We went to IKEA the day before yesterday to buy a wardrobe for our bedroom. No success then, because while there was a lot to choose from, there was nothing that was exactly right. After two days of mulling it over (and looking at competing alternatives, all of which were even further from what we wanted) we now decided which of our requirements we would let go of, and made up our minds. So today it was back to IKEA again to actually buy a wardrobe.

Wise from our experience from Monday, we asked the kids to pack some entertainment. Adrian packed a box of Legos; Ingrid packed a stack of Kalle Anka comics. At this point he was getting restless though, and when he saw me moving around and taking photos, he saw an opportunity to run around and make silly faces at the camera.

Ingrid and I cycled to Ursvik. As on previous occasions, geocaching took us to cool, interesting and nice places that we would otherwise never have visited. For example, en route from our 3rd cache to the 4th one along the old military railway embankment, we found the best strawberry place ever: endless amounts of plump, juicy berries! We left because we were stuffed, well before we ran out of strawberries!

And at the end of the embankment we found what I believe to be an old train platform right next to the tunnel entrance for what is probably an underground storage bunker. Too bad I didn’t think of taking any photos of that place – I was too busy searching for the cache. It required a bit of rock climbing and was the trickiest one we’ve found thus far in terms of terrain.

Ingrid’s view:

Cycled to the supermarket. We need surprisingly large amounts of food and all kinds of essentials (like milk and juice and eggs and potatoes) keep running out, now that all four of us are at home and thus take all our meals at home.

We went canoeing on Albysjön. Paddled a bit, then pushed our canoes into the reeds along the side of the lake and had fika.

Rain. Again.

And the girl who never wore clothes with fewer than five colours, much less anything black or gray, now asked me to buy this dress.

Ingrid found science experiments on the internet. The one in the front is water (with food colouring) and oil. With some salt it behaved like a lava lamp. (Description here.)

The two glasses at the back were an attempt to make a two-coloured flower. (Split the stem, put one half in one glass and the other in the other.) The experiment description called for a carnation but we didn’t have any. A white Aquilegia was the best I could find in the garden but it did not take up much colour at all.

I realize more and more clearly that Ingrid has more than a dash of hyperactivity in her. Not in a way that really causes problems at school or at home – but enough to occasionally be annoying and above all totally alien to me. I have a really hard time imagining what it might feel like to be her.

Any list of symptoms of hyperactivity reads like a catalogue of Ingrid’s quirks.

Inability to recognize other people’s needs and desires, emotional immaturity, interrupting other people when they’re talking. Talks excessively. Impulsive, does not think before talking, no inhibitory control. Intrudes on other people’s conversations or games. Fidgets and squirms, has difficulty sitting still. Tedium, waiting and doing nothing, even for a short while, is torture. Always on the go, cannot just “be”, cannot play quietly. Cannot handle idle time, needs to be kept busy. Cannot pay attention to a repetitive or boring activity. Starts projects but has difficulty finishing them, let alone cleaning up.

A typical slice of life that summarizes Ingrid is her afternoons after school. I used to meet her, together with Adrian, so we could walk home together. I occasionally suggested that she could walk home on her own, but she didn’t like that idea at all because walking on her own was so incredibly boring. (The walk home is all of 500 metres or just over 5 minutes.)

After a while she agreed to try it. But nowadays quite often what happens instead is that she calls me from school and asks if she can go home with a friend instead. Even after 8 hours of school and after-school care, she still hasn’t had enough, still wants more activity, company and stimulation.

She wants and needs constant activity. Often one activity is not enough. Both the body and the mind need to be occupied. While brushing her teeth she fidgets, or jumps, or fiddles with things, or looks over my shoulder at whatever I’m doing. While reading she often snacks, not because she is hungry but because she needs to chew on something – fruit, chewing gum, rice crackers, anything.

Favourite colour: blue.
Favourite food: sushi, “even better than waffles or pancakes”.
Favourite activities: playing Wii games or board games with me. Going to the movies.
Favourite words: makalös, fantastisk.

I bought some more Wii games for Ingrid – active games just like Just Dance. This is her doing boxing in Wii Sports. She goes all in.

It is now officially summer: the pool at our playground was filled with water this week. Cold water.