By the Baltic—an Insider's Tour of Åkersberga, Sweden

Upon first glance, Åkersberga (pronounced like "oakers-bear-ya") is a rather unremarkable—some may even say ugly (wasn't me!)—suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. But if you spend some time here, like an onion, Åkersberga reveals its beautiful layers to you over time. We have lived in Åkersberga for 2+ years and continue to discover new hidden treasures.

Åkersberga is a 48-minute tram ride away from central Stockholm. The tram ride is scenic with wooded forests flanking the tram line, a few scenic lakes, and quick stops every two minutes at various quaint suburbs. There is even a prison along the tram line (the tram doesn't stop there, though), which would normally be considered an eyesore, but instead, it has a beautiful view of a lake. How rehabilitating it must be to have nature at your doorstep even though you are serving time in jail.

The Beach

Osterakers havsbad in summer—go windsurfing!

The tram will take you all the way to the Baltic Sea if you don't hop off at the specific Åkersberga stop. Our favorite beach, Österskärs havsbad, is located at the terminal station. There is a nude beach a few minutes down the road, but we were greatly disappointed to learn that only old wrinkly seniors sunbathe nude—even in Sweden—the land of everyone-is-so-beautiful-it-has-forever-warped-my-standards-for-beauty. Our beach—not the nude one—has a very nice restaurant, Solbrannan, overlooking the water sporting amazing views and delicious food. For Jon's birthday last year, I bought him a 2-hour windsurfing lesson. He absolutely loved it! The beach is enjoyed year-round with families eating their weight in ice cream in the summer and cozying up around their warm cups of coffee in the winter—soaking in a view of the Baltic frozen under a blanket of snow.

Osterskars havsbad in winter

Forests and Lakes

If the beach isn't your thing, Åkersberga has plenty of nature reserves and wooded areas for exploration—we have stumbled upon many new lakes this way. Due to Sweden's Right of Public Access, you can pick all of the blueberries or mushrooms you want in any of the nearby woods. During our summers, we usually alternate beach days with forest/blueberry picking days, and it is perfect. Nobody gets too sun-bleached, and we get to have wild-blueberry pancakes and pies all summer long.

Ahh, the lake

One of nature's best playgrounds, Domarudden, is a hiker, biker, walker, skier, runner, and swimmer's paradise. There are trails that criss-cross through the beautiful forests and a sparkling blue lake that warms up as a perfect swimming spot in the summer. There are cute red cabins for rent to plan a family getaway, business retreat, or mini vacation. The playground will challenge your child's balance, climbing ability, and imagination. It is a great place to feel like you are "away" from it all.

Another beautiful natural playground (I don't even know its name) is very difficult to find for the uninitiated. Neither Apple Maps nor Google Maps could accurately locate the GPS pin from my friend. She pinned her exact location while she was standing in the playground and yet we were still off the map! Eventually, we stumbled across it after blindly biking in the opposite direction and keeping our fingers crossed. It was worth the trouble because this playground is amazing! Our four-year-old loved navigating across the wooden balance beams, climbing on the ropes, and hiding in the teepees. I enjoyed relaxing in the recycled rubber hammock under the yellow and orange falling leaves. My two-year-old kissed every woodland creature—or rather, carved wooden statues of bears, rabbits, foxes, and cats.

Much balancing happening here

So many carved cow kisses

Gotta hold the princess dress high so you can see your feet!

While Åkersberga may not have the immediate "wow!" impact of Stockholm, it does have numerous redeeming factors. Children can safely ride their bikes or walk to school on the numerous pedestrian paths that run alongside the road, and the neighborhoods are friendly. Just drive 10 minutes from the Baltic and you're in beautiful green pastures with horses chewing on grass, manicured golf clubs, and picturesque farms. Yeah, life is pretty good in Åkersberga.

Horses, green grass, and blue sky

Fall Snaps in Sweden

Gotland - the adventure continues

Visby, the City of Roses...and sheep

We have been to Gotland before, mostly Visby, with the Missildines last summer. It was one of the few places in the world where Jon and I both said, "We definitely want to come back here. It is just too beautiful to see only once."  So when the opportunity arose for Samantha and I to take a mini-vacation within her vacation, I suggested Gotland and she jumped at the chance.

