A must have when you are traveling: Adaptability (a note from Stockholm)

The munchkin and I arrived in Stockholm this week. We are just here for 8 days to visit my husband before heading back to Canada for a month. The "corporate" apartment that his company has found for us is teeny tiny but when we got here I thought- "it's fine, it's only a week". To put it in perspective, it is like a small hotel room, open the door and there is just a bed (no table, no couch, chairs)- but this is not a hotel room so you can't call room service or drop your laundry down at the desk. So it has been about 5 days now and I have decided the following-

First, to my surprise, the small size is not a problem- our little one seems to be perfectly happy running in circles, and I am not worried about what she is up to at anytime. So as I put clothes away she is busy pushing a little walker thing I bought into the wall and then turning it around to take 6 steps in the other direction before turning it around again. She thinks it is quite funny, and consequently, so do I.

And second- I have adjusted to not having a bath tub, washer dryer, high chair, kettle, and dishwasher but accordingly am counting the days til we leave. I realize now that it is easy to go without one or two of them, but all of them makes things a little unpleasant. There is the small voice in my head saying- "most of the world has none of this, and they are just fine, so grunt up!" but still- just one or two would make a huge difference. We came prepared- we brought our little chair that clips on any table- but the problem came when there was no table. So it was time to adapt- We have friends here so I managed a mid-trip laundry yesterday at their house and now that problem is solved. I also managed a long bath for the baby there so now I don't feel so bad for the 30 second showers she gets. We sit on the floor for a picnic most meals- and it is generally working or I wouldn't be changing so many diapers. And a little elbow grease on the bottles and dishes is not a bad thing. Honestly, we are managing just fine- this is Stockholm, not remote Nepal.

So, I am going with the flow (or the lack of flow I guess) and am reminding myself about that humor thing that always needs to be top of the packing list. Stockholm is an awesome city for babies and kids, and there are honestly playgrounds on most blocks. Public transportation is incredibly easy, and the restaurants and public bathrooms are ready for kids. It can be a tad bit expensive (especially for our declining U.S. dollar) but I found a fantastic second hand toy store here and we now have some fun little Swedish toys covering the one little empty spot in our room...