says lately.

However, my favorite is when she wants Daddy's Ipod she'll say something like....
"Daddy, you have your Ipod in your pocket? Daddy...Daddy I love you....please I play your Ipod, Daddy?- gets him every time.

Maarit - Age 22 Months

Maarit is very comical these days. I thought I'd share a few things that make us laugh.

Maarit, who is in the process of potty training with good and bad days, has invented "Diaper Pocket". She wears her pull-up and puts her hand on her hip under the stretchy side of the pull-up and walks around the house like that. When we ask her what she's doing she'll say: "You have a diaper pocket!" and then she giggles. (You means herself, she still calls herself you instead of me or I).

Maarit uses big words well and it sounds so funny and cute. Our favorites are: Actually, Probably, Sometimes, Maybe, and Hopefully Not. We'll ask her a question like: "Maarit do you want chicken nuggets?" and she'll pause and say "Ummmmm, actually no, you want noo-noos (noodles)." Or one day we were going to see some animals and she started talking about them biting her and then she said..."Bear bite you? No...hopefully not." as if she were talking herself through the thing she was a bit nervous of, it was priceless.

What amazes me is how well she uses these words in context...for not even 2 I think that's pretty awesome.

"It's ok, mommy" or "It's ok, Daddy", this cracks me up. She has started telling us this when she's doing something she knows she shouldn't do, but wants to keep doing. For example: The other day we were outside playing and Harpur cat was out with us. Maarit decided she should bail out her toy bucket, which had filled with rain water, and dump the water on Harpur. Of course Harpur didn't love this idea. When I told her that dumping the water on Harpur wasn't nice she shook her had yes and and said "You do it, it's ok mommy, it's ok."....like she was comforting or counseling me it was so funny I couldn't get her in trouble for dumping the water. I figured if Harpur really hated it he could run off, of course he didn't. He just stuck around and took the abuse. Goofy cat.

Maarit's Favorite Things- Age 20 Mos. 2010

Maarit has developed quite a few strong preferences lately. As her language takes off (...and it has, her vocabulary is much too large to try to keep track of anymore, she's into multi-word sentences and singing songs....) she gets more adamant about certain things, I thought I'd list her favorites:

- Purple

this is currently her favorite color and one of her favorite words to say.

-Dinos

everything is dinos these days, dino stickers, dino toys, dino everything. If it has Dinos on it she is instantly interested. She has these little dino figurines that must go everywhere with us! She tries to hold onto all of them at once.

-Stickers

preferably dino stickers, but any stickers will do in a pinch... we have stickers all over the car, in her room on the walls, on the furniture. Good thing they're removable.

-Swimming

at the beach....but you all knew that from our blog posts. She can not get enough of swimming and likes to insist that her kai should come swimming with her too.

-Outside

if she can't be swimming she must be outside. In the morning her eyes pop open, she says "hi mommy, go outside?" It's not really a request....

-"No Like It!"

this is something we hear quite a bit these days. It's her go to phrase....for example, stopping her play outside to practice potty training usually gets a big "NO LIKE IT!"

-Popsicles

she'd eat only this if allowed, strawberry fruit bars are her most favorite, but any kind of 'icy' will do.

Maarit-isms Age 16, almost 17 months

-Maarit loves to make up songs. She sings to us and most of her songs go like this:

"Doot, Doot, Doot....Mommy, Doot, Doot, Doot, Daddy, Doot Doot Doot Kai" If the song is not a "Doot, Doot" song then it's a "La, La" song so it will be something like: "La, La, Nana, La La Harpur Maow" So funny and cute. When she gets tired she'll usually sing a little song.

-Maarit loves to play with her Harpur Maow. She lifts up the carpet and says "Tick Tick Tick (tickle) and Harpur will jump on her hands under the carpet, she laughs and laughs.

-Maarit hides from us these days. She will go into the closet and shut the door and then open it and peek out and keep repeating the opening and shutting of the door until we say, "where's Maarit?" She'll open the door and say "you!" Which means 'me', but she she calls her self "you".

