Crawling is for losers

November 1, 2009 6:46 pm // 1 Comment

Ellen’s preferences continue to emerge, and one thing that’s clear is that she has no interest in crawling. She takes real offense when I put her into the crawling position. She drops down to her stomach, starts whining, and looks to Lisbeth for sympathy.  ”Look mom! Look at what dad did to me!”

Ellen during clapping practice This is about as close as Ellen gets to crawling voluntarily I'm walking! I'm walking!

Walking, on the other hand — now that’s interesting. If you hold her hands and walk her around the room, she makes her happy noises and looks up at you as if to say, “Look! I’m walking!”

Apparently not all babies crawl before they walk. Lisbeth never did. Maybe Ellen won’t either, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop trying.

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures

25 seconds at home

October 25, 2009 9:53 pm // Leave a Comment

Twenty-five second exposure from our apartment at about 1:00 am

Posted in: Denmark, Pictures

El Porvenir

October 25, 2009 9:53 pm // 1 Comment

When we were still in New Mexico last month we attended a church retreat in El Porvenir. I took these on the last night, as kids made smores (kids don’t just roast marshmallows anymore, apparently.)

Campfire at El Porvenir Campfire at El Porvenir Campfire at El Porvenir

Posted in: Pictures, Travel

Ride of the day

October 16, 2009 11:37 pm // 1 Comment

Summer is over and it’s cold (about 4 Celsius / 40 Fahrenheit today). The leaves are changing, and I’m wearing a hat and gloves on my commute. But it’s not cold enough to stop me from going for long rides after work. Not yet anyway.

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Right now I’m doubly motivated. First, I still have  a lot of enchiladas, huevos rancheros, and stuffed sopaipillas from our vacation in New Mexico to burn off. Second, daylight savings time ends on the 25th, after which any riding I do after work will be entirely in the dark.

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Posted in: Bikes, Denmark, Pictures

The audacity of ignorance

October 16, 2009 11:30 pm // Leave a Comment

When we arrived in the US for vacation last month, we stayed in a hotel in Albuquerque the first night. It had been a rough night, and Ellen was especially tired and jet-lagged. She was fussing at breakfast, so I took her for a little walk.

I was walking past the pool area when a man in his late fifties approached me and said, “That was me — twenty seven years ago, I was walking around with my infant son at this very hotel.” We chatted a bit about being parents and such, and I mentioned that we were jet-lagged. He asked where we came in from. I told him we were visiting from Denmark.

“Denmark! Wow, they’re having big problems there!”

I didn’t know what he meant. I wondered if something terrible has happened since we left. I tried to think. There’s the economic crisis, but that’s not just in Denmark… maybe he was talking about the Mohammed cartoon crisis… but… that was almost four years ago… but that is typically the only thing Americans actually know about Denmark. So I said, “Yeah… I guess…” Read More →

Posted in: Denmark, Politics, The US

Barn Sour

October 5, 2009 1:16 pm // Leave a Comment

DSC_1547.JPG Most of my experience with horses was with a horse named Shiloh that my grandfather had when I was a kid. Shiloh was barn sour, which basically meant that she wasn’t ridden very often and had grown to detest the idea. She wanted nothing but to stay in the barn.

To ride her you first had to catch her, which wasn’t easy even though she didn’t have anywhere to run. She knew what it meant when anyone showed up and took a bridle off the barn wall and she’d make it as hard as she could. Even after I’d caught her she’d jerk her head to the side and try to keep her mouth closed to keep that bridle bit from going in. Read More →

Posted in: Bikes, Personal

Ellen meets the family

September 29, 2009 3:46 pm // Leave a Comment

The highlight of this vacation has definitely been introducing Ellen to all the family members that she hasn’t yet met, like her great grandparents. Connie organized a get-together this weekend so we’d have everyone in the same place, which is where many of these pictures are from.

Ellen with her great-grandmother, Velma Coppock Ellen with her great-grandfather, Stanley Coppock

It’s  a good thing that she’s pretty flexible about who holds her, because she’s been passed around a lot in the last three weeks, and it’s a good thing that she likes the spotlight, because she’s been the center of attention most of the time.

