Thursday, August 16, 2012

Going "Full Swedish" = "Getting awesome"

Lately, we have been using the term "Full Swedish" or asking, "Should we go 'Full Swedish'?"  Basically, that question or statement means that we are doing things the local way.  For instance, Jon and I walked into our local, beautiful, nature-ish swimming pool and there was a sign (in Swedish) that said,
"Note: Parents, all children must wear bathing suits in the small and large pools for health."

Why is that written in bold letters on a white board as soon as you enter the pool?
Because letting your child (ages 0-7) run around completely naked is very Swedish (or probably European).  In fact, we saw many parents blatantly ignoring this rule and one little girl was openly peeing in the small pool and then splashing herself afterwards to 'wash.'  Umm...that's not just breaking the stated rules but that is definitely not in keeping with the 'health' part of the advisory.  Regardless, I am all about letting kids be kids and don't feel weird about the whole nakedness part.  It's very un-American, but we are in Sweden.  So, let's go "Full Swedish."  We let Calvin run around naked and air dry after a dip in the pool and he loved it and nobody thought it was weird.  We talked about how if we were in a public pool in Atlanta or a suburb, we would have been told to cover our child from the prying eyes of strangers.  But not here, so we did it.

Calvin was "Full Swedish"/naked under that towel
Other examples of when we have gone, "Full Swedish," was when we accidentally left Calvin's diapers on the ferry to Grinda and had to spend AN ENTIRE DAY on nothing but 2 swimmy diapers. Do you know the type of diaper a swimmy diaper is?  It will contain things to keep them from leaking into the pool but it is by no means a substitute for an actual absorbent diaper.  Instead of panicking and running around the island trying to buy diapers off of fellow parents using beers as barter (which we fully considered), we found a nice flat rock and let Calvin go "Full Swedish."  He LOVED it and as an added bonus, it helped clear up his diaper rash that we were addressing for a few days.  It was AWESOME.  We felt like a Swedish family and Calvin peed in the woods for the first time (he happened to be in the right place at the right time).


We are still getting used to this "Full Swedish" thing and most times, Jon and I will look at each other nervously and ask ourselves, "Should we? How awesome can we get today?"  Somedays I'm not feeling adventurous and won't eat the mushrooms in the forest (also very Swedish) but somedays I take a risk and go berry picking with Calvin.  Regardless, each time it feels like we are breaking some rule instead of following the natural order of things.  We feel rebellious.  Almost like demanding we go ludicrous speed, but more Swedish, less Spaceballsy.




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