April's Gone

May already and more than a month since I last wrote, so time for a little recap.

• Lots of work for me. This time of the year, March-May, will always be very busy, even though the busy period started already in January.
• But at the same time, April means Easter and we were able to spend almost 10 days in Sweden. We had a much more relaxing schedule than last time we were home at Christmas and spent most of the time with family but met with a few sets of friends. We also ticked off a few "duties" on our list, dentist for Peter and Isolde (first ever visit for her - it went well and she opened her mouth long enough for them to count her teeth), vaccination shots for Isolde, belated one-year check-up at BVC for Harald, and doctor's appointment for me to get migraine medicine (here in Belgium they only have these huge packs that only holds three pills while I can get a pack of 30 in Sweden).

Traditional Finnish Easter eggs and Finnish (Danish?) smørrebrød at Thomas & Minna's new flat on Easter Saturday.

Easter decoration à la Isolde

Harald is enjoying that all playgrounds in Sweden have swings

Easter cake helper

Eating corn snacks in his sleep...

Time to fly back to Brussels

• Spring comes earlier here than in Sweden (and this year it is an usually early spring apparently) and in mid-April it looked and smelled like Sweden in May. You know those flowers you associate with the last few weeks of school before summer vacation. But here that is very much April rather than May. Now it is completely green. The cherry trees blossomed at in mid-March and the magnolia was almost withering by the end of March. The lilac are still in bloom though.
• We finished the month of April with Walpurgis Eve / Valborg celebrations at the Scandinavian School in Waterloo on 30 April together with our new neighbours, Swedish T., Welsh M. and their daughter E.

• E. also started attending Isolde's school at the end of April. They are not in the same class but the two classes spend the afternoons together.

Off to school on E's first day

• We have also made some more definite plans for our continued stay here in Belgium. Peter will be working for his Swedish employer until the end of the year - still on parental leave until August and after that, remote working either from home or from his company's office here in Brussels. That will give him more time to find a job here.
• We also started looking for houses to rent here in April, and this week Tuesday we signed for a very nice house in the same neighbourhood where we live now (so we don't have to change schools/crêche)! We are so excited! We will get access at the beginning of June so now we are looking into moving our furniture from Sweden here. As our tenants in the Stockholm flat have moved out and we are looking for new tenants we have the opportunity to move the furniture and then let it unfurnished instead.

Our new house!

• In the saga that is Harald's computer addiction he managed to break my iPhone screeen while we were in Sweden but luckily it didn't cost me too much to fix it. Unnecessary of course but it is very difficult to say no to him sometimes! Now I have problems with the LCD screen under the glass and sometimes I can hardly see what I'm doing so it's time to buy a new one (and I should probably complain to the repair place in Sweden but I don't think I kept the receipt...)!

Must. Get. The. Computer.

• We have hung out with the neighbours and been to one housewarming party of an old acquaintance from my stagiaire days who also lives here now (they came to our drink in March as well). Unfortunately in April we had to say goodbye to our good friends Chris & Jacqui who moved back to the UK after four years in Belgium (after before that four years in Sweden where we first met them). We miss them so much! Luckily it is not too far to the UK from here and especially not to Kent in south England where they live now.

We will miss little Emilie and her brother Daniel, and their parents of course!

• Our dear friends and neighbours P & O brought back some shoes for our kids from Spain where they spent Easter. Shoes are so much cheaper there! And it's good quality leather shoes! We will need to put in another order for their next visit! :)

• And the kids are growing and learning new things! Isolde is drawing cars and Harald is practising his fine motor skills.

