More details about the tests

I kkow that some of you readers out there are in similar situation, with kids that experience different tyoes of difficulties. So for those of you it might be interesting with some details about the tests V did.
One is called Merrill-Palmer-Revised Scales of Development (MPR) and it is used to evaluate childrens level of development.
One of the parts of this test is called Color Matching and there V did great.

From the picture above you can tell that it hasn´t always been the case, but the last year, colors has been one of V´s strenghts. He has learned all the signs for our 7-10 most common colors and it is a important factor when V describes an object. It is a blue bus. A red car.

Then he did the Snijder OOmen Non-Verbal Intelligence Test (SON-R) and as a complement Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III).

Here V struggled a great deal. His age were estimated more of a 2,5 or a 3 year old kid. Patterns and puzzels where very hard for him to understand or copy.


Me and my wife also filled in a large number of pages in a test called Vineland-II where we estimated Vs abilities.

From the answers we could give it was clear that one area that V really performs well is "Abilities around home" And as you can see from these early pictures, this has been something that V has taken an interest in from an early stage.

All in all the psycologists recommend that V is given great support to start activities and to make the world around him easier to understand. Pictures is a good way to help him out and makes the day more predictable. He needs an adapt pedagogy and a clear support from an adult all the time.

This is thus one piece of information in the great enigma of our little son. Now 5 years and 1 months old. He speaks about 10 words (hello, mama, daddy, blue, boat, no, yes, bye bye) and signs some 30-50 different signs.

Thorough investigation makes it official: V is mentaly retarded

A couple of days ago we recieved a not surprisingly yet somewhat discouraging notice.
After being tested several times with at least four different test types the psycologists agreed to put the diagnosis "Non Specific Mental Retardation".

The Non Specific part is based on the fact that V made some really great achievements on some of the tests, and then other results that were, well not so good. He also only speaks some 10 words or so, that makes it difficult to judge his language abilties.

He really scored good on the parts called "helping out at home and know his way around the home". I´ve already written about the great fact that he can make his own smoothie. He knows how to find the different parts of the mixer, he put´s them together and he brings a banana, some youghurt, orange juice and frozen berry fruits from the freezer and mixes them together. All by himself.

On that part of one of the tests V actually scored points as of an average 5 year and 4 months child. A brilliant result since he´s only 5 years old. But that was also the only really good result. The rest indicated a boy around 3 or 4 years of age.

This is one of the tests where V struggled.
"Fill in the missing square by choosing one of the four pictures down below:"

Patterns and numbers are hard for V. Colors are simple. But the psycologists suspects that he has problems with the perception of the eye. We havn´t been able to investigate his sight very deep, the doctors think his eyes work fine but there can be some problems with the information from the eyes to the brain. Some things might get lost in translation there.

So how did all this affect us as parents? Me, as a father?

Well. It was all in all quite predictable information. We knew about his strengths and his weaknesses. Now the question is - what´s the hen and what´s the egg? Is he good on colors because we play the same game every night where we collect "balloons" in different colors? Or is it because he is good on colors that he likes the game so much?
Is he good in the kitchen because we spend so much time there together, letting him try and be a part of the cooking? Or is it because he likes to bake and cook that he has made so much progress in that area?

And always when we get a test result with V that´s telling us about his disabilties, it is discouraging. It tells us in black on white that he is a boy with problems. He is not a normal kid. And that hurts of course. I mean, I know these things already, but when another doctor or psycologist again tells me about this, well you know... it is a reminder of something I sometimes let myself to forget.

Good things: V is now officially entitled to special school. And information about his conditions will now spread to his teachers in kindergarten and to people within the care system around him. The more information people around V gets about his mysterious undiagnosed condition - the better.

And, most importantly, V is the same great kid with the same great smile and tendereness as he were before the tests. Nothing has really changed in the fundamental part of being V. But we have gathered another small piece of information that helps us understanding this enigma of kid we have. And that is always a good thing.

