Odin's First Birthday

Today we celebrated Odin's first birthday. We can hardly believe a full year has passed since Odin made his surprise entrance. The year has been wonderful and we are amazed at how much we enjoy watching his growth and development.

We threw Odin a birthday party. Mom made him a blueberry pie. All of his friends came! The apartment was buzzing with laughter from many children. I'd say a good time was had by all.

Except Odin didn't get a good afternoon nap before the party and was a bit sleepy...

and feel asleep in his Swedish Grandpa's arms. Kenneth held him while he slept for an hour or so and then he woke up. When he woke we sang Happy Birthday to him in English, Swedish, Spanish and the silly "you smell like a monkey" version!

Here we are singing the English version...you can tell he still looks a bit sleepy :-)


The night before his birthday we let Odin open one of his birthday present from us. A wooden alligator that moves and makes noise as you pull it along.

Visit from Tracy

We had a visit from our friend Tracy a few days ago and she and Odin had lots of fun together. Here is a video of Tracy making funny noises to make Odin laugh. Afterwards, Tracy said, "The only other person who has had their hand in my mouth for that long of a time has been my dentist!" Ha!

Also here is a cute pic of Dad and Odin relaxing on the weekend.

Dishwasher

The dishwasher continues to be Odin's favorite "toy." This morning mom and dad caught him INSIDE it and boy was he happy about his newly learned trick!
Hmm, what's inside??!!!
Hey Mom and Dad look at me! This is great fun!
Finally I can see the counter and all the fun stuff Mom plays with when she's in the kitchen!
Wow, what a fun morning! I hope I get to do this every morning...

Right-Handed

For a couple of months we've known Odin was right-handed but today as we were eating wild blueberries (they grow wild here and everywhere!) it really struck me. Every blueberry Odin ate he picked up with his right hand. Odin loves blueberries. Yesterday while we were picking them mom sat him down in the middle of the forest so she could do some picking. She noticed that Odin too was picking blueberries although at a much slower rate and he was eating them instead of putting them in the bucket!

Today while we were playing outside Odin, for the first time ever, stood by himself without any support. It was only for a few seconds, none-the-less we were very excited. Odin has become a chatterbox, though we don't recognize any words. And just as I was writing this, Odin gave me a kiss, stole the glasses off my face and then gave me his famous smile (he's such the charmer).

Pictures soon to come!!!

Gotland

We took a trip to Gotland, the large island off the southeast coast of Sweden. It is where the historic medieval town of Visby is located. Our friend Jeff came to visit us in Sweden. We met in Stockholm and then took a ferry from a town near Stockholm to Visby. Here is a picture of "Uncle Jeff" and Odin on the 3 hour ferry ride.
The town of Visby still has most of its medieval town wall intact, you can see other towers along the wall from the tower we're on.
Uncle Jeff and Odin hanging out in the grass. Odin needed some time to crawl around and play.
Group photo with our Sweden shirts outside the hotel within the old town walls. You can see one of the old towers in the background.

Odin showing Uncle Jeff how strong he is at dinner!

Odin trying to get my glass during lunch in the town square. We had lots of sun and great weather!

Here is a picture of Dad and Odin with a "Tomtea", a kind of gnome that each house has that helps watch over things and can be responsible for odd things around the house.