Better Thursday

• I'm finally feeling better after having developed mastitis, a breast infection, in my right breast. I've had some problems on and off for two months since I started breastfeeding less often, coinciding with me going back to work, but this time it got worse and I couldn't self-treat it. I had similar issues with Isolde after six months (though in my left breast) but never this frequent or bad. I started having a fever and headache (though I had already had a migraine since Saturday morning, which is something I get sometimes but usually not more than once monthly or every other month) on Sunday evening as we were driving back to Belgium from the UK (more on the trip below) and on Monday I had a fever of 39,6 'C. The migraine had gone away (usually lasts 2,5 days) but instead I had a really bad headache and pain in my body, especially in my legs and my neck and shoulders. If it wasn't for my swollen and painful breast I would have been sure it was a reaction from the flu jab from the week before, but I have never had a reaction from a jab before and besides, I don't think it would come four days later. Unfortunately our doctor, which we just listed with, is on holiday this week, and we weren't sure what to do in that situation, but I tried with the other doctor who shares the premises, and he was able to see me at 5pm on the Monday. He prescribed antibiotics and rest and also provided a sick leave certificate, which I need for work from the fourth sick day.
• I didn't know it then but I would take all week to get better. I still had fever Tuesday, and slight temperature yesterday, Wednesday, and the headache is finally almost gone now, Thursday evening, as is the body pain, though I still feel a bit weak. As for the breast, it wasn't until last night, Wednesday, after two full days of three pills a day plus the first dose on Monday evening, that it started feeling better. Still not normal but not aching or super tender anymore. I've only taken half of the antibiotics so I guess I couldn't really expect it to get better quicker but for a while it felt like "I'm never going to get better!".  I'm going to stay home from work tomorrow too in order to really recuperate. Also now I'm a bit worried about my left breast, which is a bit swollen, but I don't think it's inflamed or infected, rather it's due to infrequent nursing, as one of the cures for the sick breast is to use it as much as possible. One of the reasons for my problem in the first place is exactly this, infrequent breastfeeding, as I only nurse morning and evening.
• If after this ordeal is over I'm still experiencing problems, I need to seriously consider giving it up. I hope to be able to continue because the milk is still good for Harald and I really enjoy this special time with him, especially since I'm working during the day. He doesn't really like drinking from a bottle so it wouldn't really be the same feeding him porridge or something else in the evening (of course I feed him other stuff, but you know what I mean, while in my arms). So it's important for me, but not important enough to risk my health of course, especially not at the age he is now, almost 9 months. 
• But despite me having a migraine and coming down with mastitis, we had a really lovely time visiting our dear friends in England last weekend. I was there on a brief visit (literally a few hours) in December last year, but we hadn't been together all of us since Isolde was one and their daughter Imogen was two.  And since then two babies have been born (though I met their youngest Seren in December)!  We stayed at their house, four adults and four children under four, so it was, as in Kim's words "a wonderful kind of madness".  There was a mix of great play, kisses and hugs, fighting over toys and a few tears but mostly laughter and shrieks of joy.  I will post some photos from the visit later but here's a teaser.

• From this week Isolde is attending full days (08:30-15:30)  at pre-school, though this week is a bit irregular schedule-wise, as Monday she was on leave due to us returning from the UK very late Sunday evening, and Wednesdays are always half-days here.  But Tuesday and Thursday went well, including eating and sleeping, although the first day she hadn't want to sit still at mealtime - must have been exciting for her to be in the big refectory.  She really likes pre-school and every morning when she wakes up, even at the weekend, she ask whether she's going to "skolan"?  Hope it continues that way!
• Tomorrow Peter's parents are coming to visit for the weekend before they continue to Nice on Monday.  I'm a bit jealous, especially since we didn't get to go this past summer (the strike, if you remember).  Maybe we'll go in the spring at some point, even if for a long weekend or half-week.  We don't have any plans yet for this weekend - I suspect they just want to hang out with the grandkids and eat some nice food.
• I started watching the BBC series "Ambassadors" - there are only three episodes so far but I hope they will make more!  Highly recommended!

Thursday Again

This post is dedicated to Mette! ;)