The beauty of language

Writing here on the blog gives me an opportunity that is really amazing. Before the internet this mass communication, this international mass broadcasting was impossible.
It is quite a revolution we take part in, the information highway people spoke of back in 1995 is really here and it is really vast.
For me porsonally, this gives me direct acess to the thoughts and feelings of another dad, living in the US with lots of similarities to my life. He also collects cars, hides them in a garage and he also has two sons, one of them with a disability.
I am very happy that this blog helped him find me and sharing things with him on email is an important way for me to deal with things around my son V. And my son A, as well.

So when I started to write in English, it was the right decision. This blog has always had more traffic from the US than from Sweden (Yes, even when I wrote in Swedish!) and since V has such a rare disease my hopes to get to know someone with something that looks a tiny bit similar to what he has, well the hope is bigger in the US, right?

My English isn´t very good, not all the time, I know that. And it makes me write a bit more selldom due to the larger effort it takes to first think, then translate, and then write.

But nevertheless this blog was a success for me when people emailed me from different parts of the world and told me something about their own children. Or their own car collections...

And I have always liked to read and write. I read my first word when I was 3 (according to my mom) and I read Roninson Crouse, the second edition, when I was about 8. Old difficult language. But what a freedom it was to be able to absorb all the stories out there!

And now. The irony. A son with so little language of his own. V knows a few words but almost all of them is a syllable in repeat: MA-MA. PA-PA. DI-DI, BA-BA (The last two is the names of two Babblare - toys made to help kids develop their speach)

But just the other day V took a giant leap. Well, to us it was.

We always read to V and A before they go to sleep. Lately he like to hear about "Mamma Mu och Kråkan" - that is somthing like "Mummy Moo and the Crow" a very funny series of books about the jolly Mummy Moo and the grumpy Crow. And then I tried with V.
- Say Mam-ma muuuu!
- Ma-mmma-mma
- Ma-Ma Muuu!
- Ma-Ma....Ma!

And then...
- Ma... Ma... Moooo!

Clearly two different words! Together. In a sentence!

The very first sentence!

***

I really really think you should listen to this episode of RadioLab ath WNYC - it is about words:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/91725-words/

November Blues for V

Last week I was filing a report. It was - as so many times before - a report about V and his disabilities. We are applying for some extra help. Assistance, you know.

V is quite a handfull. Sometimes it feels like I´m hurrying home from work just to start my next work. Get the kids from Daycare and School. Start cooking. Help V with his iPad (he loves watching Youtube-movies about trains, elevators and Teletubbies but Youtube laggs and buffers a lot and he simply hates that) finish cooking dinner. Feeding my kids, play som games with V, read some books, make the kids ready for bed and then read books before they go to sleep.

Some evenings my wife gets home early, and some evenings I work late. And I know, you are many out there, doing the same insane rituals. But believe me when I say that with a kid with a brain disability - it is a whole different ball game.

So we want help. Someone who can take V for some hours on a sunday. To go play outside, to the park, or just a ride with the bus (he really loves that).
It would be nice for me and my wife, we could relax, breath, recover a bit. But it would also benefit A a lot. We could care for him more, play with him without being interrupted every third minute by a scream or so. If you read my ramblings about the insane ritual above, you notice that I haven´t even mentioned A. That´s because he pretty much take care of himself. He is forced to do that.

So when I was filling in the application form the other night, making sure to put everything that V needs extra help with on paper, it all struck me as very sad.
"V has no friends of his own"
"V needs help and being looked after all the time"
"V har motoric difficulities"
"Although being 4,5 years old, V does not speak more words than dad and mom".

I cried.

Sometimes everything just hit you. And overwhelmes you. And you feel very very small. And that someone has treated you in a extremely unfair way.

But then I dried my tears. Tried to think about about all the good stuff V brought in our life.

And filled in the rest of the God damned application.

V cracks the Duplo-code

Life with V is a fast ride in slow motion.

He is very busy keepin´ me and my wife busy. An almost constant need of attention and guiding.
And the days are much alike. V does not care too much for change. He want´s stability and routines. So even though we play and do a lot of stuff together with V - it is selldom any new things.


So we often feel that we are so busy doing stuff - that we havn´t got the time to really do anything.