Newest Words

'Hot-kah'--- hot dog
'ice...ikle'--- icicle
'gone'
'down'
'nope'
'yep'
'gobble-gobble'---turkey
'co-coo-doo'---chicken

And basically anything else we say she tries to copy. For example:
The other night we were all sitting on the couch and Maarit was playing with Harpur who was laying on the back of the couch. Maarit was squeezing him and smacking him and he was just laying there. Knowing how Justin mostly dislikes Harpur I usually try to stick up for him and I like to point out how much Maarit loves Harpur so Justin should appreciate him. I said to Justin with out thinking, "You know, Harpur is a Damn good cat--how many other cats would let her do that to them without scratching her?" Maarit turns around and looks at Justin and says "Damn!Damn! Damn!" in the cutest, sweetest little voice. Obviously I was in trouble. She is definitely at that point where she hears everything and repeats it all! This is going to be so hard for me!!!!!

Things I never ever want to forget about Maarit at 15 months old

- Maarit loves, loves, loves deer. She asks for them and wants to go look for them always. When I tell her we'll go look for deer she tells me that she will say 'hi, hi, hi' (and while saying this she's waving frantically) to them when she sees them.

- Maarit likes to sneak up on us and say 'boo', she will run aroud the house doing this. The other night she was falling asleep and every few moments she'd turn over and say 'boo'....'boo'....'boo', to me. It was beyond precious.

-Maarit loves her Kai (Karhu) and Harpur, she talks about them in her sleep and says their names over and over in her sleep...she hugs them and kisses them constantly. She's always looking out for them and feeding them!

-Maarit tells stories...she uses the few words she has to tell me things that she's thinking about or that she remembers. She is still telling me "Bah (grandpa, my dad) Moo" and then making the kissing noise. This means that Grandpa took her to see cows and the cows kissed her. When I guess her story correctly and say it back to her she'll wrinkle her nose and say 'yah, yah!'

-Maarit talks, laughs, says 'no, no, no', calls for her animals and tells stories in her sleep. It's so funny to try to figure out what she's dreaming about.

-Maarit loves frozen blueberries and when she eats them she squishes them all over her legs and hands and face...it's hilarious and adorable.

-Maarit calls me 'Me Me' these days. I wish I could describe the sound of her voice when she says this. It's the most compelling voice in the world.

-Maarit is beginning to play by herself a little. She takes her babies on rides and hugs and kisses them, she's so gentle and loving to them it's fun to spy on her and see what she's doing.

-Because the deer don't come as often as she'd like we have told her that the deer are sleeping. She will go to the window and look for the 'dee' and when she doesn't see them she'll come tell us 'dee' and put her head down on her arm signing sleep.

-Maarit has discovered that people are 'interested' in her belly (her 'beee') and she will tease people with it and show them just a little corner of her belly, laugh hysterically and run away.

-She loves to go to basketball games ('ball! ball!) and can't wait until the end of the game so she can 'shoot' on the court. It is just a sweet thing to see her carrying around a ball that's nearly as big as she is.

Maarit's Words -Age 14 mos.

Maarit has taken off with talking. Recently we sat down and compiled a list of words she says consistently. Many of these you have to be with her to understand, but a lot of them she says very clearly! Check back at the end of the list for new words. It seems she learns new words every day!

Here's what she says and what it means:

Da ---- Daddy
Mum, but more recently Meee -- Mommy
Nah--- Nana (usually said with enthusiasm!)
Kai or Kahee- Karhu (our dog, all dogs are Kai's)
Harpur--- Harpur our cat, she says this perfectly!
eyes--- eyes, said perfectly
ees---ears
ice---ice, said perfectly
muee- milk
yeees-- yes
no--no
bur---bear
moo---moo
woof---woof the sound or in context wolf
neigh---neigh
sah---santa
hi---hi
bi---bye
eeeess---please, she also signs this
mo---more, also signed
boo----boo
Maaaaaa- Maarit
deee---deer, also signed
tuh---tree
out----out
offhhh--off
up!---up
bah---bottle
hot---hot, a favorite word...everything is hot!
hat---hat, another favorite
dah---doll
hip---hippo...she loves hippopotamuses, loves them
hep---help
poo---poop
owe---owe
ite---light
haap---happy, loves to sing happy birthday
bru---brown, also a nickname for our dog
bou---boot
de-de-de--- chickadee
bir---bird
sssssss-----snow,which she also signs
siii----sit
dis---this

Her first sentence:
"Kia woof"---which she tells us any time Karhu is barking.

Newest Words:

oije----orange, I can not describe how cute this is when she says it!

The Adventures of Family Mattson

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Moving to Norway

4 comments:

Maarit and Grandpa Gary

Maarit and Cori 2008

Maarit meets her Cousins, 2008