Get Up, Stand Up!

Dear Elzora,
Just a short update to let you know that on the afternoon of July 19th, 2008 you stood up on your own for the very first time. You were in the caravan in Varberg and you were leaning over on papa and you stood up to clap your hands. I almost can't believe that it really happened. Everyday with you is more and more exciting and interesting. You are the coolest, chica!
Love,
Mommy

Elzora Longstocking

Dear Elzora,
Maybe it's something in the water? I don't know, but you are definitely starting to identify with the Swedish culture.

Actually when this picture was taken you were tired as hell, had food all over you and were completely uninterested in having a wig on your head. But, as always, you were a good sport about the whole thing.

Not much is happening on this quiet Monday morning. Dad is at work, you are asleep and I'm having a hard time waking up. Our new neighbors moved in, Susanne and Erika, and they are so nice. They are expecting a baby on September 19th, so soon you will have a new little friend. Mommy is very excited.

You were due to be born on September 23rd of last year (I'm sure that I've already mentioned this in a previous entry), but you weren't born until October 9th. Hopefully the little one next door won't wait so long to make her/his appearance.

You just woke up!!

Love,
Mommy

E.L.C.K.

Dear Elzora Liisa Corazón Karlsson,
When we decided on your name we didn't even realize that your initials kind of spell the word "ELK." This is funny considering mommy's nickname was Moose when she was little. My grandmother, Norma Mac Killop, even had a customized book order for me titled "Moose Mac Killop's Adventure in Mother Goose Land." Maybe we will find it at your grandma's house, my mom, when we go to Michigan in August.
A guy named Bill Hale, gave me the name because my head was so big compared to the rest of my body.

One time Auntie Liisa told McKenna that she looked like a baby moose and McKenna started crying and didn't like Liisa for many years until she brought Uncle Jeremy over to the Channing house. Well, at least that's how the story goes.

Daddy has been talking about getting some new tattoos. I told him that it would be really cool to get a tattoo of your initials across his back with large protruding antlers coming out from the "E" and the "K." Today when I was looking up "corazón" images on Google, I found the image I have attached to this blog entry. It's titled "corazon y alce." I love that it incorporates both the corazón and the deer imagery. It's perfect.

I looked up "alce", because I didn't know what it meant. One source, THEOI Greek Mythology's Encylopedia of Greek Gods, Spirits and Monsters, says it means "The female personification of strength." Isn't that like the coolest?

BTW, your Auntie Christine came up with the name Corazón, because mommy's heart was beating so hard when I was pregnant with you. And mommy wanted to honor Christine, because she was so supportive during my pregnancy and even more supportive of my move to Sweden to be with daddy. The same is true for Auntie Liisa and that's why you have the name "Liisa."

As for the Elzora part of your name, my mother's mother's mother was named "Ione Elsora." I wanted you to have the same name, but I like the letter "Z" better than the letter "S" so I changed it. The name is Basque in origin and very, very beautiful to say.

Obviously you got the last name "Karlsson" from your papa, and I think that's a very beautiful name, too.

I love you.

Love,

Mommy

PS I've lived in Sweden for 1 year and 7 months and I have never seen a moose.

Two Days After a Funeral

Dear Elzora,
I know, not a happy title for a blog entry. But it's been 2 days since mommy and daddy attended Donald's funeral and I don't really know what to say other than it was really sad. The hardest part of the day was not saying goodbye to Donald, I barely knew him. The hardest part was seeing the people I love consumed by grief and an overwhelming sense of loss.

I read this poem again the other day for the first time and it just fit. So I'm including it in this letter to you. It's a translation of the poem 'Lyudi' that was written by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the Russian poet in 1961. The translation was done by Peter Levi, S.J. and Robin Milner-Gulland and it was published by Penguin Books for the first time in 1962.


People

No people are uninteresting.
Their fate is like the chronicle of planets.

Nothing in them is not particular,
and planet is dissimilar from planet.

And if a man lived in obscurity
making his friends in that obscurity
obscurity is not uninteresting.

To each his world is private,
and in that world one excellent minute.

And in that world one tragic minute.
These are private.

In any man who dies there dies with him
his first snow and kiss and fight.
It goes with him.

They are left books and bridges
and painted canvas and machinery.

Whose fate is to survive.
But what has gone is also not nothing:

by the rule of the game something has gone.
Not people die but worlds die in them.

Whom we knew as faulty, the earth's creatures.
Of whom, essentially, what did we know?

Brother of a brother? Friend of friends?
Lover of lover?

We who knew our fathers
in everything, in nothing.

They perish. They cannot be brought back.
The secret words are not regenerated.

And every time again and again
I make my lament against destruction.

-- Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1961)

I purchased this collection of Yevtushenko poetry in a place called "The Bookwork" in Roscommon, Michigan for 63 cents. To me it's invaluable.

I love you Elzora!!
BTW, you are 9 months old today.

Love,

Mommy

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag!

Dear Elzora,
That's right. Papa does have a brand new bag! And hopefully mama will have some new bags too, because daddy just got a job at H&M in Borås as a testing leader. Not only will it give daddy new challenges and more money, but it will also give us 25% off at all H&M boutiques worldwide.

Papa will start his new job on September 2nd, just two days after we get back from Michigan. We are very excited.

Congratulations, Papa Andreas!!
Your girls are so very proud of you.

Love,
Mommy

Spider Monkey

Dear Elzora,
You started crawling for the first time today.
We are so proud of you. You are our little spider monkey!
Love,
Mommy

First Friends

Dear Elzora,
These are pictures of your very first friends here in Sweden. Rebecca (Becca) and Wilgot are next to you in the picture where you and Wilgot appear to be dancing. Ludwig and Jesper are the little boys pictured separately.

Becca Baby, as we like to call her, is the daughter of our very close friends Jessica and Kribban. Her other nickname is "Baby Jesus" because she was due to born at Christmastime last year.

Wilgot is the son of Anneli and Ulrik. They live on farmor and farfar's street in Timmele. Anneli teaches English and has been very kind to mommy by helping her with her Swedish lessons and by being a very good friend. Wilgot decided to be born earlier than anticipated, but he is growing up just as big and strong as the other members of your little baby posse.

We met Jesper and Ludwig at baby swim. Their moms, Anita and Anna-Karin, are friends of mommy's. Anna-Karin was a dive instructor in Cyprus and her English is fantastic. Anita has 3 other children, so she is the expert when it comes to raising kids.

Rebbeca and Wilgot are a few months younger than you and Jesper and Ludwig are a month older. When you are with the little ones, we have to be careful because you just love them and want to touch them and crawl on them and play with them.
Jesper and Ludwig love playing with you. With those two you are just one of the guys!

I'm so looking forward to having your friends over for movie nights, parties and play dates.
I hope that our home is a place where your friends will feel comfortable. I think we are going to have a lot of fun. And we already have Wii and PlayStation!!

You are pulling at my shirt, so I better get off of the computer and pay attention to you.

Love,
Mommy