But recently V has shown an interest in the (Lego) Duplo pieces we got. I know they got som Duplo at kindergarten as well. The main attraction at home is the train. It´s powered by batteries and the start button is easy to push (very important for V) but the tracks are not that easy to put together.

But last week he had a major break through. Now he understands how to put the lanes together and it is very much like when I wrote how he cracked the Wooden Brio Train code nine months ago.

 
So from Brio to Duplo trains in nine months. That´s one way to describe what goes around inside my sons head.

"What´s wrong with that boy? Why is he so strange?!"

Last week was a very big one for A. My oldest son started school.

He is 5 and a half and in Sweden we have a prep-school thing called "six years" that works like a transession between kindergarten and school. But this means that he has moved from his kindergarten to the large building where the school is. So he is a big boy now.

This also means that we have to leave and pick up the kids at two different locations.

And one day something happend.

My wife were saying goodbye to A. V was looking at all the kids. And one of them looked straight back. And he spoke right out.

Now. Things like this will happen. That´s clear. And it will happen a lot of times. But this was the first time for us. At least so clearly and in front of so many.

So how to react?

My wife did the very best you could do. At least that´s my opinion.

 

She turned directly to the kid. Instantly. And told him everything.

The kid had his mother with him. So she heard too. She heard my wife being totally open about V and his disease. In front of lots of kids. Making absolutely no drama about it at all.

And the mother reacted as good as you could ever imagine.

When she heard about V and his disability to talk but his ability to do sign language - she said "Oh really?! Do you sign V?" And then she started to do signs. She "said":
HI V! REALLY FUN THAT YOU COULD DO SIGNS!

Could that episode have gone much better?

And all because of my wife. She decided not to hide, not to pretend that she didn´t hear. She was all open about everything. And got the reward. Another person who could talk to V with signs.

So now we know. It is out there. Everyone can see that V is different. A lot of our friends do tell us otherwise. That he looks so perfectly normal. But they are used to him. And they are being nice.

Kids say the darnest things, don´t they?

The Big DNA Check of V - Swedish scientists to search for the lack of myelin in my son´s brain

We have entered the space between medecine and science. V is now subject to not only doctor´s and specialist´s interest but also to scientists here in Stockholm.

I´ve written about V´s special disease here and the problem to tell exactly what´s causing the lack of myelin in his brain. (Hypomyelination).

My last note there is from March 2012. Since then a lot has happened with V but with the one thing I wanted the most (and still have dreams about at night) - V´s problem to use words - very little has changed.

He is a very active young boy of 4 now. He runs, crawls, jumps (not high but still) and likes to take short strolls by himself down the street to check out the neighbourhood. But he only uses a few words like "mama, papa, Yes, no".

But he understands almost everything we say and we use sign communication. He understands a lot of different signs now and he master over 50 himself. Lately he combines them, like escalator, which in Swedish is "rolling stairs" - so we take the sign for roll and then the sign for stairs. And today V did the same (He loves to see movies on YouTube of Escalators, trains, elevators and buses)

But the cause of the matter is still not determined and now we´re going to let scientist check out all of V´s DNA-genome.
They are then going to compare this to me and my wifes genome (and his big brother´s) to try to see what´s gone wrong and where the mutation occured.

When we decided to go along with this we also had to decide whether we wanted to know about other differnt diseases the scientist could discover that our genes could bear.

Tricky questions, to say the least. Do I want to know if I have a 72% likelihood to grow cancer? Or if my son does?

But at the same time it feels good that we´re on this thing. I want to look under every stone possible to try to find out what has happened to V. And it feels good to have some smart scientists onboard.

Scary incident in morning rush

V had a terrible accident a few days ago. He likes to help out in the kitchen and recently we have let him stir the porridge. He loves it, takes really great pride in doing so, making proper food together with me and my wife.
How could we deny him? And... he is also silent and stops moaning (he is not very good at patience) when we let him cook along with us.

Well. The other morning he used a different chair to climb up to the stove. And suddenly it started to slide backwards. V fell forward and used his left hand - his good one - to stop the fall.

