peek a boo

Otso's 13th Month

Summary
Otso seems to have blossomed a bit at barnehage and is generally more confident. However, he has also developed a habit of complaining loudly whenever he is dissatisfied, which is often. Sadly, we think this is the end of cheerful babyhood and the beginning of irrational, difficult toddlerhood.
The huge event this month was the pneumonia. It was horrible to see him so I'll. He lost weight and he was very uncomfortable.

This picture from 17.11 shows a sick (but on the mend!) Otso.

Events
21.10 birthday party at barnehage
24.10 mummu arrives
25.10 ullandhaug tower, dinner at the neighbors'
26.10 proper crawl!
27.10 mummu leaves
31.10 halloween party at Hundvåg playgroup
1.11 selma kristine's birthday party (lumi's barnehage classmate)
5.11 walking with one hand support
8.11 lunch with Mira and Dave and Helena and Lilja
12.11 doctor diagnosis: pneumonia. And an eye infection. And also just to make it exciting: 2 new teeth cut through.
17.11 babysat by Joëlle; starts eating again!
20.11 back to barnehage

Development
24.10 walked using stool as a support.
26.10 proper crawl for the first time, and is now pretty confidently crawling. He still prefers to be walked around holding on to an adult's hands.
5.11 walking with one hand support; he was tricked into it first because he wanted to hit a balloon with the other hand. then he got to enjoy it.
He seems to be left-footed, heavily favoring that foot for kicking balls.

Toys/Games
He loves cars and his little hammering toys.
He is still not interested in books.

Eating
He loves frozen peas. He loves cooked broccoli and carrots. He loves sauteed zucchini. However, it doesn't matter how much he loves whatever he's eating, he will still throw it off his plate/tray when he is done. This is not a charming habit.
24.10 first pizza -- approved!
28.10 first time at barnehage they said he ate a lot
29.10 still ravenous, eating huge portions of salmon and zucchini.
10.11 with the arrival of the pneumonia, his appetite was gone.

Sleeping
29.10 was a horrible night, with many bouts of hysterical screaming.
30.10 pretty bad night again.
31.10 bit äiti while "dreamfeeding"
1.11 night weaning again
10.11 he is so sick that I am nursing at night again.

Post-sickness he still isn't sleeping well. He cries harder than ever in the evenings, and wakes up several times and can be inconsolable.

Health
30.10 came home with a runny nose.
2.11 my nipple was cracked and painful. i thought it was yeast, but otso showed no signs in the mouth. i went to the doctor on 3.11 but he said it wasn't yeast. he tested my blood for a  bacterial infection and it showed nothing. so he said to just use topical antibiotics (something like Neosporin and rubbing alcohol) for a couple of days. Sure enough, after Neosporin plus a bandaid for 2 nights, it went away.
5.11 facial skin looks red and irritated
7.11 came home with mucus in the eyes
10.11 they called from barnehage in the afternoon and said Otso was feverish. We brought him home. His fever was over 38. He vomited.
11.11 stayed home from barnehage. Eyes are crusty and he is tired and unresponsive. Vomiting during the evening and night. Fever over 38.
12.11 fever over 38 in the morning. Still not eating anything other than breast milk, and mostly vomiting that right back. went to doctor. Diagnosis of pneumonia. He sent us to the hospital for an xray, where they confirmed that it looks like pneumonia. So he started a course of penicillin.
He also cut 2 new teeth on 12.11: right upper lateral incisor and left lower lateral incisor
14.11 still feverish and not eating so we went to urgent care. They basically said it will take a week so we should just use ibuprofen and paracetamol to keep him comfortable.
17.11 Joëlle babysat in the morning so both Kimmo and I could get some solid work in. And that afternoon he started eating again! By dinner we were back to a familiar routine: him eating vegetables and shrimp as fast as we could hand it to him.

Stats
Clothes: size 86 (18 months).

Teeth: 7 (two new on 11.12!)
Weight: 10.02 kg, though this must have gone down during the sickness
Length: 78 cm (almost 85th percentile in Norway)

Random

Feeding Carrots to Isä

Lumi: 3 Years and 9 Months

Summary
Lumi is doing well. She has bad days but overall she seems braver and happier.

Events
4.10 learning to use the balance bike, riding around the house
13.10 orthopedic doctor appointment
19.10 Otso's birthday party
23.10 action day at barnehage
24.10 Mummu arrives
1.11 Selma Kristine's birthday party

Language
She is getting stronger every day in Norwegian. It's almost frightening to see how much she uses it when she is playing at home, because we fear that it will replace English and Finnish.

12.10 Lumi can count to 12 in Norwegian

One "floater" teacher at the barnehage is helping her with some vocabulary drilling. Also her teacher Hege made us a little book with pictures of common things in the classroom and their Norwegian names. We go over it with Lumi and that seems to be helping everyone learn.

Learning
Lumi's barnehage is run by a church mission, and she learns a lot of God- and Jesus-oriented songs. Occasionally they teach them in English, and that is even more discomfiting.
14.10 she came home singing
"I have decided to follow Jesus!
I have decided to follow Jesus!
I have decided to follow Jesus!
No turning back, no turning back." 
The "no turning back" line is especially creepy.

On 19.10 during Otso's party she had a pee accident. Kimmo took her to the bathroom to clean up and change clothes, and while they were cleaning Kimmo taught her how to wash herself (armpits, etc). She used a lot of soap and seemed to have a great time.

On 2.11 we were out for a walk and started chatting with a couple with a dog. When they asked Lumi what her name was, she answered "Lumi." When they seemed puzzled, she spelled "L-u-m-i." I was impressed!

Social
She has friends at barnehage and the language acquisition is helping that. 
She had a great time at Otso's party. There were a bunch of little girls and they had a blast running around the house. She also surprised us by sharing her talking My Little Pony with her little friend Irene. Irene was very taken with the pony and Lumi let her take it home to borrow it for awhile.

Toys, Games, what have you
She seems drawn to whatever anyone else is playing with. 
11.10 we rented The Little Mermaid from the library. She loved it. After 2 times through she said to me "I don't like Ursula", so she seems to be figuring out bad guys vs. good guys.

We were delighted to see that Lumi has started playing air guitar. Her favorite teacher at school plays guitar and she seems really interested.

Food
She has discovered lemon pepper and will happily eat lots of meat if she can dip it in a pile of lemon pepper.
Frozen peas are making a comeback as a favorite food.

Health
We went to the orthopedic doctor on 13.10. The arm is not perfect but it is straighter now than it was 6 months ago. He said that unless her motion starts to look limited, we don't need to come in again.
Then he called the next day and said that he reviewed her xray with another doctor and he wants to see her in 1 year.
She has "healed" some bumps by holding 1 frozen pea on the fresh wound.

Stats
size: wears a 98 or 104 or 3T, only buying 4T or 104
height: 96.5 cm
weight: 13.5 kg

Random
9.10 version of Magic Penny "love is something if you give it away, you won't have any more!"

When she goes kakka on the potty, she can easily take up to 10 minutes, so we tell her to call us when she is ready for help wiping. With Kimmo she often makes a code sound for this, shouting from the bathroom: "I am doing kakka! Isä, when I make this sound (click or raspberry or something) then you come help!"

23.10 Lumi introduced Kimmo to another parent with "this is my daddy and he likes coffee and wine!"