Christmas - again!

Last night we all of a sudden got a knock on the door- it was my mom's annual Christmas package that finally got here!

We had fun opening up all the stuff (thanks Ewa for the awesome Dalahäst-napkins!). Now we have the entire house full of candy AGAIN (but at least this time it is all Swedish stuff...)

My mom had put in all kinds of stuff, refrigerator magnets, cooking utensils, cook books, food items and so on. So now I am very happy! Nothing like getting a package from Sweden, no matter how small (this was HUGE!).

In an effort to get more omega-3 I have decided to eat more fish, which I love anyway. So far I have made brown sugar and mustard glazed salmon fillets and last night I made smoked salmon chowder. It was enough soup over for a yummy lunch today as well.

Tonight we are having pork file, but on Wednesday I am making a delicious fish and shrimp stew. Too bad we can't get Sarah to at least try some of all this, but she will hopefully grow out of her lack of interest in trying new stuff...

Talking about Sarah, we have stumbled over a gold mine in regards to getting her to do what we want! Oh, we are so mean!

It turns out she really, really would like to pierce her ears and get earrings. She has watched a girl her age getting it done, so she knows what will happen and that it really hurts. But she can't wait.

We told her she has to prove she is a big girl and really can take responsibility to make sure her ears stay clean and all that. The first test was to tell her she would have to wipe herself after doing some more substantial business on the toilet, which she has refused to do so far. No problem! She immediately started doing it!

We felt that maybe this was a too easy task for her to prove herself, so the second task we gave her was a biggie: stay in her own bed ALL night!

As it was up until now she always comes in to us sometime during the night. Nothing bad with that, but she kicks and moves around a lot when she sleeps, so not so comfy...

The first night I woke up around 2, hearing her cry. I hurried in to her and she said she at least wanted a dog with her, that she was a bit lonely by herself. I said that of course she could come in to us, any time she really needed it, but she really was upset at herself, because she really wanted to prove she could do it.

Before the next night I told her that she should try to stay in her own bed, but if she had a bad dream or felt scared, she could of course come in to us, without jeopardizing her chances of getting earrings for her birthday in May.

Not a peep all night. I woke her up in her room for her first day back to school, and she said that she would have preferred if one of the dogs would have slept with her in there, but otherwise, no problem.

Awesome! So we hit two milestones in a matter of a few days. The power of the looming earrings proves itself mighty BIG... What else can we make her do? I am thinking vegetables for dinner... Moahhhahaaahaa...!!!