Bad thing was - he put it on the stove plate that the porridge was boiling on. The pot flew away and the hand landed on the hot plate.

Panic.

It took us 15 minutes to get V calm enogh to put some cold (not very cold) water on the hand. He just couldn't stop screaming. A started to cry as well.

We had some advice from the national hospital advicing system and they told us to go to the Astrid Lindgren Childrens Hospital. That is a very good hospital with lot´s of nice people with tons of experience of treating children.
Bad thing though, the hospital is north of Stockholm. We live south of the city.

So off we went. During rush hour.

But it wasn´t that bad. It took us almost an hour but V was a trooper. We had managed to give him some painkillers hidden in a glass of juice. We sang to him and he smiled a bit. And he learned the sign for doctor quickly.

And the people at the hospital were very very good. They put him in a special waiting line, because of his brain disease. "He shouldn´t have to wait, that is clearly not something we should put him through".

The hardest part in the following days was to keep V from putting the hand with the bandage in his mouth. We had to dress the bandage every new day. First at the local health central, but then we managed to do it at home.

Now it has healed. And we are reminded never to take it easy, never to rest, never to stop watching our loved strange little boy again. Until it happens in a new way we never thought of...

Anonymous - together we search

So I've been a stranger. On my own blog.
Those of you who follows the events here know that I do this for two main reasons:
1 it's fun to collect cars
2 it helps me dealing with me being a dad to a four year old with a brain disease

But lately none of these two parts of my life hasn't been of much interest.

No cool cars has been released - please - does ANYONE know when the Team Chiefs from Cars 2 will be out as singles?
And even though stuff always happens around V, I've been pretty calm and easy going about the whole disability thing.

Until we went on a meet-other-parents-just-like-you-kind-a-weekend.

V has a very rare disease. He doesn't have a diagnosis. We don't know much about how he will evolve, just that it will be slow and this is because he lacks myelin (Hypomyelination).
So when we heard about Anonymous we were excited. (First we thought of the hacker organisation, but it turned out that Anonymous here in Sweden is an organisation as far from hacking computers as you probably could get).

Anonymous is for parents who have children without a proper diagnosis. Searchers. With children suffering from a wide difference of disabilities. But most of us with similar experiences.

Once a year this organisation offers a weekend at a remote hotel with lectures andtime to get to meet other people with similar problems, fears and thoughts.

So we got my dad´s for babysitting during the whole weekend and left for a two hour drive to the hotel. I have to admit that I was a bit worried when I saw the schedule - only two lectures were planned for the stay (that lasted from friday evening until sunday efternoon). The rest of the time was reserved for "family presentations".

But my mood lightened when we arrived and checked into the hotel. Newly refurbished and, thank´s to the swedish county council tax (that funds our hospitals), we only paid like 80 USD for the stay, and that included dinner at friday, three meals on saturday (including a four dishes dinner) and two meals on sunday.

And as for the family presentations - they were the best. So nice, soothing, comforting, sad and at the same time encouraging to hear other human beings telling things straight from their hearts. And you could tell that in this group of people everybody instantly knew what you were talking about.
People had the same experiences. The same worries. And helped each other overcome the same kind of troubles with insurance companies or social services.

At the same time - the stories were kind of hard to listen to. A lot of sorrows and bad news. So even though we´ve spent 48 ours of no cooking whatsoever and perfect beds, no disturbance during the nights and in a very calm enviroment - both me and my wife returned to the kids (and my dad who looked surprisingly alert and fresh) totally exhausted, emotionally.

But it was so worth it. And four of the other familys live close by so we will visit them, probably this summer.

Sharing, people. This is what life - and cars collecting - is all about.

Another hidden toy - NOW REVEALED!

So yes, this blog is about me collecting childrens toys, hiding them for my own kids in the garage. My semi intellectual psycological profile of myself has proven that this is something that I primary do to obtain control when my life is shaking.

It began almost at the same time we found out that V has a brain disease. 

