Lumi: 3 years and 5 months

Summary
It has been an emotional month: very high highs and very low lows. On the low side, we have seen many hysterical tantrums that seem to be newly intense. On the up side, we have had visits from Grandma and then from Grandpa and Mama Dollie. Lumi loves her American grandparents and they have all had special bonding experiences during their visits.

Events
9.6 grandma arrived!
11.6 hike up Dalsnuten
14.6 Vaulen beach
15.6 Fjord cruise
17.6 dinner with inger
18.6 grandma left
26.6 grandpa and mama dollie arrived!
27.6 trip to Byrkjedalstunet
28.6 train to Oslo, got to ride in the family car
29.6 hop on hop off bus in Oslo
30.6 train to Bergen
1.7 Flöibanen ride, bus to Stavanger


Language
We are practicing Norwegian with some books from the library and some songs and apps on the tablet.
She is using expressions that she hears,
We have clearly entered the "why" phase, so we have long discussions of this format:
Äiti: point 1.
Lumi: why 1?
Ä: because 2.
L: why 2?
Ä: because 3.
L: why 3?
...and so on

Learning
The counting is really coming along. In English 1-13 and 17-20 are pretty solid.


Toys, Games, what have you
she enjoys books more than ever, and we are moving into slightly longer ones.
current favorite toys: beach ball, "Saila" and "Dana" (the little figures from the horse trailer set), ice cream Duplos
She watched "Happy Feet" with grandma and "Over The Hedge". both seemed still too long, and "Happy Feet" was too complicated.
We have been watching DVDs from the library in Norwegian. Dora the Explorer seems to be especially good for this. The slow pace and repetition means that she can pick up words.
She had a lot of fun on the train trips in the family car. In the family car there was a little playroom and she made some friends for the Oslo-Bergen leg. The one she was most attached to was a sweet 10-year-old Norwegian girl who read to her and spoke to her in English.
She also really enjoyed the taxi rides to and from the train station in Bergen.
She has been into games. We have about run the attention span limit on "The Great Race", but she has enjoyed "Skeletons" with Grandpa and Mama Dollie, which they played with our Skull game. She is getting the concept of taking turns and winning.

Food
Current interests: bananas, watermelon, rice cakes with butter and peanut butter, soft-boiled eggs ("my favorite eggs")
On 3.6 she asked for soy sauce on her rice. This is very new ground; usually all sauces are rejected categorically.
We have recently switched from an Ellyn Satter-style of eating (no pressure, eat-what-you-want) to a no-dinner-no-dessert policy. We had tried the more hands-off approach for several months and it didn't seem to have changed a thing about Lumi's eating. She still wouldn't eat most things at dinner. And now that she has gained a little weight for the first time in months, we are feeling good about the new policy.
She seems back to enjoying porridge for breakfast.

Health
She is having a lot of trouble sleeping with all the long days of sunlight. We experimented with shortening the nap to just 1.5 hours. We probably would have continued with that schedule, but then grandma came and we decided to go with no nap and an earlier bedtime.

Maybe it is related to the nap but we have had several days of meltdowns. It is horrible. It seems to be related to frustration about Isä traveling, but it somehow seems like more than that.

In the bathroom, she is still using the standalone little potty. Though of course it would be more convenient if she would just use the adult toilet and no one had to empty/clean the little potty, we would rather that she is comfortable. Sometimes she shows interest in using the big toilet but it is short-lived and she goes back to the regular place.

We have been dutifully brushing teeth twice a day, but she hates it. Most days it is an argument one or both times. She refuses to use toothpaste, despite being offered a fun kids one.

Stats
size: 98
height: 95 cm
weight: 12.9 kg
She has grown for the first time in many months! Could the tantrums be due to this?

Random
On 6.6 she said "Grandma is a girl so we should call her Grandma Girl."

On 2.6 at Storhaug open barnehage one of the other parents asked Lumi how old she is. She answered but then asked "how old are you?" Weirdly, he didn't want to give her a straight answer. But she kept at him for a while. I was impressed.

On 13.6 when discussing how she didn't want Kimmo to travel the next day she sobbed "I want him home on *all* of the days!"

On 22.6 after a tantrum because she didn't get dessert (because she wouldn't try the meatloaf) when i was talking with her about how she could get dessert the next day she said "you need to work on making better dinner so that i can eat it so i can have dessert."

On refusing to get dressed: "I want to go out with jamamas on me."