• This week has been busy work-wise (not too many extra hours but hectic while at work) and I can't wait for the weekend to come! I'm looking forward to getting some sleep (as much as you can get with two small children - luckily they don't wake up as early as they used to) and hanging out with my family.
• This weekend I'm also looking forward to having our lovely neighbours over for dinner. Peter has seen them (or at least three out of four family members) several times but I haven't seen them for over a month (since E was one week old and now she's six weeks!). 
• Today and tomorrow I'm attending a conference on youth unemployment. I discovered that the venue also has a spa - must check if it would be a nice place to spend a day or even spend the night. It's located outside of town in the - currently very autumn beautiful and colourful - forest. 
• Harald turned 8 months last weekend (12th) and it reminded me that I haven't posted his 6-7 month-old report yet. On the to do-list for this weekend!
• Last weekend we had a lovely visit by my parents. The weather wasn't cooperating for most of the visit except for on Saturday when we were even able to have lunch outside. But more about visits in a separate post!
• We have finally booked tickets to go and visit friends in the UK at the turn of the month! We'll be driving and on the way there we'll cross the English Channel by ferry and on the way home we'll take Le Shuttle, i.e. the train for cars. 
• Isolde will have a week off pre-school at the end of the month (just before our England trip) and when she returns she'll start attending full days (08:30-15:30), which means she will also eat and nap there. We just filled out her food order for November. The food sounds really good - it's always three-course lunches - and sounds much better than Swedish preschool and especially school lunches, but I heard at the parent teacher conference that there's a new provider and people aren't that happy, so we'll see. But you have to agree with me that this sounds delicious! 

5 November: turnip soup - salmon, macaroni and spinach cream - gruyère - biscuit
6 November: split pea soup - diced chicken, haricots provencale, bulgur - fruit yoghurt
7 November: parsnip soup - beef stew, garden vegetables, parsley puré - dried fruits

Thursday Points

An update is long overdue.  What has happened since last?

I like the "Thursday in bullet points" that Annika started so will try to post a list every Thursday at least, even if there's no time to write much else (and I'll try to join the Friday Gallery crowd too).

• To pick up where I left off last, Isolde is still enjoying maternelle.  She did have a dip after that first week and after the weekend, where she was really miserable on the following Monday and Tuesday, and didn't want to go and was very upset when we left her.  But Wednesday it was a little bit better and Thursday and Friday she was back to her happy self, and skipping into the classroom.  The week after went well, not a single tear, and this week has been the same.  She has a new teacher - unfortunately the first one was only substituting while the ordinary teacher was recovering from appendicitis - but the ordinary one seems good too, even if she isn't as sweet as the old one (and the new one doesn't speak English, which the old one did*).
• Last week I attended a two-hour parent-teacher conference in French and even though I didn't understand more than a third of the words spoken, I think I got the gist of it.  I was pretty tired afterwards after all that concentrating!  We first gathered in the refectory for the first 45 minutes or so and then continued in the classroom for class specific information with the teacher.  It was interesting to find out a little bit more about a day at preschool, or half-a-day in Isolde's case.  For example, in the morning they assemble and sing a welcome song and go through who's there and what day it is.  They have a painting of the school building where they put cutout dolls made of photos of the children and the school mascot to show who's at school that day.  And they learn the names of the days of the week through putting a different stuffed animal in the basket for that day.  Isolde's favourite activity at preschool is painting and gymnastics. 