You can read more about this here (in case you don´t believe me or just want to read more stuff when I dig deeper into my twisted mind).
(And if this is new for you, you´re probably a new reader to this blog. Then it might be useful to read this too, that way the pics down below makes a bit more sence)

But the cars is not the only toy I´ve kept hidden from my own kids.

This Christmas I finally decided to "give away" the ol´Nintendo Wii. I made it a present from Santa to the whole family - and never before has a kid (A) been made so happy with such a small economical effort (none, well, I bought the game five years ago but it seems like free now).

V doesn´t get the hang of it yet. We only got New Super Mario Bros. and he can´t understand the connection between the Wiimote and the character on the screen. I should probably try Wii Sports, that´s more easy, I guess. But we really don´t need another game right now, A is playing enough as it is. We actually had to make a schedule for him with 30 minutes slots and an egg timer next to the game. 3x30 minutes on weekdays and 5x30 minutes on holidays. Max.

That has helped. He now can control his behaviour and temper much better.

As to V...

He tries to copy what we do. Shaking the Wiimote desperately. But often facing the wrong direction. And when I play with A and V are forced to either "play" together with us or do something by himself - he cries. He is in a period right now, when he dosen´t want to share things. Neither his toys or the attention of his dad.

But most important - revealing this toy to my kids - has been a success! 

It has made me wonder - should I do the same with my Car Collection?

Acknowledgement - being a parent to a disabled IS hard

Sometimes when me or my wife complains about the hardship in being a parent to a disabled kid, our friends tells us something like "But it is hard for EVERY parent who has more than one kid!"

I guess that most time someone says a thing like this, it is with the very best intention. They want to comfort, to say something that plays it down. Make it less dramatic or less severe.

But I never take it that way. All I hear when someone says a thing like that is "Ok. He/She doesn´t know SHIT what we´re going through"
And then I feel a little ahshamed. I know the person means well. And things aren´t that bad.

(Actually, last week, when I picked the kids up from the daycare center, I thought:
 - What the heck, I have one perfectly healthy boy. What do I need another for? It´s better this way. Now I got to learn what a ride with a disabled kid could be like!
And I meant it too.)

But it was a great relief and a feeling of total acknowledgement when me and my wife went to a lecture in "How to talk to your kid about his or hers disability".

The lecturer said, in the very begining that we have a Increased Parental Responsability. So good to hear that from a person who is a professional. We already knew, of course. But sometimes it´s just good to hear something spoken out loud.

***

Today was a good day out in the Swedish winter!

V has a new hobby

V is developing a new hobby. When me and my wife cook or bake, V loves to help. This is something that we appreciate. V is happy and it works well, he seems to got the hang of the first elements of counting. We can tell him that we need three coups of flour and most of the times he stops at three.

Many sundays my wife bakes just because it´s the most fun thing to do together with V. Not because we need more cinnamon buns.

But hey! We always need more cinnamon buns!

The disfavor with V´s new hobby is that he has started out on his own. When I´m home alone with the kids and visit the restroom for more than two minutes he brings out the pans and pots and starts pouring spices, salt and sugar. Basically everything in small plastic bottles or glas jars, that he manages to open, is in danger.

We tell him to stop. Several times a day. But either he doesn´t care. Or either he doesn´t understand.

Right now we´re running low on salt and cinnamon. And my time at the restroom has shortened considerably.

At the same time... He´s darn cute when he does this!

3 Cars Wanted! Lemons: J Curby Gremlin, Tubbs Pacer & Petey Pacer

Work is piling up on me right now, and when I get home in the evenings I barely manage to cook some food, play a little with the kids before it´s time to say goodnight to them. 

We always read a book, first for V and then another onte for A. Then I sing some lullabuys. Then they eventually go to sleep. (I´ve always been impressed by the american way: Just say goodnight, lights out and close the door.) Or is that how it works only in the movies?

But after that... I haven´t had time or strenght to collect any cars. Or is it because my mourning work is done? Maybe I do not need my collection any more? Or, at least, mayby I do not need it right now?