Gotland is an island in the Baltic off of the eastern coast of Sweden and it takes about 3 hours by high speed ferry to get there.  You can book almost everything on the website destinationgotland.se and your whole trip will be covered -- transfers, ferry rides, rental car, hotel, etc.  If you are already in the Arlanda area, it might make sense to just book a flight directly.  Flights are about 40 mins long and start around $300 versus a 3 hour ferry ride around $150 including bus transfer.  Either way, it is a very nice vacation destination from Stockholm.

Gotland is rich in history and is considered to be the homeland of the Goths.  We rented a car and drove all around the island - checking out the various coasts and small towns from north to south.  We discovered the amazingly foreign looking chalk formations in Fårö and saw numerous windmill farms, stone ships, and lots of horses, sheep and cows.  Some towns are more industrial in nature and could/should be avoided (yes, I'm looking at you, Slite) if cement factories are not your idea of an ideal vacation destination.  However, for the most part, many of the small towns on Gotland had little roads to explore and beautiful sites to discover - all perfect for picnicking.

It is amazing to stand in front of a stone ship and realize that those stones were placed there by the vikings' ancestors 2,000-4,000 years ago. I mean, what else have you seen (or touched) that dates back to the Bronze Age?   There are over 350 stone ships on Gotland and we stumbled across 5 of them without really trying.  Not much is known about stone ships - other than they may be burial sites to equip the dead with everything they'll need on their journey to the underworld, but their actual function remains unconfirmed by archeologists.  It is still fun to stand there and ponder the reasons why these stones were placed there and to just marvel that they have lasted for so long in their original configurations.



Our day in Fårö was one of pure exploration.  We drove down this tiny gravel road along the Langhammar nature reserve and just stopped at every location that featured rauks or chalk formations (by erosion).  We stopped frequently to take pictures of these Ice Age stone monoliths.  The resulting landscape was strangely foreign and unique.  Bessie played the part of an adventurous mountain goat and loved running up and down these tiny cliffs.  The water was shallow in this area and was perfect for wading.

Ferry to Faro

Looks kind of like a face, right?

Bessie loved it!

 

We didn't spend much time in Visby - mostly because we were out and about exploring the entire island, but I did manage to take Sam "beyond the wall" and show her the beautiful entrance gate with reconstructed portcullis.

Personally, I always feel like a princess when walking around Visby and I let my imagination take over as I explore the medieval walled city.  It's not a UNESCO World Heritage Site for no reason - the place is beautiful and is well preserved. Afterwards, Sam did admit to feeling a bit like a character from Game of Thrones.  We both agreed that it would be the perfect place for a Renaissance Fair.  After doing some googling, it turns out that Visby DOES host a medieval week - or fair like no other August 4-11. We just missed it by a week! Who knew?? Maybe next time...

Both of my trips to Gotland were during the low season with very little tourists and I must say, I highly enjoyed having the entire city of Visby and island of Gotland to myself.  We bypassed the ferry lane that had Disney-line-like signs of, "The drive from this point to the ferry is 1.5 hours" since there were no other cars on the road.  We were spoiled and frequently stopped at beaches that were completely deserted.  We could let Bessie run free and explore as we wanted.

By far it was the most relaxing vacation I have had in a long time. We had no scheduled time or agenda for the entire 3.5 days there. I love Calvin to pieces but to be able to go back to sleep if I wanted was the most luxurious freedom ever.  Sam and I were able to completely unplug from our phones and computers and just focus on sitting on the beach and watching the waves.  I wouldn't trade one minute of it for anything and neither of us wanted to leave when it was time to head back on the ferry.

We were fortunate to have gorgeous weather (72F, sunny and breezy) and eek out some more true summer days at the end of the season.  Visby literally pulls in the flags and shuts down the last week in August and they made it clear the main tourist season was over. You can never replicate an experience twice in a row, but so far we have been 2 for 2 for unforgettable experiences in Gotland.  In my book, those odds are tough to beat.

Not a happy camper...2 year olds do not take kindly to sleep deprivation

Jon took me to Bavaria (blog still in draft) for my 30th birthday and we had the most amazing time so I wanted to give him his "dream" trip of family time in nature for his birthday.  Jon and Calvin are going to be in the US during his actual birthday, so I wanted to give him a nice trip while the weather was still warm.  My family used to go camping in Maine every year so I have really wonderful memories of it as a kid and wanted to share that tradition with Jon. He has recently fallen in love with nature, so I thought there would be no better birthday activity than to spend a beautiful Swedish summer weekend camping in the woods by a lake.

