Bug Time!

I suspect we got an unwelcome visitor in our house; this years first mosquito. Our 4-year old has a few bites on the hands and face and unfortunately he will soon have plenty. I truly love the summer but I really hate those dreadful bugs that come with the hot weather. It is not only the mosquitoes I dislike, even though they top the list as they leave that mean itch after them, but I hate most bugs that love to find there way into our house. Even though my son gets badly bitten by mosquitoes every year he doesn’t seem to be bothered by bugs. I can’t say he loves them and thank god he hasn’t yet started to collect them and kept them in jars. But he seems to be able to coexist with them without being freaked out or killing them. Maybe being annoyed by bugs is solitary an adult practice? Plus, bugs are generally somewhat beautiful. This year many Swedish kids clothing labels have put bugs on their clothes, and it looks fairly nice and, I must say, very summery. Look for yourselves! From the top: Cmig, HM, Kade, Lindex, Småfolk, Snoffs, Mini Rodini.

Bake with Me

In a couple of days my dear mum will come and visit us from Sweden. This morning I was trying to plan things to do together supplementary to the lamb scented Easter Sunday in our garden. On the top of my list I put baking cinnamon buns. Not something that you imagining doing when on holiday in Greece, but something I’m longing to do with my mum. It might sound silly and housewifely, but baking with my mother makes me feel happy. It is the whole process that brings me joy, from preparing the dough, to spreading the cinnamon butter and feeling the heat from the oven to see the buns swell and then to take that first bite of a hot bun. The keyword here is to do all of that together. When I share the cinnamon-bun-practice with my mum I travel back in time and I’m a little girl again. Sometimes it feels good and therapeutic to lose that “mother apron” that is so tightly tied around my waist. For me those moments are precious. Truthfully, since I left home and became an expat far away from my Swedish family, those moments are like fuel for me.

I have come across this fantastic Swedish company Bombadill that makes toy-cakes and food. In their range they also have cinnamon buns. I’m seriously thinking of getting a couple of those and some of their other pastries to my son’s imaginary café in his play house. They will go very well with his make-believe coffee and tea made of dried grass. 

Lovely Keyrings for Big and Small

I just had to show you these fantastic keyrings from renowned Swedish artist Lisa Larson. Cute, eh?

Sleep Tight Little Baby

I’m very happy the baby likes to sleep in the pram; it makes it easy to take those walks to the playground that the 4-year old loves. Now when the spring is here and the summer waits in the hallway I think I will invest in some nice beddings. When it comes to beddings for the pram there are not many cute designs to choose from here in Greece, so I will try to order some of these from Sweden:

palidesign

 Klippan Yllefabrik

 Gunila Axén

 Duktiga Annika

Play with PLAYSAM

I just had to share with you these fantastic toy cars from Swedish PLAYSAM. These three cars are an example of Swedish design when it is at is top. The unique design, the minimalistic shape and color makes these cars desirable not only for kids but adults too. PLAYSAM that was established in 1984 by Carl Zedig has through the years received several design awards for their toy cars. 

Time to Eat

Today it just hit me that my little baby boy who just came in to this world will start to eat real food very soon. It is about 2, 5 month left until he is six month old and will get his first spoon of baby cereal or tasteless mashed potatoes, but still it feels very soon. I really hope his first encounter with solids will be a positive one. I never had any problems feeding my older boy, he ate everything and he still does. He eats everything from curries, risotto with truffle oil to seafood pasta and octopus. The only thing he doesn’t like is beetroot and so be it. So, I have my fingers crossed that baby brother will follow his footsteps. Anyhow, I thought about buying him a new set of dinnerware. As all smaller siblings he has mostly hand me downs so I thought to get him something new. Here are some I really like! 