• We've had our first "dinner party", to which we invited our friends Chris and Jacqui whom we know from Stockholm (C. and I used to be colleagues) and who have been living here now for three years but will sadly move to the UK in April.  We took the opportunity to eat some crayfish for our starter dish, since we had discovered that Ikea sold crayfish packets.  They were actually pretty good, considering they came from Ikea!  C. also invited us to join them for "champagne tea" at the British Embassy, which sounds fancy but was a low-key affair, although the surroundings were very nice as the Residence of the Ambassador (or Ambassadors, as the ambassadors to Belgium, EU and Nato share the building for entertainment purposes) is an old château-like house, which has recently been refurbished to its original glory. It was the first time since we moved here that we had available babysitters - Peter's parents - so it was nice to get away just the two of us for a few hours. 
• We've had our first sets of visitors (not counting my mother who accompanied us when we arrived and stay over that first weekend).  Our friends Maria and Daniel were here this past weekend and Peter's parents the weekend before.  Now we have a "free" weekend before my parents arrive next Thursday.  When Peter's parents were here we mostly hung out in the neighbourhood, as they lived in Brussels for three years in the mid-2000s and know the city very well already, but as M & D had never been here we spent Saturday exploring the usual tourist sites including Grand Place and Manneken Pis.  We took both sets of visitors to a brasserie in Parc Woluwe , as they serve great food but also have a playground, and we'll probably take my parents there too.  Otherwise we had almost all meals at home, and took the opportunity to have three-course dinners and drink plenty of nice wine.  When Peter's parents visited Sunday was a car-free day as part of mobility week, so it was a perfect day for a long walk, and we took M & D on a similar walk to show them our beautiful neighbourhood.  We were very lucky with the weather both weekends, especially this past weekend (and today it was 20 degrees and I had lunch outside with some work colleagues).
• We celebrated our dear neighbours' son V's second birthday, and of course the arrival of his baby sister E a few days before. I visited P and E in the hospital and it was interesting to see the insides of a Belgian maternity ward and hear about giving birth in Belgium. Not that dissimilar from Sweden but at the same time some differences in practices and methods. 
• The "honeymoon" at work is over and I've started being quite busy, which is fun but also a bit "scary" since there's still so much to learn.  Today I had to give a presentation to a group of Swedish visitors.  It was on quite basic stuff but since I only found out about it yesterday - my colleague who was supposed to present has back problems and couldn't come to work - it resulted in a little bit of nervousness.  It went well, but they had a few tricky questions that I had to admit I couldn't answer right now.  Anyway, good to have that first presentation out of the day!  I have also been to my first conference and also attended several training courses.  Next week I'm doing a three-day course that is mandatory when you're new, Working for the EU, which I'm really looking forward to.
• Peter has taken Harald to the child health centre (called ONE here; BVC in Sweden), once just for a weigh-in a couple of weeks ago, and for a check-up, vaccination and weigh-in this week.  He's now 9 kg and 67 cm tall (or short, as he hasn't grown much length-wise in the last month).  He's starting to crawl now and he also wants to stand up - holding our hands or standing against a piece of furniture - all the time.  But more about Harald in a separate post!
• We now have a dishwasher since a couple of weeks back - having to live without one our first few weeks here was horrible haha! 
• I've tried to start going to bed earlier now that I'm a working girl, but usually I'm failing, and so too tonight as the time is already 23:30.  But it's Thursday and only one more working day, so I don't care!  But Sunday night onwards it's bedtime at 10pm!  Wish me luck, I need it :)

