Hannes is back OK, I am at home again, sitting here by the kitchen table. So, things are good. We were away only for a few days, but a lot can happen in a few days to make it seem like a long time.
One of them is being sick for a day. Another, sleeping for 15 hours.
But enough about me. Last night, Hannes said he wanted to go home so you can understand how disappointed he was this morning, when I drove him to his kindergarten. He was like a little monkey, hanging onto me.
I hate that because it makes me feel ... ruthless, cruel, and any other bad thing you can imagine. So, I am off to the kindergarten now, to pick him up. Maybe we'll take the longer route back home.
Good vibrations We sure lose something as we grow up. Well, we lose a lot, but one of the things is obviously the ability to trust our instints and intuition.
I am fascinated by Hannes's ability to know who he likes and who he likes not so much. Immediately. We're visiting my Mom (so, the view from the blog window is not the usual Stockholm suburbian street, but instead a Finnish farm with frields and fields of - I think - potatoes) so Hannes has charmed my uncles and aunts.
My uncle is Hannes's Cool Friend. My aunts ... OK, but kinda scary. There's just something about the way my uncle moves and talks and looks that makes Hannes trust him and like him.
A funny thing happened.... Well, there we were, sitting - or maybe we were standing - on the NY subway. I think it was the Times Square stop, #2 train Uptown. Hannes, Jessica, myself and Devin, the Godfather.
We were waiting for the train to get going - we were running late, Devin and I were going to stop at Fairway's - when all of a sudden a man came running, juuuust as the doors closed. He managed to get a hand and a foot between the closing doors, as he was desperately trying to open the doors.
We stood there, watching, all four of us, when after about 30 seconds of struggle, the doors reopened, and the man walked into the train.
That little New York moment made an impression on Hannes who has been asking Jessica all week to tell him the story over and over again. Today, he told me the story himself. "And then Mom says, "wow", and Dad said, "oh no" and Debin goes, "uh oh". "
That makes his standup routine 60 seconds long.
The other joke - the above becomes funny when Hannes tells it - involves a Finn, a Swede, a pig and, um, ugly smells.
Here's Hannes There's a nice, small playground on the east side of Central Park, on 96th Street. They have eight swings, three slides, a sandbox and a lot of other neat things to play with. And a lot of kids. And almost as many nannies.
Hannes was there last week.
Anyway, Hannes was a little shy at first, at the playground. He held my hand as we walked around to see what they had to offer. "Dad, what did girl say?" Hannes would ask when somebody said "excuse me" on her way to rescue a little girl in trouble,
Then he saw the slide. The first time, Jessica lifted him up, and it took him minutes to get down. Five minutes later, Hannes would sprint up the stairs, stand up on top of the slide and yell, "Here comes Hannnnneeees!" and then came down feet, first, on his stomach.
Traveling with a two-and-a-half-year-old is different from traveling alone or traveling as a couple. Five years ago Jessica and I walked around Manhattan, saw all the sights and shopped like there was no limit on our credit cards. This time around, we spent one day in Central Park, watching squirrels and chipmunks, looking for the carousel and eating ice cream. The next day, we took the 3-train up to the Bronx Zoo.
And we loved almost every minute of it. Having the cutest kid in the world with you on the New York subway helps a a lot. Everybody's really nice. Except ... you know who you are.
I [heart] NY Hannes is currently asleep in Harlem in New York City. He's had a rough day keeping up with the yellow taxicabs and eating pretzels.
The high of the day was when Hannes was running around the fountain in City Hall Park, beaming, and just being happy to run (instead of sitting in the stroller, or in a car like the previous three days).
Hannes was on his third lap around the fountain when he almost ran into two men. One of them saw Hannes running towards them, he stepped aside and said to his friend: "Look, a smiley!"