I don´t know. But I do know that Januray 2013 is the first month since I started this in july 2010 that I will buy NO cars. Zero. Zip. NONEWHATSOEVER!

But now I´ve noticed three new Lemons. So chances are I´m back in February!

Look at the Lemons I already have here

And! Hello to my new member Stefan Wiker! Good to have you onboard!

My kid is not invited to the party

My wife picked up the kids at the daycare center a few days ago. She noticed that several (not all, but many) of the kids had birthday party invitations in their boxes on the shelf over the clothes.

V was one of the kids that had got no invitation.

When she told me this, it made me sad.

The picture above is more a result of my feeling. In reality, there were several other kids who also didn´t get to go to the party. But I felt, that V now was getting singled out by the other kids.

I can´t say that I blame the kids or the parents. This was a party for the elder kids at V´s unit. We didn´t invite the younger kids when A had his fifth birthday.

But we didn´t bring the invitations to the daycare center. We sent them by mail.

I think it´s a more fair way to do it.
Or am I just too emotional about this thing?

Divided by two = bad conscience

It happens all the time. And I know that all of you with more than one children know what I´m talking about.
Both your kids want your immediate attention. Right know. Right here. No excuses accepted.

And I guess that every parent who has to take two kids by him/herself has to go through the routine of choosing which kid to help first and help most. And I guess that the smaller kid got the larger attention and care.

But with V this is more to the extreme. He needs more care taking. (That´s why we got money from the Swedish state, a small amount every month, it´s like 4 percent of our sallary we can add every month).

But I feel very bad when I think of how much attention I deny A.

He is a smart kid. Almost ready to read by himself. He knows some math. And I can´t help thinking that if I helped him more, spent a little more time training, well, just spent more time with A... He could have been reading early in his fourth year.

And it´s not that I´m wishing he was some Wunderkind, no, even worse is the fact that I miss hanging out with A as much as I want to.
It´s so very often a scream from V... and A has to manage on his own. Watching TV. Playing some computergames on the internet. Or on my iPad.

Some days ago A said it straight out:
- Dad, first you played a lot with V, and now when I want you to play with me, you say you dont have the time!!

Ouch.

Good thing I spent the day at home with only A today. He has some kind of pox and it´s contagious but he´s not really ill. We spent the day watching movies together, drawing som great pictures and then we had panncakes for lunch. Good day!

It´s just a pitty that he has to be sick for this to happen...

V cracks the Brio-code

One of the most classical toy manufactures in Sweden is Brio. High quality tree trains connected with magnets has been one of the most common toys during the last century here.

The railway can be put together in different styles and shapes, you have som basic parts as straights, curves and bridges and then some special parts as road crossings, cranes, bridges that can open and close, train ferry docks and stuff like that.

It´s easy to assemble. It´s like a very simple jigsaw puzzle. On every pice of track, one end has a hole, and the other has a "tag" that connects with the hole in the next piece.
Easy.

Unless, of course, you have a brain disease.

V loves to play with the trains. He even has two motorized ones that he likes to watch as they go round and round on the track I´ve helped him build.

But until yesterday, V never could manage to put two pieces of track together. It just didn´t get through. Frustration. Screaming, and handling the pieces to me... I´ve tried to show him in many ways and as calm as I ever could be. But no.

Then suddenly. Yesterday. As he was playing with the track, all by himself:

And it wasn´t just one time. He connected four or five pieces. Something just clicked inside his head, I guess. Maybe they have done this att his daycare. I know they have it there too.

Anyway. It was great to watch him take this step.

V is making noice - and silence

This is based on a true story. Well. The whole blog is a true story so that begining of a post might not be so dramatic as in the movies. But I wanted to try it out anyway.

Recently V has taken more interest in my iPad. He can play some of the Toca-games. Toca Kitchen and Toca Train are his favourites. But lately he want´s to play the same games his brother is playing. And since A is almost 5 it´s hard. And sometimes accidents happens. V fools around and suddenly a savefile is erased. 20 hours of succes could be gone.

A is not happy with how things has turned out. He´s used to play almost whenever he want´s to (quite often) but now my wife and I try to devide time between them in a fair way.

