Autumn!
With punctual Swedish efficiency, the leaves drop from the trees in a pack, like jaundiced commuters. The sun gives a final, satisfied nod at a summer well done, then heads behind the rocky hills, leaving iron grey skies and a chilly promise of rain behind.
Properly demarcated seasons over here. None of that Indian Summer nonsense that the UK favours, where October might or might not be warm, try and guess whether to unpack your sweaters.
It's Friday lunchtime. We're off to Haga to pick up the keys for the new place.
This is F's second time in the flat. She saw it with us when we first looked round, although she was pretty sleepy then. She's a bit on edge, this week. All the boxes and fuss are getting to her a bit. Not much, to be fair, she's a very calm person. A little more clingy than usual, and her sleep patterns are a little off.
Doing better than V or me, though. Two days left and there's nothing at home but unpacked clothes and frustrated discussions about where things will go. Only one of us at a time can pack, the other tends F.
Her first reaction to the new place is to squeal with glee and do an excited assisted toddle down the hall and into the big, empty living room. The squeal echoes, which is a new and funny thing that needs to be investigated. Not before the second reaction, though, which is to squat, grunt and produce a massive great poop.
Other, more experience, parents frequently told me in the first few months that when she gets on to solid food, her nappies will get way more unpleasant. In my naivety, I thought I knew what to expect. Basically adult shit, right? In all its variegated wonders. In no way classifiable as anything other than rank, but generally nothing spectacular.
Oh, how wrong. How wrong and foolish! No, this is a spectrum of stomach turning reeks I never could have predicated. Queasy turned-vanilla stinks. Fish-like aromas, in the most Lovecraftian sense of fish-like. Spoiled meat seems a quaint nosegay in comparison. This is spoilage on a Veruca Saltine scale. Gag. Bleh.
I suppose that having your nappy changed in your new, if featureless, room is a good first impression, really. A nice normal start, if a little more humming than humdrum.
Now we just need to put all the furniture in without going mad with stress, and everything will be hunkydory.
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