I started doing some research on all of the gear and ordered a tent, sleeping bags, camping stove, and two folding camp chairs.  With all of the gear secured, camping menu planned and a camping resort reserved, we were headed out in a rental car to explore Sweden!

We headed up to Falun, Sweden - home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site copper mine - for some scenic camping.  It was predicted to be a beautiful weekend and the weather was surprisingly hot - 84F and a lot of sun.  The night temperatures would be a comfortable 60F, so we all packed long sleeve clothing as tents don't provide too much protection from the temperatures.  All of our sleeping bags were rated to 0C, so I thought we would be ok.

A few things worked against us:

• The camping resort was really designed for RVs, not tents, so we were assigned a gravel pit site. Not comfortable when you are sleeping on the ground.

• We don't own a car, so we couldn't scout out camping locations beforehand. I had to rely on websites only and all campsites look a little suspect on the internet.  It's impossible to get a feel for the location or the people who camp at those campgrounds without sketching it out first.
• We had been packing and moving the entire 4 days prior to this trip so none of us had gotten a good night's sleep in a week or so.  We rescheduled this camping trip at the last minute to take advantage of Jon's vacation time that he had already set aside for the move.
• We couldn't do a test run of any of our camping gear because we were packing for our move.

Given all of that background, looking back on it, it was clear that we did not set up Calvin for a successful trip.  Though he is a good natured kid, he needs his 12-13 hours of sleep each night and a 3 hour nap each day.  Without sleep, his good naturedness breaks down quickly and you can just see him fall apart at the seams.  Essentially Calvin could NOT sleep in an environment with which he was unfamiliar, so resultantly, none of us slept.  It was also really hot when Calvin "went to bed" and really cold when he woke up.  He was shivering, crying and also refusing to get dressed into warmer clothes.  I'm sure it made sense to him at the time.

We may have gotten 2 collective hours of sleep between midnight and 4am, which needless to say, is not enough to have a happy family.  The campground was noisy and our fellow campers/RV'ers were super close to our tent so I felt really self conscious of Calvin's cries throughout the night.  Also, as soon as Calvin settled down (because the campground was quiet), Bessie started barking at every little noise.  In short, it was a disaster.

Calvin was wide awake at 4am (and upset), so we got up and took advantage of the pre-dawn quietness to take in the scenery that we had missed the day before.  The lake was serene and peaceful and we actually enjoyed feeding the ducks Calvin's Cheerios and watching the sun rise while the moon was still visible.  The lake was glass and reflected the trees beautifully.

Jon took Calvin to the playground by the lake and I decided to pack up the tent and break down everything before they returned.  Jon said the happiest moment of the whole trip was when he returned from their walk to find the tent broken down and packed in the car.  Happy birthday to YOU Jonathan.

By no means was the entire trip a disaster as we learned some very valuable lessons. 

1. Even the best behaved toddlers refuse to sleep despite being completely exhausted.
2. Setting up a tent for the first time is difficult while a 2 year old is screaming at you to read him another story.
3. RV electricity does not equal electricity you can use to charge your cell phones (which both died within 3 hours upon our arrival).
4. Breaking down a tent is really noisy at 5am but you are never going to see those people again, so whatever. Do what you need to do.
5. Cutting your losses early on is better than being stubborn and miserable without sleep for 72 hours.  
6. If your kid is unhappy, nobody is happy.
7. There really is no replacement for a good night's sleep.

                          

Jon repeatedly told me that he had a good time despite the fact that things didn't go exactly according to plan.  We were able to explore a new beautiful part of Sweden, build some family memories, take amazing pictures and spend time with one another.   You can't ask for much more than that.  Also, if Calvin hadn't woken us up at 4am, we would've missed the most beautiful sunrise over the lake. Some things are worth waking up early for and we were the only people around to watch it happen.  Fortunately Calvin won't remember these initial flubs we make as parents and by the time he remembers camping, we will be seasoned pros and things will run smoothly (fingers crossed!).

So, our tent and sleeping bags are safely stored away until the next trip.  We will try this again after Calvin can sleep comfortably on a cot or whenever we gain enough courage to venture back into the wilderness. All in all, we ended up with the most beautiful pictures and a few good memories.  