Gense, Design by Karin Mannerstål

 

Svensk Tenn, Design by: Ingegerd Råman

 

Isak, Design by Sandra Isaksson

Cool and Comfortable with Shampoodle

Swedish label Shampoodle makes clothes for kids that are out of the ordinary. They do not only have that flare of exceptionality that makes you fall in love with them, but they are also organic and most of the garments are unisex. As I looked at their Spring/Summer collection 2011 I caught myself picturing my sons in the clothes and I imagined them having fun in them. They look so easy and breezy and incredible cute. I always try to not post more than four pictures for each post but this time I couldn’t chose, so, here are six. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Drooling with Style

My baby boy has started drooling a great deal these last couple of days and I’m glad that I managed to get a couple of scarf inspired drool bibs from Sweden. These bib-scarves are both very practical as the backside is made of water repellent fleece that keeps the baby dry, and they look so much cooler than traditional drool bibs. When my oldest son started to drool about 3, 5 years ago it was very hard to find these bib-scarves, but now they are everywhere; from small design labels to big stores like H&M and Lindex. These bibs have become more than drool collectors. Now days they are part of most Swedish babies daily outfits, so it great that there are plenty to chose from. I have selected  a couple that I think are very cute.

Smultron

 

Florin

"Brush My Teeth!"

Something weird happen this evening. About 20 minutes after I put the 4-year old to bed I was at the baby’s cot trying to make him go back to sleep and heard small feet in the hallway. My husband heard it too and saw our son entering the bathroom. “You forgot to brush my teeth.” Even if he in the moment was somewhat sad that we forgot this important night routine, it is a good thing. He is getting older and wiser as it seem. Tomorrow I have to celebrate by getting him a new toothbrush! I hope I can find those lovely ones from TePe with cute animal prints. By the way, I heard they were designed by Swedish Isa Form so there is another reason to take the kids out tomorrow and walk that extra kilometer to find them. 

Hide and Seek and a Long Eared Rabbit

This day turned out to be better than I imagined waking up in the morning. Last night I came down with a cold and within an hour I had a shivers and fever. As I lay in bed shaking I cursed that it would be a tomorrow alone with two kids and no time to rest. The day started good with a sleeping baby, cuddling boy and no fever. The day went by and we did okay. No tantrums, no very loud crying and still no fever. But after lunch my body shut down. With no words it shouted: “Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep!”. I knew I had to wish for a miracle in order to be able to make my 4-year old take a nap. So, in that moment when I sat on the floor with a Buzz Lightyear doll in my hand and mashed potatoes in my brain I turned my back to perfect parenting and instead I turned to bribing. I fed the baby and put him sleeping in his cot and then gently asked my little boy take a nap with me. He refused. I then gave him my counter argument. “If you take a nap I will play as much hide and seek with you as you want…and you can sleep with baby brother’s toy rabbit.” That made the trick and all three of us enjoyed two hours of magical and healing sleep.

This toy rabbit by the way is a piece of heaven in it self; so soft and cuddly and the perfect shape for a perfect hug. My baby boy got it from my aunt and uncle when he was born and I will definitely get one for my big son for his 4rth birthday in a month. You can check them out at TEDDYKOMPANIET and if you just have to have one you can order it online from LEKMER.

Mr. Muffin Teach Children about Death

When my oldest son just turned three he find a dead bird in his favorite playground. The weeks that followed he had many questions about death. I tried to answer but find it very hard to not complicate things or make him frighten. When we a month later visited Sweden we borrowed a book from the library, “Adjö herr Muffin” written by Ulf Nilsson and Anna-Clara Tidholm, that told a beautiful story about the death of a guinea pig. It was brilliant! Now I discovered that there has been an English translation of the book that in English is called “Goodbye Mr. Muffin” and that it is available at SWEDEN BOOK SHOP. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with curious little children at home. For you to get the gist of the story I quote the description from SWEDEN BOOK SHOP website:

“In his youth, Mr. Muffin was a strong guinea pig who could carry a whole cucumber on his back. Now old, grey and tired, he looks back on his life. Then one Wednesday morning, he feels a sharp pain in his stomach...

