at the church next door.
greg left early to catch a train at 7:15. henry woke up early too, so we played while william slept. one of henry's new tricks is to climb up on the chair by throwing the cushion down and using it as a step stool.
from there he climbs onto the chest...
it was an early morning. his idea of a rest...
william strolled out of bed around 8:30, carrying lemur and hal the moose, his very good stuffed animal friends...
i wanted to give you a close up of his hair. what am i supposed to do with it? i don't know what to do with thick hair. even if i brush it, it still sort of hovers over his head, ignoring the commands of gravity.
william has been wanting pancakes on and off for a few days now. we were going to make them for dessert yesterday, but then we didn't end up having eggs for dinner, and pancakes for dessert seemed an odd pairing to a savory rice and pita dish. but this morning, we made them. one gigantic pancake for william and two smaller ones for henry and me to share.
william mixing the batter.
i was then able to convince him to get dressed so we could go to a new park we had yet to explore, before we had to be back for the windows to be washed, as arranged by our landlord.
the parks around us are nice. the playground equipment is sufficiently different in design, and occasionally in use, that they are always exciting for william. this particular park had rakes, push brooms, and shovels lying about, which was pretty cool. it did cross my mind that perhaps these tools were meant for cleaning up after the cats, but i couldn't figure out how the push brooms would be useful.
there was some indication that animals have stopped in at this playground, but it seemed limited to one corner. still, it's a little disconcerting. but the outdoors does seem to be the life here for cats. when we were at our dinner the other night and the topic of their cat and our cats came up, we said that our cats did not go outside. there seemed to be some confusion, "so... they just stay inside?" as if the concept of an "indoor cat" does not exist in denmark.
at the park-- henry doing what henry does best...
and trying out the slide...
we left around lunchtime and on our way home, walking along a rather main street, we came across groups of children walking together... from somewhere, crossing the street to a school on the other side.
presumably this mass exodus (or influx, depending on which side of the street you were on) had something to do with lunch. whatever it was, what struck me was the fact that i don't think you would see this in the u.s. elementary-aged children crossing a busy street without an adult hovering like william's hair. this concept that children are smart and can be safe without an adult supervising them at all times is one of the things that makes me excited to be raising two children here. i want them to be able to explore their environments and feel comfortable within them. william was getting some of that freedom back in madison, but recently he's been stuck with me transporting him around to this park or that. it seems like that's not going to be the way it is for the next three years though, because constant adult supervision is not the life here for kids. thankfully.
well, it's 10:00 and i'm getting tired. i was going to show you a couple of pictures i snuck of some near-empty offices, when we went out on a burley walk a little after 4 p.m. but you can just believe me that i saw a total of one person working as we walked along a block of office buildings, and a conference room full of half-eaten food and unfinished water bottles, literally abandoned at the strike of four. at least, that's what i'm assuming happened. how else do you get to be known as the country with the best work-life balance?
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