* I'm astonished over how few speak English here, especially (or mainly) among the Francophone (the Flemish are better), even young(ish) people, and even among those with higher education, e.g. teacher and doctors.

Maternelle

Monday Isolde started maternelle, which is what Belgian preschool is called, and she has now completed her first week.  The Belgians call it school and it's also (usually) housed in a regular school, but in effect it is like Swedish preschool förskola, with some differences.  Some maternelles don't admit children until the age of four (e.g. the European Schools) but most Belgian schools, and especially the municipal ones, welcome children from the age of two and a half.  Before that there are nurseries, crèches, for babies and toddlers from three months old and up, and most of them welcome children up to four years old.  Maternelle, as it's considered school, is free of charge (but not free of expenses), whilst crèche can be quite pricey (at least compared to Swedish fees), around 6-800 euros per month. 

Isolde is only attending in the morning to start with, 08:30-11:45, but eventually, when we feel she's got used to it, especially a new language, she will stay the whole day until 15:30.   Then she will eat lunch and also nap there.  Once we're both working she will have a longer day, but then she will take part in after-school care (and before school if we need it), garderie, that is offered in the school but not necessarily in her classroom. 

So what is different from a Swedish preschool?

• As it is in a school the activities take place in a classroom rather than in several smaller rooms (at least at Isolde's school; some maternelles are different), though the toys and materials are similar to Sweden (just a bit more plastic haha) and they have organised the room so it feels like several rooms.
• The children wear their shoes indoors, i.e. the same shoes they arrived in (and that is also true for a lot of other countries of course but not Sweden).
• The children must have a backpack so that they can bring a snack and also take home notes from the school.
• There are set school hours (but garderie outside of those hours as explained above).
• There's no induction and parents are not allowed to stay, not even on the first day.  Crèches on the other hand have an induction period, but usually they are still only babies when they start there.  Two and a half is not that old either in my view, but when in Rome...
• The school requires the children to be potty trained though accidents are allowed of course and some schools help more actively with the training than this particular one.  This is why we had to get Isolde dry and as you know, we were successful!  Though she had two accident this week but only two in a whole week is alright I think.  The toilets are very typically French/Belgian - no seat and they have to sit directly on the cold porcelain, poor things! The children attending all day are allowed to wear nappies for the sieste however.
• We have to provide the school with certain items such as wipes (2 packs), tissues (2 boxes), paper towels (1 roll), glue (3 sticks) and plastic bags for dirty or soiled clothes, as well as a box for Isolde change of clothes. 
• We have to pack a snack, mainly fruit, every day for morning snack time and when she goes a full day, also for the afternoon I think.
• Once she starts attending all day we will pay for lunch.  It's not too expensive though and they get a two-course lunch (main meal and dessert), and also soup if we want.  At some school you can also pay for milk to go with morning snack time but I haven't heard anything from our school about that yet at least.
• Staff levels are lower.  I don't know yet exactly how many they are in Isolde's class but I think at least 12 and there's one teacher and one teacher assistant.  Many of the children only attend the morning like Isolde though.
• They follow school hours, so this means the day starts 08:30 and finishes either 11:45 or 15:30 (garderie available outside these hours as mentioned earlier) and if you want to pick them up earlier than 15:30 you can't do it before 14:30 because before that it's lunch and nap time. 
• On Wednesdays, like in France, school is only a half-day (earlier there used to be a half-day on Saturday instead but while that has been abolished the half-day Wednesday remains.  Not very practical for working parents, but fortunately the garderie simply opens earlier on Wednesdays.
• As it's part of school, once we're both working we need to find a solution for the school holidays such as Easter and the summer (Christmas we'll be in Sweden for two weeks anyway), as the school closes during these periods.  Crèches on the other hand are open throughout usually though apparently close for a certain period around Christmas and Easter.  In the summer there are other places that offer activities, so eventually we'd have to enrol Isolde in camp or similar during the summer.

What else could be interesting to know?  Most schools in Belgium are divided according to language (French and Dutch), and some are very strict and only allow one language to be spoken and sometimes even have separate school yards (won't go into Belgium's historical political, cultural and lingual complexities now...), but as Isolde's school is a municipal school, both languages are spoken but I think the teaching is in French only, or at least the main language is French.

Beyond the two Belgian languages (well, actually there are three; German as well), many other languages are spoken at Isolde's school as it's a very international area we live in.  Apparently it has as many as 40 nationalities.  In Isolde's class there are several Japanese children, and in the school in general, which is due to a Toyota factory and test runway nearby.

You can read more about the school here and if you go to galerie there are lots of pictures.

So how was Isolde's first week?  Well, it went far beyond our expectations.  We were quite worried about the first day, as we wouldn't be allowed to stay with her.  And we were also worried about the fact that the doesn't understand the language.  And finally we were worried she would not want to use the toilet or that they wouldn't be able to remind her often enough (or that she wouldn't understand), and that there would be a lot of accidents (and we were really hoping she wouldn't do no 2 there!).

Isolde ready for her first day

But turns out we didn't have to worry (although we are prepared there could be a backlash at some point)!  Isolde is just amazing, we're so proud of her!  We had talked about her going to preschool again and she was looking forward to it.  We had also talked about making new friends but I think maybe she still thought it was her old preschool in Sweden she was going to, or maybe not as she seems to have understood that we now live here and Sweden and other things are not here.  So even though she didn't really want to stay long when we visited the week before (although it might have been because there weren't any other children there then), she was very happy on her first day and wanted to start playing right away and she didn't mind being left there at all.  When Peter picked her up three hours later there had been no tears and no wee wee (well, only in the toilet where it should be). 