Pregnant in Sweden

Introducing the newest Ferland at 18 weeks

The long periods in between blog posts are partially due to the fact that we weren't publicly announcing our pregnancy until the half way point.  That meant that I couldn't really divulge all that was going on in our lives which meant some posts were on the boring side.  Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can talk about all of the things I've been dying to talk about!

I'm not sure how much Calvin understands of what is going on, but he points to my belly whenever we mention "baby" and he repeats baby names after us whenever we are brain storming.  Now that we know we are having a girl, I'm sure a small part of him is relieved he won't be needing to share his cars with a brother.  She could surprise us though and be a total tomboy.  She'll be wearing his hand me downs for sure, because why not?  Gender equality is the rage here in Sweden so girls wearing trucks is nothing shocking.

Here is a rundown of how this pregnancy has been COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than my first pregnancy.  Of course, every woman experiences pregnancy differently but this time, I'm in a new country learning about a new health care system.  It keeps things interesting, that's for sure.

Positive pregnancy test: January 20, 2013
Estimated due date: October 10, 2013 -- this date keeps moving around so we'll just keep 10/10 to make things easy.

First trip to Swedish midwife: Barnmorcentral -- February 2013

• More of a "meet and greet" type scenario -- discussed medical background, exercise, diet, smoking/alcohol consumption, etc
• Blood pressure test: 113/76
• Urine test for protein
• Finger stick for blood sugar test and iron
• Everything came out in the normal range
• Next appointment: May 27, 2013

Differences between Swedish and US prenatal care:

• This first visit didn't even confirm that I was pregnant -- no blood test, urine test, etc.
• First (and only) ultrasound will be conducted at 18 weeks at the ultrasound center
• Quite different from the three ultrasounds of Calvin before 18 weeks (@8, 12, then 16 weeks)
• There they check for growth, abnormalities, twins (eek!)
• If you are over 35, you have the option for an amniocentesis to check for genetic disorders and defects
• Blood glucose blood test is only done if medically necessary
• They take 5 finger pricks throughout the pregnancy and if you show high blood sugar levels, they may make you take the glucose challenge for gestational diabetes.  Thank goodness I am not subjected to that needless, vomit-inducing and stressful test!
• At 20 weeks, you attend a group discussion of diet, exercise, and general things that women experience halfway through pregnancy.  Since it's all in Swedish, my midwife suggested I meet with her to discuss any concerns we may have.
• The midwives you see for office visits are NOT the midwives who will deliver your baby.  There are office midwives and hospital midwives.  Hospital midwives do delivery and office midwives handle the well-visits.  Definitely a departure from the US system where you agonize and stress over building a relationship with your midwife or OB because you want them to honor your birth plan.
• You won't know where you are going to deliver until you are in labor.  You have your list of preferred hospitals, who have your information and due date, but when you are in labor, you have to call the hospital to see if they have room for you.  If not, you have to go to the next hospital and so on.  It's a stressful situation but there is a limitation on the number of beds each hospital has and Stockholm has a lot of pregnant ladies.
• Birth plans are real things here -- since you won't know where you are delivering and you won't have a personal relationship with whoever delivers your baby, you hand over your birth plan, cross your fingers, and hope that they honor your wishes the best they can. 
• I've heard stories of some midwives being "old school" and not giving epidurals because they deemed them unnecessary.  These women are of viking blood and are as tough as nails.  I need to make sure I put on my big girl panties and get prepared to do this the natural way. Calvin was a piece of cake because I had a cozy epidural but that may not be an option this time.  Time to practice rhythmic breathing!

I have no willpower when it comes to cravings

Impressions:

