more on food

Today is first day of lent for those who observe it; no one in this household. We love food and don't deny ourselves, but we enjoy wholesomely. As you can tell from the videos below, Lilly is quite fond of food she can manage herself: she'll gnaw on a piece of apple (with her one tooth) and is able to down quite a few pieces of bread. She does not care for solids given her with a spoon (though she does like to hold and chew on the spoon), however, except perhaps for mashed pear. Other foods we've tried include mashed banana, avocado, potato, carrot, and oatmeal with breast milk. She will eat potato if it's in little pieces that I give her with my fingers (and that she can get her hands into as well). Mainly she eats milk. And since she's about tripled in weight since birth, she needs milk about every second hour, day and night (needless to say, she still sleeps with us). I have in turn lost all the weight I gained while pregnant (a lot: about 55 pounds, or 25 kg). Our midwife kept reassuring me I'd need the fat reservoirs while nursing. She was right. It's as if my body had the wisdom to stock up for this milk-loving big little baby. A friend of mine here in Oslo gained less than me though pregnant with twins. She has a petite frame and also has constant pain from rheumatism, perhaps her body knew it had to minimize its burdens?

In any case, with Lilly being so independent and content in her high chair as long as she gets to do what we do (that seems like a contradiction, huh), new pleasures have opened themselves up to us. For instance, going out to eat. The above picture is from Valentine's day when we went to the Cafe Theater at Trikkestallen (Torshov) here in Oslo. While Lilly gnawed on a piece of cucumber from my dinner, Leighton and I got to eat our meals, with both hands. We had planned on going out on mother's day instead a couple of weeks earlier (mother's day is earlier here in Norway than in the US). But I had come down with a cold so Leighton treated me here at home instead. Not just did he make dinner, he cleaned the apartment, treated me to a massage, and sat me down with a musical to watch on DVD: Fame (as mentioned before, Lilly too loves a good musical, so we had quite the afternoon around here). Life ain't bad.

Lilly and the apple (Lilly, eple, brød*)

Now two action-packed food videos for your viewing pleasure!

hibernation

My friend Amanda wrote a post about the necessary winter and that made me think of how I need winter, how winter is necessary for me. I depend, for my sanity, on regular outdoor walks, and so the bitter cold of Minnesota's winters and the short days of winter in Norway can be a challenge for me. But when I braved it through the cold on regular winter walks with my friend Dee the winter before we moved over here, and when, during these past few months, I had the luxury of going out during those precious hours in the middle of the day when there was some light here, it paid off in a greater sense of well-being.

And otherwise, I seek refuge in winter. I find that the stillness is solace for the soul, the time to go inwards, be inside, be quiet. Come spring and I get entirely ecstatic! The sun turns me on, makes me all wired. I dance through the months of spring and summer, my feet not even touching the ground, I get so giddy! If the year was like that, all the time, I would extinguish like a candle lit to burn from both ends.

I read Amanda's post from last June ("amazing. full. and beautiful.") and I wonder if the same isn't true for her...

Another friend wrote to me the other day, that he thought he had acclimated too well to the Pacific Northwest; they had had three days of sun this week and he'd found it disorienting, even disturbing. When the clouds returned, he felt much more comfortable. Maybe this friend simply wasn't ready for winter to end.

I think we need winter to escape from always having the spotlight on us, I think we need sometimes not to be seen, just as we may crave to be fully seen, for people to get us.

Or maybe I'm just psycho-babbling...