Sweden still surprises me

The dark, grey days are upon us, and I'm telling myself "It's not time to hibernate, you don't need sunlight, you don't need sunlight. . ."
The working day in Sweden often starts at 8 a.m. and the fact that the sun rises after this meant my 'all things garden-related- tuned' ears brought me to take a look out the window when I heard the whir of a lawn-mower. It's hum was steadily getting louder and then quieter as it was going up and down, clipping the last blades of growth of 2011. I was amazed at the punctuality of the gardener and the feeling of just-getting-on-with-it even before I'd got myself properly dressed. I was particularly amazed that anyone mows lawns with the headlights on on their grass-cutting tractor in the semi-darkness! But then most of Sweden would look a bit rough around the edges come Autumn time, and that would just not do!

It's half-term hols now, although I've got more than usual to do on the writing front. The elder two went to the archive centre today where they had detective activities for kids. I'd forgotten all about micro-fiches which DH had tried in vain to explain to the older ladies working there that they should be replaced with something digital!
H is still ill, with a chest infection. The doctor described it as bronchial pnenomia which sounds much more serious. H turned out to be allergic to the penicillin he was prescribed (about 7 quid, doesn't it cost 50 p to make or something?) and another 10 quid on the new antibiotics. Rant over.
 Alhamdulillah we have cures like these.
Hz has been adamntly refusing to go to the childminder-- it makes it harder when the boys are off school. But how people with 3 year olds hold down even a a part-time job is beyond me. But that is what the majority of Swedish women do--Hz, despite his Swedish citizenship, is not going to bow to these societal pressures!

We like purple we do

2 posts in two days, can this be true? Well the little ones are sleeping and I have a few minutes to write a bit. As I said yesterday it's the end of term soon, and things are changing a bit.
S is leaving the current school and is he will not be missing it (maybe the sausage casserole). We've had problems with bullying up to the present and hoping it won't continue in the next school. We've requested that S is in a different class to the boy who's been giving him a lot of trouble who's also supposed to start the same school, and the new school have been sympathetic and granted us the request.
M's 2 main friends in his class won't be around as one is going to another school and the other is staying abroad for 5 months, inshaAllah.
Sometimes we wonder about the choice of school, but recently there was an incident in our local park. M and a friend (neighbour's child) were approached by some young teenage boys and after boasting to them about their girlfriends and their antics, asked them to do something, how can I put it, entirely inappropriate. The friend's mother has addressed this with the teens' school which is our local school and these kids are barely older than S, subhanAllah. We've had to talk about having the courage to say 'no' with the boys and now having to keep an extra eye out when they're in the park, even though this is supposed tobe a safe area.
Hz has started at the childminder's, and I know it's early. In fact he's almost exactly the same age as H was when he started nursery. I would be unlikely to get the place with this particular childminder if I left it until later (she was my Quran teacher) and Biryani will start with her too as her current childminder is stopping at the end of the holidays. He's not happy being left but inshaAllah he'll come to like it. He does enjoy other kids' company, if the boys have friends home he's always happier. It's funny as in some ways he's v independant, running off to explore the world, but on the other hand can be v clingy.

It's nearly Eid!

This is what I managed to put together for H's nursery to explain Eid. I wasn't sure whether to include the details of the Prophet Ibrahim(as) story as they are only aged 3-5 years old and the idea of 'sacrifice' would be scary.But his teacher said they have used a Bible stories book which has the story in, only of course with Prophet Ishaq (as) rather than Ismail (as). I lent them my 'The fire that saved book' given to us by a kind sister.

I would have liked to give the talk myself, but my Swedish still isn't good enough I think. H did say the Takbeer etc to show them, I thought he would be too reluctant in front of his friends!

One question, how would I make this document below so that it could be in a list of resources in the side bar of the blog. I'm imagining PDF files are needed and uploading, but someone give me some step by step instructions. (I'm inspired by Talibideen Jr website which has so many fine resources).

Eid ul Adha

In Islam there are two festivals every year called Eid (Id). The next one is called ‘Eid ul Adha’ in Arabic and in Pakistan they sometimes call it ‘Bakara Eid’(Goat Eid because people often eat goat on this day)
There are 12 months in the Muslim calendar, and each one starts when the new moon is seen. There is an Eid coming soon which is on the 10th day of the month of ‘dhu al hijr’. (On Saturday it was the 1st day of the month, so today is day ..., how many days left until Eid? )
For these first ten days it is extra special to do good things e.g. help your parents. Then on the 10th day is the festival of Eid. So this year it is on Monday!
At the moment many Muslims from all over the world will be getting ready to go to Makkah in Saudi Arabia to visit the Kabah and pray to Allah (our Creator) (Day 8 and 9).
It is one of the 5 pillars, or main things, all Muslims, who have enough money, have to do at least once in their life.
On the 10th day it is Eid, and people who hardly ever get to eat meat or other proper food because they are too poor, are given it and have a feast. (The meat links to the story of Abraham)
It is good to go to a big park where the whole town can pray together to say an extra prayer and meet your friends. On the way you can say these words : H knows this nicely!

Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar.
Laa ilaaaha illallah.
Wa Allahu akbar.
Allahu akbar.
Walillaahil Hamd.

(Allah is the Greatest.
Allah is the Greatest.
There is noone who has the right to be worshipped except Allah.
Allah is the Greatest.
Allah is the Greatest
and to Allah belongs all praise.)

In Sweden we pray in a mosque or hall as it is too cold. When Eid is in the Summer we say outside too. (Lunar months mean Eid is 10 days or so earlier every year) So when H is in Gymnasium it should be outside!
Everyone is very happy, having special food, sweets, new clothes and presents, and visiting their friends and family. They great each other with ‘Eid Mubarak’ Eid blessings, or ‘Taqabbala Allahu minnaa wa minkum’
May Allah accept it from you and us (the good deeds)

I suppose if they have to be in school..

then there's worse places than Sweden (i.e. the UK school system).
Here's a link showing the way Sweden runs it's preschools and how it seems beneficial long-term as regards literacy. I do think though that Swedish is a lot easier to learn to read as it is generally more phonetic. (I'd advise putting mute on until title comes to avoid garish music)
Funny, they have fairly recently built an outside shelter so the little ones can have their nap outside in H's nursery, whatever the weather. The chairs and tables are exactly the same as in his nursery. Only thing they don't show is the kids whimpering for their Mummy (although I admit this isn't a hughly regular thing I come across), nor the whiffy nappy changing area.
I think they have got it right not pressurising the kids to do formal learning until 7, but 'social training' was mentioned ! and I think age 1 is too young to go to nursery, especially when it can be from 7 am until 5 pm, 5 days a week.

A bit on the younger ones

It’s over half-way now till D-Day and it’s getting harder to hide the bump. H’s nursery teacher guessed yesterday, I never tell people outside of friends and family until it’s blindingly obvious. She said it was the way I was resting my arms on my stomach.
I’ve already had a few tummy rubs, which I’m not sure if I like or not..
It's also been a week involving the repetitive conversation as to whether Biryani is starting day-care yet? It’s just dawned on me that actually it could be around about way of saying ’When are you going to get back in the workforce and pay your taxes (although unbeknown to them I am already thank you).
Otherwise it seems like children are expected to start their ‘outside the home ‘career from age 1. There is nothing else they could constructively be doing is there? I think I should print a T-shirt for her saying ‘I’m a stay-at-home kid’
I feel she would like to attend some sort of playgroup where I can accompany her. But right now she has a lot social stimulation, be it mostly male, but also her grandmother and plenty of toys and other paraphernalia to experiment with. I did feel sorry for her this morning as she was desperate to go in the park after we’d dropped M and S off at school, but H was home alone with sleeping MIL and they hadn’t eaten breakfast, and it was cold and I hadn’t put her socks on, just winter boots, no waterproof trousers on, and I was really tired, and, and this means nothing to a nearly 2 year old. The TV had to be put on so I could get some horizontal rest. Now I shall take her out, despite the emerging gloomy mist and bathrooms needing sanitizing…

Some recent observations of life in Sweden.

A family of 2 parents, 2 young children eating their lunch in a café. The father reading the paper throughout the meal, the mother meanwhile, texting her friends, while children silently pick at their food. (I am also guilty of spending too much time sms-ing, my son asks ‘Why don’t you just phone them?’ Well maybe I would if there was a chance of having a full conversation, between the screams and shouts of our respective children, plus almost all my friends have only mobiles and it’s a lot cheaper and sometimes free. Also a phone-call is hard to restrict to less than 15 mins the way I jabber on).
Supermarket today *groan* :Baby food next to cat and dog food. More variety in the pet’s meals?
There is also a 'Dog playground' found near the beach.
Saw three baby bike-trailers within the space of a minute, one named ‘chariot’ I noticed. Then later saw a bike with a big box basically on the front, obviously for easy child transportation (to day care I assume). We hired a tandem and trailer several years ago in the Peak District. It was great fun and seeing these trailers made me want to be 3 years old to have a ride.
Again have been asked when Biryani’s to start day care/ nursery. I’m not really sure but not going to think about it till she’s 3 ish I think. She does seem to have a personality a bit like M, who used to ask to go to nursery at the weekend too. Again it’s the issue of learning Swedish, although obviously an early start for H didn’t help as expected. Anyhow, you just never know what’ll be the situation in a couple of year’s time….