• Sweden's approach to prenatal care is pretty holistic.  They don't schedule appointments every 4 weeks for healthy pregnancies and expensive procedures are limited only to those who need them.  Let's face it -- pregnancy isn't a complicated event for 90% of women.  In a socialized medical world, you need to limit expenses everywhere you can and anything that is unnecessary is not done.
• It is kind of disconcerting to go through the first half of your pregnancy without any medical appointments, but that's how they do things here.  They take your information and then say, "See ya at 20 weeks! Call us if things get weird."
• We asked my midwife about prenatal vitamins and she looked at me like I was crazy.  Why would you need vitamins?  It almost seems like prenatal vitamins are a pre-requisite in the US and women freak out if they miss a pill.  Missing a prenatal vitamin will surely result in a deformed child, for sure, right? Isn't that what my US midwife pounded into my head??  She shook her head and said, "folic acid is necessary in the first 8 weeks but fine afterwards and you won't need additional iron until week 20." -- Everything else is just business as usual I guess.  Maybe Americans are a little more uptight than I had thought.
• Iron -- my blood test came back very deficient in iron. I'm anemic and nearly pass out on a regular basis and this pregnancy has really sapped whatever iron was remaining in my blood.  When we were in Rome, I had to sit down frequently after walking around because I was dizzy. Around 13 weeks,  I was reading to Calvin on the couch and nearly passed out sitting up -- the tunnel vision,  loss of hearing, everything.  I called to Jon and he ran to the apoteket to get the high dosage of iron supplements my midwife had recommended.  I'm now on 2 pills a day - the maximum dosage and am feeling much better.
• Emergency care during pregnancy -- around week 12, we had a scare with cramping and some bleeding.  I called my midwife and she sent me to the emergency gyn clinic.  Calvin was a model child and played with his cars in the waiting room for 4 hours.  Aside from waiting for forever even though there was NOBODY THERE, they did an ultrasound to confirm everything was ok.  Fortunately it was and they couldn't explain my symptoms so I was scheduled for another ultrasound.  Two weeks later, we had a follow up ultrasound and once again, they confirmed everything was fine.  
• Even though the socialized prenatal care here is very "laid back" in comparison to US practices, they do take you seriously if you have an emergency.  This was very comforting and it bolstered my confidence in their approach.  If everything is normal, no need to come in.  If things are not normal, come in immediately and we'll take care of you.  Makes sense to me.

Turns out it's easy to hide a pregnancy when you live half a world away

How I'm feeling:

• Before we knew we were having a girl, I was convinced I was having a girl.  Everything was different than last time. I was super sick for 2 weeks and had food aversions for another few weeks after that.  I couldn't drink coffee for 15 weeks and still don't really care for it.  I started eating everything in sight... and I mean everything.  I did the stereotypical pregnant lady move and ate an entire jar of pickles -- only breaking down in tears when I struggled to open the jar, followed by real tears once I did pry the jar open. Tears of joy! Over pickles?!? Who am I? What is this baby doing to me?  I was/am a hormonal wreck...
• Now that I'm taking iron supplements regularly, I'm feeling much much better. I have more energy and haven't felt like I was going to pass out in a long time.  Just those two things have been a lifesaver.
• Having experienced the US approach to prenatal care, I cannot say that I was overwhelmed with my positive experience. I probably would've had a good experience regardless of where I delivered.  I had a low/no-risk pregnancy, epidural with pitocin and Calvin was born after 3 pushes.  Everything went fine for me so I can't credit the US-medical system with doing anything remarkable.  Reading up on Sweden's positive birth-related outcomes, this country is, without a doubt, the much safer place to have a child.  Sweden's approach to birthing babies respects the process and allows the woman's body to do its own thing.  
• I'm slightly nervous about the figure-out-where-you-are-going-to-deliver-once-you-are-in-labor deal.  1) Labors after the first baby often come much quicker, 2) We don't own a car, so will I be laboring in a taxi? On the T-bana tram? 3) The nearest hospital is about a 40 minute drive..., 4) Who will watch Calvin?
• We are moving a few months before the baby is due, so it is my mission to make good friends with our neighbors very quickly.  We may need a last minute lift to the hospital or someone to watch Calvin on short notice, so I'm hoping they are amenable...
• Worst case scenario - give birth on the side of the road and call an ambulance.  THIS HAS HAPPENED TO WOMEN HERE.  It is a story I have heard from other women.  The last minute scrambling has resulted in some chaos and the baby comes when the baby comes.  Eeek!

Catching up - the Reader's Digest version

So... lately we have been missing in action because a lot of things started to happen at the same time.  We came out of our Roman holiday a little weary and took a break from updating everyone on all of the things we have going on.  The lack of updates doesn't mean that we aren't busy but just that I'm way too lazy to post a separate blog about everything individually, so here is a quick recap:

• Veganism - we took a break from being strict vegans while in Rome and when we came back, decided to drop the veganism and become vegetarians.  Some blood work came back for me that indicated I was ridiculously anemic and in need of serious iron replacements STAT.  Rather than face iron infusions or other scary things, we decided to bring back dairy and eggs into our diets.  I even consented to chicken/salmon once a week until my iron levels get back up to normal.  It wasn't good for a while - nearly passing out while sitting down really scared me and I know that I can't take care of Calvin if I'm horizontal.  The vegan lifestyle is fantastic but my already anemic body needs heme-iron every now and then.  I have to be flexible enough to do what's best for my health.  I'm currently on 200 mg of iron supplements a day... possibly for all eternity.