The week has continued in the same fashion - she skips happily through the corridor to her classroom and says "bye mummy" even before I've had the chance to help her take her sweater off and hang up her backpack.  Wednesday morning I didn't leave right away because on the Tuesday she had peed her pants after I had left, so I wanted to double-check that she didn't need to go to the toilet.  But then she wanted to leave with me again.  But I started talking about the toy cars and that maybe they would get to paint (she loves painting) and then she was fine again and I took the chance and left.  One day she had been a bit upset because we had packed peach for her and she apparently wanted other fruit, and on Thursday she didn't make it to the toilet again, but otherwise, no difficulties.  It probably helps that she's been to preschool before and that the concept is not new to her (even if it's a bit different from what she's used to).  And maybe the fact that she's quite a late talker, and she's used to people not understanding her and having to make herself understood with body language, helps her now in an environment where she doesn't understand the language.  They say that the language won't be an issue before long.  They told us that the children usually pick up quite a lot in two-three weeks; they have more trouble with the parents!  Luckily Peter and I speak a little bit of French (and we're planning to refreshen our knowledge of course) and one of the teachers also speak English.  So a very good first week!

Now a well-deserved for all of us before another week of preschool, work and daddy duty!

Friday Gallery: Lucia

Apologies for the late posting but better late than never, right!

Some pics from Isolde's first* Lucia.  We weren't allowed to take any photos at pre-school (these days people worry where images of their children will end up) but we did take a few of just Isolde.  This year's celebration was rather low-key as the children in Isolde's room (Nallen) are still so little (aged 1-2), so we just sang a few songs together (i.e. there was no performance as such) and had fika. We had done a little collection for the teachers so they were given their Christmas presents at the same time.  One of them is unfortunately leaving for another job so hers was also a leaving gift.
 


I wanted to watch the Lucia celebrations on TV in the morning but Isolde just wanted me to switch to the children's channel.  Hopefully next year we can watch it together :)

With daddy at pre-school

 

Little Santa, Tomten, rides her "reindeer", practices sliding down chimneys (although Swedísh Tomten doesn't really do that...) and admires herself in the mirror.

 

Chilling in the evening with the little guy that arrived in the post from Marianne the same day.

 

* As in her first proper celebration at (pre)school. Last year we didn't do anything in particular.

Slapped Cheek Disease

Isolde has now been back at pre-school for two days after her second bout with germs since starting in August.  The first week was induction, the second week she was sick for a few days and then attended Wednesday-Friday, and the third week she was there Monday-Tuesday and Wednesday they called at lunch time and said she had a fever.  We thought she would recover over the weekend but Monday she still had a temperature and Tuesday was needed as a "almost well"- day (they want them to have a fever-free day before returning if possible), so Wednesday was her first day this week.

On Monday we took her to the doctor since she'd had a pretty high fever except a few dips since Wednesday and it didn't seem to be going away (though that evening it was all gone of course), and they confirmed our suspicions (based on some Internet research) that she had the so-called fifth disease, also called slapped cheek disease due to the particular look of the facial rash that comes with it (its Hungarian name, butterfly pox, illustrates better what the rash looked like). 

We have never had to take her to the doctor before (except the regular health and development checks) and I was very happy to see that they did a thorough job.  In addition to examining her and listening to her heart and lungs, etc. they took a saliva swab test to make sure it wasn't tonsillitis (she seemed to have a sore throat) and also a blood sample (index finger quick one) to check for infection (sänkan, whatever that's called in English), but both turned out negative. 

Today Peter's mum picked Isolde up from pre-school as Peter's in Switzerland for work and I had a work thing until 6pm and when I got home Isolde was in a fantastic mood (and had been all afternoon according to farmor) and we had a really nice evening together until bedtime.  We were playing and cuddling and it seemed like she was trying to telling me stories - of pre-school perhaps? - in her way (since she doesn't have a big vocabulary yet).  She's been very impatient and throwing a lot of tantrums lately - probably partly because there's been a lot of change and she's also approaching that age and partly because she hasn't been completely well over the last couple of weeks - so it was wonderful to see a different little girl tonight. 

Considering she had only been at the pre-school for 5½ days before this week she's been doing reasonably well there.  She cries when I drop her off (and starts when we enter that strip of the street) and she's been spending a lot of time with the teachers and she gets upset if she wants to sit on their lap in between playing for a while and they are occupied with another child.  But she's napping and eating and I think it's a good sign that she wants to sit and cuddle with the teachers.  In a couple of weeks time teher should hopefully be fewer tears and more playtime.

Pre-School Report

For those of you following me on Facebook you will have already heard that Isolde unfortunately caught a cold at pre-school and missed two days this week.  But otherwise her pre-school start has gone well.  Here's a little report.

