A Third Taylor Goes North: An Interview with Our Toddler

It’s official: we’re going back to Norway for another year. Gavin has another sabbatical and we’ll be back in Trondheim in late June. It’s been much easier to prepare for this time, since Gavin and I know more or less what to expect.

Annalise, of course, has no idea what to expect — or really that she should be expecting anything. We are just starting to prepare her in earnest, by talking about things that will be different, reading books with her about moving, or occasionally counting in Norwegian. I decided to interview her to learn what she has picked up:

We’re not sure why the shower is top of mind, but she’s right — there will be no bathtub in our apartment. We look forward to being in this phone booth-sized shower with a toddler who doesn’t like getting water on her head.

Second, she is going to sleep — we hope — on the plane. Since we are both departing from and arriving to small airports (Raleigh, NC and Trondheim, respectively), the flight has three legs, after which we’ll have to transport seven bags by bus, find our landlord, and move in. We are dreading this so much that I looked into whether a transatlantic boat trip would be easier. It turns out no.¹

Third, she knows Norway is cold. But what does that mean for her? In Norway, barnehager (day cares) send kids outside three-plus hours per day, and for one full day per week, unless the temperature is below -10 degrees. In contrast, Maryland state regulations only guarantee kids 30 minutes outside twice a day, unless it’s below freezing or the teachers don’t want to (she has parroted her teacher’s reasons for not going outside, including “it’s windy”).

Given this no-doubt shocking lifestyle adjustment, we opted not to enroll her in an utebarnehage, or outdoor kindergarten. These utebarnehager don’t have a building at all — the kids are outside all day every day — but they might have a tent to prepare and serve lunch. It’s not uncommon for the oldest kids in an utebarnehage (five-year-olds) to spend most of their time skiing.

Instead, we are sending her to the local neighborhood barnehage. We expect her teachers to speak English (and help her get acclimated), but the other kids will exclusively speak Norwegian. And she only knows the word for underwear!

So, it’s going to be a great adventure. We hope you’ll follow along with us!

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¹ It turns out you only have two options for a transatlantic crossing. The first is a three week luxury cruise, beginning in Florida and ending in the Mediterranean. The other is the reverse Titanic route, traveling seven days from New York City to Southampton, England. Obviously neither start in Raleigh and end in Trondheim.