Ellen gets a walking lesson from her uncle Ben Ellen with Auntie Heather Mom and Lisbeth with Ellen, Cora, and ClaireEllen with her second cousin Cora Sarah and Lisbeth show off Cora and Ellen The dads: Karrie with Claire, Troy with Cora, and me with Ellen

The downside, however, is that she’s gotten accustomed to the attention, and she thinks it’s incredibly dull to have only the stale affections of her parents. We’re expecting her to be pretty unhappy when we get back to Denmark later this week.

Ellen with my cousin Rachel Grandma and grandpa with their great-grandchildren Sarah supervises playtime with Cora and EllenEllen with aunt Connie Ellen with her cousins Carly and Celina Ellen and her uncle Diego

Before this trip, the only members of my family that had met Ellen were mom and dad because they visited us in Denmark in May. Before they left, mom lamented that Ellen wouldn’t remember her. Sure enough, Ellen had to warm up to her again, but it didn’t take long.

Ellen and 'Pampah' Ellen with 'Bon-bon' Ellen and Lisbeth clown around

Posted in: Ellen, Personal, Pictures // Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Capulin

September 22, 2009 7:19 pm // Leave a Comment

Last week we went to Capulin, a volcano in Northern New Mexico. It’s about 90 minutes from Springer, the town where I was born and my grandparents still live. But, like the Sandia Tram, it’s something that I’d never seen.

Ellen listens quietly as I explain our plans for the day One of many fantastic views from Capulin DSC_0211.JPG

The volcano doesn’t look like much when you’re approaching, and I thought it would turn out to be pretty lame, but when you start to climb, the view gets fantastic almost immediately. (There are hiking trails, but apparently none of them go from the bottom to the top, so you have only one choice — drive to the top.)

When ladybugs attack When ladybugs attack When ladybugs attack

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Posted in: New Mexico, Pictures, The US, Travel // Tagged: , , , , ,

Eight time zones, three weeks

September 15, 2009 2:29 pm // Leave a Comment

We’ve been in New Mexico for two days. The jet-lag is starting to wear off, but it’s still not easy to stay awake during the day or asleep at night. Ellen, much to our relief, made the trip with very little fuss, but it’s a lot to ask of anyone, much less a seven month old. Luckily Lisbeth secured an infant bed on the long flight, and that helped a great deal.

Ellen, on the flight from Copenhagen to Washington D.C. Across the Atlantic Ellen was good -- very good. But she was not as good as the little Swedish girl next to us, who didn't make a sound the entire time. Ellen studies her rival on the flight to Washington D.C.

It’s pretty strange to be on this side of things. For years I’ve been flying and I’ve been not infrequently annoyed by screaming babies on board. I think I was under the impression that the parents could do more to quiet the baby. But that’s silly. No one wants the baby to be quiet more than the parents, but there’s only so much you can do.

We traveled with Lisbeth’s parents, who joined us both to see where their son-in-law grew up, but also to visit the US, which they’ve never done. It really helped to have them on the plane because when we got tired we could hand Ellen off to them and get a little rest.

Jet-lagged and hungry, freshly arrived in Albuquerque Getting ready to go get on the tram On the tram

On Sunday, after introducing Ellen to my brother Ben and his wife Heather, we all went up to Sandia crest on the tram. Despite the fact that I grew up in New Mexico, I’d never been on the tram. It’s yet another example of things that tourists do and locals don’t. It was a pleasant surprise.

The tram from the top The Sandia Tram At Sandia crest Albuquerque, from Sandia crest Albuquerque, from Sandia crest Ben savors the adrenaline rush of becoming an uncle. For the fourth time. Seven months ago.

Posted in: Personal, The US

On “Obamacare”

August 30, 2009 10:43 pm // 2 Comments

Americans don’t have any experience or perspective on socialized medicine. That’s abundantly clear from the horror stories that are currently circulating among opponents. There are many reasons given for the opposition. So many, in fact, that it’s hard to summarize what the objections are. The most famous, of course is the “death panels“.  But another objection is that it will further stifle the economy — that it’s socialistic and therefore bad business.

In my experience it’s the opposite. The system that America has currently is what’s bad for business. Costs are too high, and millions are uninsured — we all know that much. But it’s worse than that. Americans often stay in jobs they hate or don’t take jobs they might like better because they don’t want to risk losing their medical coverage. Now that is bad for business.

Read More →

Posted in: Denmark, Politics, The US