Petzi's World

Tivoli Gardens has this amazing soft playground for younger kids that is free! Petzi is a beloved Danish cartoon character. We did occasionally see Petzi's images around the airport and in some advertisements. He is a popular mouse (?) There is also a nice nursing/changing room nearby as well as kid friendly toilets (e.g. smaller, lower ones for the preschool set).  We zoomed through here. Though it was hot in the afternoon, we returned at night.

Dek got really familiar so in the evening when we were leaving, he bolted down an exit on the opposite side (about 100 feet away) without us realizing. I was scouring the playground looking for our little man before I realized he may have tried to leave.

I ran to the opposite exit looking for him. He was a huge pile of tears and franticness. He had found another nice Danish lady that was going to help him look for mommy. Though we were fear stricken for a minute, luckily we were in a pretty safe environment (Amusement park that requires paid admission - so less grifters one would think) in one of the safest cities in the world (where people park their prams outside while having dinner or going shopping). Eventually we found him and then we had a long talk about sticking together. Every time we'd get off the train he's say something like, "Mommy, don't forget me!" He's been much more careful about sticking with mom and dad - though the excitement of a new place will send him racing ahead of us still.  But, just the other day, back home, he kept me from crossing into the street since I wasn't looking closely enough. Funny how you they become the one that keeps you in check.

Happy Mid-Autumn Moon (Tet Trung Thu)!

 

 

 

Derek, 3, with Cousins Elliot, 4, Phillip, 18 months

We missed most of the fun and games of Tet Trung Thu. The community hosts the children's event. Derek didn't wear his ao dai like last year but we're still glad he had a good time with family.

Nap-on-the-Go

Hugging and napping at the same time. We gals know how to be efficient.

Eating at Tivoli

So.tired. Taking a break before my back collapses.

Dek  enjoys some of the Danish Ballet at the Peacock Theater

Finally Dinner in Groften - complete with a Cap!

We suffer from this need to do EVERYTHING on the first couple of days. Usually this is what crashes the trip. For example, we wanted our money's worth so we went from Tivoli Gardens and then took a bus to take a boat tour (20 minutes for the bus and an hour on the boat), then decided to go back to Tivoli so we could continue to rock out and eat dinner. Tivoli does have a Michelin star place and some amazing eateries, but all the walking left me completely drained. I went from feeling sad for those babies abandoned in their prams and happy to have Quinn snuggled to me to feeling completely envious of everyone pushing around a gigantic granny cart and wishing I had one so that Mike could tote me around.

No matter. We had a hard time deciding where to eat because 1) we didn't plan to take the boat tour detour and 2) everything was so expensive. I could not bring myself to pay 175kr (30 USD) for a kids meal. It was ridiculous.  Finally after gathering some energy from sitting stationary, we decide to head to Groften, a Danish family restaurant. I had some reservations because its early in the trip and I don't know what the protocol for eating with young children is.  Though it is family friendly, most of the children are at least 8 years old. Much of the trip, I spent worrying about the possibly ruckus and dirty looks that I would get from eating out, when truthfully, most places were very accommodating.  This place was so awesome, they gave out hats and high end markers to color with. Dek's kids meal was priced at 75 kr (15 USD) which was more manageable and Quinn was asleep so I could kind of just eat over her head. 

The Enemy

Europe posts have been coming slowly since I've been fighting Picasa and Google+ due to storage space. Its really a struggle since I need to be more judicious about how to use free time (usually I decompose into a pile on the couch). I'm slowly turning into a ludite anyway.In other news, I thought I would post about Quinn's epic fight with her enemy, the bottle.

My second time around with a baby, I should know the ropes a bit better. True to form though, second children know how to throw you for a loop by having different challenges. Nursing with Quinn from day 1 has been pretty awesome. She latched right away, never had weight gain issues and didn't experience the excessive food allergy issues that Derek had. She nurses well, sleep long stretches and has a sunny disposition (with me at least!).

Until...

The bottle.

First of all, I wish I didn't have to use the bottle. I want to return to work, and if there is anything I could change about my arrangement, it wouldn't be that I wouldn't go back to work but that I would go and could 1) work from home full time, so I could nurse; or 2) live closer work so I could easily come home to nurse. Though neither is the case, I'm fortunate enough to have taken 4 months of maternity leave with some ongoing telework 1-2 days a week. However, this means Quinn will still need to take the bottle 3-4 days a week while I'm gone for 9 hours a day. 

Derek took the bottle like a champ. Around 6 weeks, he would switch effortlessly in between and I felt less frightened of leaving him at home for a short stretch while I ran to the store or for quick errands. Derek was such a frequent nurser, that I would actually worry about him crying within 45 minutes of starvation. Quinn can really hold out between feedings. Not one to comfort nurse (until more recently at 3 and 4 months), she will go up to 4 hours in the day without a feeding and longer at night. I will try to offer to her in shorter intervals but she isn't interested. But when she is hungry, the girl really needs to eat.

When Quinn first rejected the bottle around 8 weeks, I didn't worry too much about it. In fact, I was secretly ecstatic that I couldn't be replaced by a silicone nipple even though it had my expressed nipple. She would cry and chew on it a bit more then completely ignore it. It sent our nanny into distress worried about how she would care for her (again comparing her to Derek our eating champ).  I told her not to stress and we moved to alternates like the dropper and the cup.  Both caused a big mess, along with a huge waste of breastmilk, and neither really did the job of feeding her.  I would let her just spend time with the bottle as a toy. It would hang out with us while nursing.

We spent every minute together in Europe basically. The one night I had to go out with Mike for his birthday dinner after bedtime, she slept until 4am the next day. We were going to try to get her to take a bottle a day, a few weeks before going back to daycare but, the whirlwind of life didn't allow for it.

On August 11, I had exhausted all maternity leave - I'd taken vacation leave, sick leave and even leave without pay for a few weeks. I had to go back in the office. I left 10 oz of milk and hoped for the best.

I came home the first day. All the milk was left. She had essentially taken nothing for 10 hours and was in hunger strike mode.  I felt so sad thinking she had cried so much that first day without me. But I had to remind myself, that she was with a loving caregiver.  It feels like the nanny and I might be having more distress over her not taking the bottle. I considered taking a cab home some days from work (cost be damned!) to just see her little chubby face.

The week wore on. She started to weaken her resolve, but she still starved herself out for nearly a week. It wasn't until Friday did she have a few ounces.  In the meantime, I spent every waking hour at home with her attached to me. Mostly because I missed her, more than I worried about her starving. She seemed fine to wake up every few hours at night to eat and I was happy to have her do it.


So she's sometimes taking the bottle, she'll be 6-months in a few weeks here so I hope to just transition her to a cup soon.

Tivoli Part II

Milk Shake in the "Chinatown" Area

We let him look at the candy, but not eat any.

More in the Gardens

The Panda

One of Derek's favorite rides was "The Panda" - a mini-version of the tower rides that drop you from high. It was so joyous to see him laugh hysterically among his blond co-riders as the ride scaled up and down. He always favored the seat all the way to the left and never asked us to go with him. There was a "big" seat for one adult per ride but we convinced him it was a kids-only ride so he had to go alone. Not sure why it was called the Panda, one can only guess where amusement rides get their names, but he also enjoyed wrestling the Panda statue next to the ride itself.