Welcome!

The first three days last week I was there with her throughout but tried to keep a little bit of a distance so she could explore the facilities and get to know the other children and the teachers.  But I was still the one who dressed her, changed her, helped her at mealtimes and put her to sleep after lunch.  She was quick at connecting with the other children and trying out all the toys and wasn't afraid to approach the teachers or the other parents present for their children's induction.  On Friday she was a bit cranky though, probably a mix of being tired after the two first days and the cold coming on.


Rocking hard!

Monday was supposed to be her first real day as in being left alone there (well, alone as in without parents), but due to the cold she had to stay at home Monday and Tuesday (and Peter and I had our VAB première with one day each).  Today she was well enough to attend but since four days had passed since she was last there I didn't just want to leave her right away this morning (even though she started playing right away) so I stayed for the first hour but kept a bit of a distance.  I then said a quick goodbye whereby she cried out a little bit but apparently it didn't last long after I had closed to door to the yard (they were outside playing).  I went inside to use the bathroom and get my handbag and just when I was about to leave one of the teachers came in with Isolde to find one of the other children's pacifiers.  I hadn't told the teacher I was going inside so she was a bit surprised but Isolde seemed to take it well even though she saw me and didn't seem to mind that I left (again).  I guess searching for the pacifier was more fun!

Peter picked her up at 3pm and was told that the rest of the day had gone well except for nap time when she was crying a lot and didn't want to sleep.  But eventually she and another child who was also upset (or couldn't sleep for some other reason) fell asleep in a different room from the other children.  She didn't eat much either but that could also be due to her cold because yesterday she didn't have much of an appetite either.

Tomorrow I will drop her off around 9 am and leave for work right away and hopefully she won't mind too much and also sleep better at nap time. 

So far we're very happy with the pre-school.  I got a really good impression of the teachers and I liked the atmosphere there.  They seem genuinely nice and warm and they could answer all our (as in me and the other parents) questions in a clear way.  They seem confident in their profession and their work (both the pedagogy and the care) with the children.  The other children that started in the spring (two children; the only ones left after the others have moved up to an older age group) and the two that started last week seem to feel at home and safe and have a close relationship with the teachers. 

Isolde's will be a small group for the next few months at least.  In addition to the four who started in the spring and the week before Isolde, there were five children who started at the same time as her and one who started this week.  That makes it 11 (4 girls and 7 boys) and in September or October another girl will start.  They have two more places to fill (they usually have 14 children) but they don't know yet when they would start.  They are three staff which is a pretty good teacher-child ratio.  The youngest children are 12 and 13 months and the oldest turns two in October.  Most are around Isolde's age, i.e. 1½ years old.

On a typical day at pre-school they will go to a nearby playground or park in the morning for an hour or so (or just stay in their own yard) and return back by 10:30 for some brief indoor playtime (and nappy change and similar) before they gather for song time (and downtime) around 10:45-11:00 ahead of lunch at 11:15.  After lunch at c. 12:00 it's nap time until 13:00 or 14:00 depending on how long each child sleeps.  Then it's play time or other activities like painting or crafts or story time the rest of the afternoon with a break for a snack around 14:15-14:30.  Snack is usually yoghurt, porridge or bread (or pancakes or hot dogs on Thursday when they get soup for lunch).  In the morning they are served fruit or rice cakes as a snack while they are out in the park or in the playground.  When they go out they have small wagons the kids ride in until they are old enough to walk longer stretches. 

Look out for the next report in a couple of weeks' time!

Pre-School

Big day tomorrow!  It's Isolde's first day at pre-school (förskolan)!  If the induction days count, which I think they do.  Otherwise, the real day is next Monday when she'll be there sans parents for the first time).

Induction is three days - Wednesday-Friday this week - and I will stay with her throughout the day 9:15-15:00.  Then on Monday I will drop her off at 9 and hopefully not hear anything before pick-up time.  The second week is technically induction too so she can only attend 9-15 (later she will have a bit longer hours) and I will be on stand-by if it's not working for some reason.  

