Summary
It has been a nice month. Lumi started barnehage, and Kimmo was off work for most of the month on paternity leave. The transition to barnehage has been challenging but also fun.
Events
3.8 play date with Katya and Alexi
5.8 Linnanmäki
6.8 Flights back to Stavanger
10.8 Suomi-Seura coffee social and Lumi played with Irene the whole time.
11.8 first day of barnehage at Lasse Liten
17.8 playdate with Irene
20.8 went to barnehage in the bike trailer!
25.8 switched to a 150cm (full) size bed and had a nighttime accident in it (that is very rare these days, so it was kind of funny)
28.8 "read" a book to Otso
30.8 children's museum
31.8 hike at Ytraberget with Diego, Gemma, & Fam
Language
Her Finnish has really improved in little ways, with new expressions here and there. Some of it is due to interactions with human beings, but some seems to come from the TV. She watched a lot of Pikku Kakkonen in Finland.
After one week at barnehage she says she doesn't know or understand any Norwegian.They are being helpful about explaining things to her in English, but it's not perfect. They are very casual about teaching her Norwegian words, and seem to be counting on her to just pick it up. This makes me frustrated because while I think that she will pick it up in time, it would be kinder to teach her the important classroom words for their activities and toys, to lessen the confusion. As her mother it is hard to watch her not only struggle to adjust to the new people and new environment but also struggle to understand what is happening (because of course they do tell the kids things like "now we will go outside" and "now it is circle time") when everyone else understands.
One hilarious effect is that sometimes we are talking about something at home in English and she informs us that the Norwegian word is "xxx", and gives basically the English word with a vaguely Norwegian accent. She sounds just like the Swedish chef from the muppets .
Learning
Her mind is very busy right now with learning the ropes at barnehage.
Social
She is now jealously grabbing toys from Otso at home.
She was very happy at her barnehage the first week. There is one little girl Signe who grabbed her hand the minute we came in and they play together, despite lacking a common language. Now in the third week, she has some great days and some days that seem really hard on her. She has made some other friends: Chloe, Victoria, Lily.
16.8 our neighbors had some girls visiting who were around Lumi's age and Lumi simply knocked on the door and went inside to play. She even stayed for breakfast, even though it was among French speakers. Kimmo and I were very impressed how she wasn't shy.
17.8 We invited Irene and her parents over for a playdate and dinner. Lumi spent almost the whole first hour explaining to Irene how all the toys worked and how she shouldn't leave certain ones on the floor. She began a lot of sentences with "Muista että ... " (translation: "Remember that ... "). She overwhelmed Irene with her nonstop lecturing. But then Irene finally got comfortable enough to do her own thing and play, despite the continued lectures. And they had a great time. They spent a while with the big Ikea shark, pulling each other around the room and laughing like maniacs.
22.8 Lumi has really started noticing boys vs. girls. When Äiti and Lumi do something she says "just the girls!". And the long standing Isä preference is starting to crumble a little bit, seemingly because of this. We are pretty sure this is a result of some things at barnehage.
23.8 Lumi said "äiti, I love you and I don't love isä." This is the opposite of what she has claimed for months. Is it because she doesn't spend all day every day with äiti now? The good thing is that she isn't pushing Kimmo away now and claiming he is the "mörkö", like she did with Äiti.
Toys, Games, what have you
She is still floating around often pretending to be Angelina Ballerina, and now she likes to wear skirts ("so we can do Angelina dances!").
She is loving the movie Frozen. She now wants to grow her hair long so that she can wear a braid like Queen Elsa.
We rented "Lilo and Stitch" from the library and she likes it, though we think she doesn't understand the plot. We also rented "The Lion King" and she really enjoys the songs.
Food
We're not sure what to credit with the weight gain, but we are very happy that she is up almost a kilo in the last few months. She did seem to get more exercise in Finland and also ate different things. We are trying to do an "evening snack" of yogurt (Turkish yogurt or "ice cream yogurt") just before bed to get some extra fat and calories.
Health
There has been a head lice warning at barnehage, but we haven't seen/felt any yet on Lumi (both parents are paranoid about it and feel itchy every time they think about it, though). :)
On 16.8 she seems moody and has something green in her nose, so we think she is getting sick.
Stats
size: 98 or 3T
height: 96.5 cm
weight: 13.5 kg
Random
6.8 when clearly upset that Vaari was going in a separate car she sobbed, "but Vaari will be lonely in the car. He has to be with us!"
17.8 when admiring Irene's hair (longer than Lumi's, and with multiple braids): "she has everything that I want!" It took a couple questions before we understood that it was the hair she was coveting.
She is happy to be at barnehage but of course with any major change she has been having some tantrums at home. This could also be because she is no longer getting naps, because it's just not in the schedule for her "big kids" class at barnehage. The meltdowns are very dramatic and scary to everyone.
29.8
Ä: Tomorrow we were thinking about going to the kids' museum.
L: And maybe afterward we can go to the grown-ups' museum!
Wonderful! Lumi looks happy in that picture, too - it must be quite a struggle to work so hard on language. She is fabulous, though!!! Glad she is enjoying being around other children - that's a three year old thing, and it's good she has the opportunity. I miss reading to her so much, though.
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