So now there´s a lot of high voices around the iPad. V is standing up for himself. And though he can´t speak he screams and makes signs to us so that we should see if A is not being fair.

That´s good. And very annoying to hear.

We got 100 000 SEK (15 000 $) from our insurance company when we reported V´s disease. Yeah. That´s all we got. It made us aware of all the exceptions in the fine print.

But we concider using some of those money to buy another iPad and fill it with apps for V. There´s actually a few especially for disabled kids. The people behind www.babblarna.se has one, you should check it out! (Don´t mind it´s in Swedish, you and your children will understand it anyway)

In excactly one week V will become 3,5 years. Still not speaking. Only a few words: Mom, Dad. Monkey (it´s almost like dad in Swedish. Wonder why.)

But he has learn to nod and to shake his head. That´s huge. Now he can communicate in a whole new way. All the same... I just can´t help thinking... that I miss so much to hear him talk. Speak.

It will be like to know him as a person. Or... To know him better as a person. And I really want that. Now please!
  

Moose safari

I took the kids on a roadtrip this weekend. My wife hasn´t been alone in our house since we first moved in, almost three years ago. So she felt it was about time that we left her for some quality time by herself.

Fair enough!

Me, A and V took the car down to my sisters. It is a four our long ride and it´s no pic nic to do it by yourself. V had enough after threee ours. The last 55 minutes I kept singing kids songs over and over again. But when we got to my sister and her husband (not married, what do you call it then?) it was sure worth the trouble.

Yesterday was a smash hit. We went for a short car ride into the woods of Småland (Small Country to translate it word by word) and there, in the middle of nowhere - there was a Moose Safari!

Wow! They are big!

Especially german people like the Swedish Moose. A lot of small houses in Sweden has been bought by Germans who love our nature and of course we had some Germans on the ride in the Moose Park.
They seem almost babyishly fond of moose, the Germans...

We gave them apples and potatoes. (Not the Germans, the moose!)
A dared to give them from his hands, V did not. But both the kids were extremely thrilled!

And... well, so was I!

Two hobbies - two worlds

There´s a competition I can´t win. A comparison I´m bound to loose.

My wife has a hobby. It´s nothing at all like mine.

Her hobby gives her fresh air. It gives her dirt under the finger nails. It boosts the real estate value of ours. It makes our world look better. It produces oxygen. Yes her hobby even creates life. How could I ever compete with that?

My wife loves our garden. She loves gardening. She also has a blog where she writes about the progress, the changes and her running projects in the green place she has turned our small back yard to.

Meanwhile in a garage nearby...

I arrange my cars. I build some lighting arrangements. I put the cars in different orders. But mostly I take photos and writes on my blog. Or looks online for new cars.

My wife makes coffee and we drink it IN HER HOBBY. We invite friends over and barbeque in her hobby. And she often plants new flowers or vegetables together with our kids. In her hobby.

Meanwhile in a garage nearby...
A certain dad closes the doors to the collection of toys his own kids mustn´t see.

But I love it anyway. A small world of my own. Where I can breathe and power up.

It´s the same with my wifes world. Only... She invites the rest of us...

First hockey game

I took A for his first hockey game last weekend. It was great! I did it partly because I like hockey and I want him to experience that good feeling when your team scores. And I did it partly because sometimes we need some time just me and him together.

In January I wrote this about being the sibbling to a disabled brother or sister. We caring parents tend to see very much to the disabled kid (naturally) and not so much to the not disabled (too bad).

So every once in a while I try to focus on just A alone.

My (soon to be OUR) team did their job, an easy 4-0 victory and A tried to sing a long in a few of the hard core audience songs. He did good in one in particular: Hey Hey Douglas Murray!

Yeah, we ripe the benefits of that ongoing NHL-lock out and my team has both Douglas Murray and Gabriel Landeskog in the squad right now.

You can read more about the most succesfull team in Swedish hockey here - (and find out why we are in trouble right know).

I heard A talk to his friends at the daycare center the day after. He was clearly very proud. Told the kids about the penalty box...