Brief account of a summer

It's been almost four months since you last heard from me. (The date here is off, it just indicates when I started writing this.) In that time, several changes have taken place. The most dramatic change, of course, is that Antonia has arrived and turned my life as I knew it upside down. I've gone from being really small to being pretty big. I've had to rethink the concept of the world spinning around me, me and only me (ok, that's still work in progress). And I have received the cutest little sister in the whole wide world, which implies that I am now BigBrotherBoyAulin.
And I've moved to Poland, which I, as well as the rest of the family, think is great. There are loads of kids here. And ducks. And nice parks with play-grounds. And moving boxes. A house full of moving boxes. Very exciting for someone who likes to play hide and seek.

But Antonia as well as Poland are later stories. I will now let you in on the summer, the way it presented itself before the family expanded and we yet again packed our knapsacks and hit the road.

As you may remember, I started my Swedish summer at Grandma's. Apart from feeding sheep and riding monster vehicles, we went to the beach.And I made friends with Oliver, the big fat cat.And spent quality time with Pining, knowing that we were not going to hang out every day anymore. (By the way, even if we haven't met in a while now, I still firmly claim that my name is Boy. Cutie Boy, to be specific. Oh yeah! I've started talking. Grown-ups don't always understand what it is that I'm saying, but that's just lack of training on their part. )At midsummer, mom and I left for Öland where we received Signe and Bosse (and Grandma, Grandpa, Lisa, Petra and Gustav.) Signe was less keen on playing with me than I was with her, but she let me stand next to her when she was doing the dishes. When Signe, Bosse and the rest left, mom and I had a couple of weeks on our own in Grönhögen. It was pretty nice. We'd go for little walks, take long naps and read all those fantastic story books that I found in the house. Not baby books, like the ones I had in Manila. Real big child picture books. Oh yeah, and I graduated from the bolster chair.But however nice a time we had, mom and I, we still liked it when dad got back from the Philippines. This is how excited mom was:And this is how excited dad and I were:Now having dad back didn't really change our pursuits. Our days still consisted mainly of little walks, long naps and the reading of fantastic story books. Please check out my great stroller riding style: the standing up to keep and eye out for cars, dogs, seagulls and other interesting things. And every single time we'd pass the Pentecostal church (this happened several times a day), I would jump out of the stroller and run up to the entrance. Mom and dad found this somewhat uncomfortable. Especially as they also would have to go up there to fetch me.The destination for our walks would usually be the part of the beach where there are perfect flat stones, which mom and dad (dad especially) can make jump on water. Better still, there is a little pier from where I can throw my own stones to make big splashes!

Sometimes we'd go for picnics at the southern tip of Öland, which is also the heart of Swedish ornithology. Mom and dad have learned to keep their mouths shut when meeting birdwatchers. They just don't manage to say the right things. They don't know enough.
If I like it? You bet I do!Another favorit place for our Grönhögen outings is Eketorps borg.Why? Because there are pigs there of course. Bred to resemble real dark age pigs. Yay!Last year, we spend an uncomfortably large amount of time at the Kalmar Ikea. This year we went there pretty often as well, but the experiences could not be more different: Last year, I would only get mashed baby food. This year, I was allowed the Ikea kiddie meals with pasta and meat sauce. And a popcycle at the end. This is a picture of my ice cream premier. The beginning of a love story. An ongoing love story.Here's another love story. Mom and I love each other. And we love dad too, but someone has to hold the camera.

Ok, those were our regular outings. Now to something we only did once, just like last summer: going to the circus! Exciting to say the least. Although dad found my trip around the circus ring to be one of the more extreme rip offs he'd ever experienced and voluntarily fallen for.What about the company of people my own age, you may ask. Yes, the summer held quite a bit of that as well. Isak and his parents came to stay with Mats and Kina for a week. Oh, Isak may need a bit more of an introduction: he's Kina and Mats' grandson. Mom's cousin Pelle's son to be more specific. He's quite a bit younger than I am, but he walks well and talks quite a bit, so we had loads of fun.

Plus, Kina had gotten him a fantastic baby pool with inflated bottom. Great!And just like last year, Oskar, Ebba and Max came to stay with Kina and Mats. Oskar, Ebba and Max are mom's super-young cousins. Their dad Peter is Grandma and Kina's baby brother. Oscar and Ebba are also fond of books.Max and I are almost the same age. He's just a couple of months younger. We both fit on dad's lap. That was good for both of us, because I had to practice sharing dad's attention and he, being the youngest of three young ones, could always use some extra attention.Ebba's just less than a year older than I am and Oscar is exactly two years older. As you may see in the picture below, neither Ebba nor I have hips of a size that bothers us (as opposed to mom's feeling for her own hips - appearently they pose an obstacle to her getting into her pre-pregnancy jeans.) We also had Aron, Elsa and Ingrid visiting, which was great.

Elsa is the same age as I am.

And Aron is four. Old enough to climp the canon next to Långe Jan on his own.

Elsa and I, on the other hand, got to ride on Mårten Gåskarl, the goose on which Nils Holgersson travelled Sweden a long long time ago. (Some people think he rode on Akka, the leader of the pack, but he didn't. Not regularly at least.)But I've been on the canon as well. When Grandma and Grandpa were here, for example. Then Grandma, dad and I did the climb together.Mom and dad have some ambition to make all their guests clim that canon for a photo. But they tend to forget, and thus the number of portraits they have is way smaller than it should be. The one they have of Grandpa is nice, though.Other kids I met this summer were Felix and Freja, who are grandchildren of Anti and Bertil who also live in Grönhögen. This is from a party at Anti and Bertil's house. Check out the size of mom! That dress must be the stretchiest thing ever created! This is ten days before Antonia was due. If ice cream was my first infatuation of the summer, the pacifier was the second. I've never used one of those. I know mom and dad tried to get me to take one when I was newborn, but I didn't care much for it. Now, however, I happily suckle on whatever pacifier I can find (usually someone elses, of course, as I don't really have any of my own) and pretend that I'm a baby.The third new infatuation of the summer is the tv. Mom and dad are torn. On the one hand, they see the opportunity of getting things done around the house. (Sometimes they think things are done faster without my help. I don't understand why.) On the other hand, they find it uncomfortable that I never never ever want to stop watching once I've started. (When Antonia was born, Lisa got me a box of Alfons Åberg movies. This has even further accentuated mom and dad's torn feeling, 'cos I looooove watching Alfons Åberg. More than anything else. Almost.)

Personally, I think I help out extremely well around the house. Like when dad and I emptied the basement this summer. I would pile things in different piles. And then rearrange those piles. All to make them perfect before they were taken to the dump.My fourth new infatuation is that of cars. I love cars. All types of cars, but tractor-engines especially. And race cars, of course.A few days before Antonia was due, Annica, who usually lives down in Milan, came to visit and we went swimming together.

Mom joined in as well and of the three of us, I think she enjoyed it the most. Appearantly all those extra kilos appearantly made it difficult for her to regulate her body temperature.

On the same day, Theodor and his parents Kalle and Helena came as well. You may remember Theodor from last year, when we met for the first time. He is a month older than I am. And Antonia is a month older than his baby brother Ludwig. In other words, both mom and Helena were very very pregnant when we met up this summer.Theo and I went to Eketorps borg and had a snack while watching the goats. And what you see around my mouth is stuff that you're not supposed to have anywhere near your mouth. At least that's what mom said when she tore the dried goat poo away from me...

Yup, that's pretty much it. A couple of days later, the day after Antonia's due date to be specific, mom started whining every 5-25 minute. And six days later, I became bigbrotheraulin, the oldest child in the family.