• We are moving -  No, no, not back to the US, but we heard from our landlords that they are returning to Sweden in August and would like their house back.  That means that I've been scouring the very very few websites Stockholm has to offer.  Trying to find a house in our price range that accepts dogs and isn't a 3 hour commute for Jon is really tough and time consuming.  We are viewing a house on Saturday so fingers crossed that we can snag it AND live with it.  Calvin will be changing schools and needing to say goodbye to friends - so sad. I'm losing the small network of awesome neighbors that I've built in a short time, so I'm super sad about that too.  I'm trying to look at it as another opportunity to experience life in Stockholm from another perspective, but sometimes we get lazy with our perspectives and just want things to be the same for a little bit.

• Work, work work -  Work has been busy for both me and Jon.  I've seen an uptick in my hours lately and "maxed" out last week.  Jon has been getting home late (9-10pm) most nights now as his leadership is shifting and there are new priorities/deliverables that must be done.  We've been keeping busy and eating late dinners.

• Upcoming travel - Jon and Calvin will be heading to the US for 2 weeks in August for a wedding, so catch them while you can if you are in the northeast.  We will all be traveling, as a family, back to the US for 2 weeks in November for Thanksgiving.  It'll be nearly 2 years since I've seen my family and I've been missing everyone like crazy!  I'm ready for some family reunion time.

• Calvin! -  I'll just post a video to update you on how Calvin is doing.  He is hilarious (daily) and his vocabulary is picking up speed.  Last week he said, "Momma, Daddy behind you!"  Fortunately I already knew Jon was behind me or it might've freaked me out.  To hear a positional/directional word from him was really good. We are moving out of the "cars cars cars" vocabulary and into some higher level concepts.  Our only current issue is that he is TERRIFIED of bath time now.  I have no idea what happened but he refuses to take a bath. He runs screaming out of the bathroom absolutely terrified and we have resorted to washing him down with warm, soapy washcloths.  His feet have been neglected a bit, so I tried putting those in the sink to wash them and he freaked out at that little action.  It might be a while before we rehabilitate him to the tub...

• Weather - It's still winter here with snow on the ground and frequently falling from the sky.  When will it ever change? Will we have the shortest summer ever? Probably...

• Bessie - she is still barking at rabbits, squirrels and children, sleeping in the sun and licking her butt at inappropriate times (is there ever an appropriate time?).  Not much of an update there.

Well, that's the update here. What is going on in your neck of the woods?

Here comes the sun

The past two weeks have been joyfully filled with tons of SUNSHINE!  You have no idea how happy this makes me. I can handle cold weather (to a point) as long as there is sun.  It really makes a difference in mood, energy level and just plain enjoyment of the day.   Plus there is BLUE SKY!  No more gray blah dreariness.

So blue!

It was -10 this morning, so Calvin still has to be bundled up in 2 layers for everything -- 2 mittens, 2 socks, 2 pants, 2 shirts, 1 sweatshirt, snow pants and jacket.  I think he's a little tired of it all, as am I.  We've gotten our morning snow-clothes routine down to only 6 minutes as long as Calvin participates and helps me with all of the items.  Putting a pair of mittens on flailing hands is impossible, let alone 2 pairs of mittens!

Calvin's tired of all of the winter gear.  Me too buddy!

One tantrum-stopper that actually worked for me (no idea if it will ever work again), was that I gave him his time to freak out.  He really didn't want to put on his mittens and he kept flailing his hands and yelling.  I told him he had 5 more seconds to have his tantrum but after that, the mittens had to go on.  I counted to 5 with Calvin freaking out the entire time (not sure if he even heard me) and when I was done, he magically stopped and put his hand out to be properly "mittened."  Amazing! After those 5 seconds, he was a normal kid again and we went outside a few minutes later.

Spring can come anytime it wants...really spring - come on already!