This picture book is for ages three and up. It tells the touching story about the death of a much-loved pet. Growing old, death rites, the question of the afterlife, all handled with warmth and gentle humor.

The story also shows that the final stages of life need not be a 'difficult' subject. A beautiful book that children love - it is one of Sweden's bestselling and most borrowed children's books in 2007 - Goodbye Mr Muffinwon the 2002 Swedish August Prize. Voted book of the year by a children's poll in both the Swedish Book Jury Prize (2002) and the French Chronos Prize for Youth Literature (2008-2009).”

A Cap for the Spring Anyone?

I just looked out the window and considered to take the kids out today despite of the oldest boys cold. The first thing that came to my mind was; if he just had a cap suitable for this weather. Today it is typical Greek spring day with 16 degrees Celsius and somewhat chilly winds and a cap in thin cotton would be perfect. So, in my web search for the perfect cap I stumbled on this small Swedish brand dreggel that specializes in just cotton caps. The caps are so cute and available in many cool fabrics. Just pick your favorite!

Beautiful Hands by SeeJILL

I want to share with you these beautiful products from Swedish textile designer SeeJILL. The creator behind this adorable print is Jill Ryd, a former nurse that quit her job to work fulltime as a textile designer. She puts emphasis on quality and works exclusively with Swedish manufacturers, additionally all the products are handmade by the designer. Both the sack and the drape are also available in blue. Aren't they cute?  

A boy with a cold and his "Pettson and Findus"

My son has a cold and is home from day care this week. That means a lot of cuddling and unconditional love, but also a very tired mum and a baby that cries for attention. So, what do you do when the boy is not sick enough to sleep all day and not well enough to play? You put on a DVD. Our favourite for the moment is “Pettson and Findus”. Not only my son is mesmerized by it, I can’t stop watching and I definitely can’t do chores when it’s on. So, yesterday instead of doing the laundry I ended up in between my two boys under the duvet watching Pettson building a Santa Claus machine. It was lovely and by far the best moment of my day.

The movies about “Pettson and Findus” are based on the books by Sven Nordqvist. Sven Nordqvist is a talented Swedish children book author and illustrator and has many fans in and outside of Scandinavia. His “Pettson and Findus” books have been available in Swedish since 1985 and in English since 2007. You can find the English version of “Pettson and Findus” on Amazon.

For those of you who want to know more about “Pettson and Findus” here below I quote Wikipedia’s description of the characters.

“Pettson is an old farmer who lives in a ramshackle red-ochre-painted wooden farmhouse in the Swedish countryside. He is presumably a widower, as in Pettson Goes Camping he tells of a planned camping trip with his wife in his youth, but no children are mentioned. His neighbours regard him as a bit odd. However, he does have the company of a cat, Findus. Findus is dressed in a green-striped costume and wears a cap. Pettson and Findus can converse with each other, and the cat can stand up on his two hind legs like a human - Findus thus appears and behaves as if he were a small child. However, Findus, unlike Pettson, is aware of other "small creatures" living in the house, who play havoc with Pettson's belongings. Each of the books takes off from simple events, such as gardening, going fishing, preparing for Christmas, and so on. It emerges only in the most recent of the books, When Findus was little and disappeared, that the cat had been given to Pettson as a kitten, and that he had arrived in a cardboard box with the text "Findus peas" on the side - hence the inspiration for the choice of a name.”

I Love I Dig Denim!

I dig denim is a jeans label from Gothenburg that has since 2009 successfully created jeans for kids that are both stylish and of high quality, two qualities that are rarely successfully blended. It is easy to see that I dig denim has put emphasis on making clothes that will reflect the child’s personality. What I love about these jeans is that they look comfortable at the same time they look effortlessly cool. I dig denim make it easy for kids to show their own style without worrying about comfort. What more does a child ask for from a pair of jeans?

I dig denims jeans comes in various models and colours and are available at babyshop.se.