This "three-day induction" is the method most pre-schools seem to be using nowadays instead of two or three weeks' induction where the child gradually spends more and more time at pre-school, such as 10 minutes the first day, 30 minutes the second day and so on.  While the "quick method" may not work for all children - and those children get more days - it's believed that three days is what is needed to adjust to a new environment and situation.  Especially if those three days are spent with a trusted parent who shares the first meeting with the teachers and the other children and is with them throughout all the activities and routines and shows them this is a fun and safe place to be.

I'm really excited about tomorrow!  Isolde is still rather oblivious even though we've been reading Kråkes förskola :)  She's a very social little girl so I think she's going to love it.  I also expect the induction will go well - fingers crossed - and if she has any difficulties it will come in a few weeks' or months' time when it's not new and exciting anymore.  Will keep you posted!

It was quite difficult to pick the pre-school and I hope this one will be right (although it's always possible to change of course).  Where we live in central Stockholm there are so many pre-schools and even if we tried to narrow the search we had around 25 pre-schools on the list to start with and had to get it down to five.  Five is the maximum number you can apply for through the central waiting list system in the municipality of Stockholm and those five have to be put in order of priority.  There's a really good comparison tool on the site to compare for example teacher-children ratio, number of teachers (trained, qualified) as opposed to other staff (non-qualified, without teaching degree), pedagogy and results from the parent questionnaire.  Most were however quite similar so in the end we very much ordered them on the basis of the parent questionnaire and especially key questions we thought mattered the most.  There are both municipal and private (independent) pre-schools in the central system, but many private ones have their own waiting lists so we also applied to many of those.  However, as both types are equally - and heavily (parents pay only 7-10% of the real cost in fees) - funded by the public purse, the City of Stockholm is planning to "force" the remaining pre-schools into the central system, albeit still allowing them to apply different admittance criteria, for example parent co-ops require parents to help out in different ways.

Our plan was to visit the five on our (central) list (there was no way we could visit 25 before narrowing it down) but I was recommended to wait until the spring before we wanted her to start.  By the way, the earliest you can apply through the central system is at 6 months while the private ones accept applications as soon as the baby has been born.  However, before we had got around to booking visits we were offered a place at our no 1 choice and we only had four days to reply.  So instead of visiting five pre-schools we just visited one.  Even though in an ideal world I would have wanted to be able to compare firsthand and I regret that we didn't visit all five pre-schools earlier in the process, it felt fine accepting the offer and I think it is the right choice (although since I haven't visited the others I can't know for sure...  I remind myself that in some parts of Sweden people just have one or very few choices and I guess I shouldn't complain). 

We were there for about an hour on the visit and visited both småbarnsavdelningen, Nallen (age 1-2 where Isolde will start) and the two older groups (age 3-4 and 5-6).  The pre-school is located in an early 20th century building and Nallen is on the first floor in premises that were in all likelihood a flat once upon a time (same for the other groups on the second floor, where they occupy the whole floor).  At first we were struck by how small it was, perhaps 60-70 sqm, but then we remembered that 14 little one-two-year-olds (and three staff) don't need that much space, especially since they spend most of the mornings outside and after 3pm the little ones usually join the older children upstairs.  The premises were a bit worn and torn (e.g. window sills and doorsteps could use a coat of fresh paint) but my friend the pre-school teacher (and my mum, also a pre-school teacher) had told us to look beyond such things (and in a way you can see it as fin-de-siècle charm) and focus on the staff and the teachers, the atmosphere (including how the children seemed to feel and behave) and the pedagogy and ways of teaching.  And we liked what we saw and felt.  They are not a pure Reggio Emilia pre-school but they are inspired by Reggio (as is the Swedish pre-school curriculum but to what degree varies from pre-school to pre-school).  They have a very small yard/outdoor play area, as many pre-schools located in the city (and some don't even have one at all), so instead they go to parks nearby (Humlegården, Tessinparken), other green areas (Gärdet, Djurgården) and the woods (Lill-Jansskogen) at least three or four days a week, rain or shine. 

But I'm sure I will have more to tell after tomorrow!

Meanwhile Peter started working yesterday after nine months parental leave and really had mixed feelings about it (as did I back in November when I returned to work after ten months leave) but is already back into the swing of project planning and meeting.  No soft start there.