Post-Christmas Malaise

Lumi caught a cold over Christmas (and it has since passed to Otso). Her cousins left Mummu's house early on Christmas morning so she and Siini spent some recovery time on the sofa watching TV together. The Pink Panther was the worst off of the trio, and remained passed out on the rocking chair until late that evening.

Otso's 14th Month

Summary
We had another bout of sickness this month, but also we have seen Otso walk.

Events
23.11 Helena and Lilja's birthday party
29.11 Thanksgiving dinner (guests Filippo, Amy, Gemma, and Diego)
30.11 Christmas tree lighting in downtown Stavanger
1.12 stood on his own for 3 minutes at barnehage
4.12 took 2 steps before toppling over
5.12 FIRST WALK - a few steps back and forth between isä and äiti
7.12 St. Nicholas celebration with the neighbors
12.12 Lucia day at barnehage
14.12 Baking cookies at Gemma's house
17.12 first Norwegian word "ha det"
19.12 flight to Helsinki

Development
Since the pneumonia last month he hasn't been interested in walking around, either with help or without help. He will happily crawl, but he stays on the floor.
He is making more and more sounds. He sometimes sings along in the car and he can't pronounce the words but he makes the sounds. He also can understand more and more when we talk. 
He is unruly at diaper changes and turns and twists, but he is starting to be somewhat helpful for putting on his clothes. For example, when we tuck his arm into the arm hole of a shirt, he stretches out his arm to push it through the sleeve.
His pincer grasp is often with his middle finger and thumb, and he holds his index finger up. Lately he can both grab and release items like Cheerios.
4.12 he went back and forth from isä to äiti, walking a couple of steps and then falling into the person's arms
5.12 FIRST WALK -- a few steps!
He seems to be spiteful. For example, he will often request to be picked up. But then if I tell him to wait a minute and I do something else first, when I go to him he turns away from my arms and cries, like he is punishing me for making him wait. If he can be distracted by something good and therefore forget his anger, he will accept being picked up, which is what he wanted the whole time.
17.12 says "ha det!" (Goodbye in Norwegian) and waves.

Toys/Games
On 22.11 Hattie gave us some toys (a car garage, a toy helicopter) and they have been a hit with both kids. We put the car garage from his birthday away with the intent to sell it because this one is much more fun. 
He still loves balloons and balls and still doesn't like books. He loves to play with cars.
Both kids are really enjoying playing with the pile of sweet potatoes in the kitchen. They like to pass them back and forth, and sort them, and throw them.

Eating
He won't eat from pouches anymore; I think he associates them with being sick since that's basically all he had during the worst days.
He loves to drink water but refuses cow's milk and juice.
He is breastfeeding 3 or 4 times a day: first thing in the morning, upon arrival home, and before bed. Sometimes there is another feeding in the morning before we leave and sometimes there is a short feed sometime in the evening.
10.12 along with the sleeping issues (see below) he seems to not eat as much right now. We had a brief resumption of his excellent eating habits around the end of November but now we are back to not much. He is also currently only eating a specific kind of bread (PolarBröd) and otherwise only dairy. He will eat breastmilk and yogurt and quark and cheese. Sometimes he will eat a couple of Cheerios too. Apart from those, he will carefully accept what food you offer him and then throw it as hard as he can.
17.12 he has mostly regained his appetite but can be erratic. he is a little obsessed with Mariekjeks (Marie cookies). 

Sleeping
He took some great naps on 22.11 (in the bike trailer) and 23.11 (in the stroller) and the sleep situation has improved at night. It's still not easy to go to bed and he still wakes up crying, but at least it's not every 15 minutes.
From 22.11 to 26.11 (and more?) he has been waking up at 5:00, give or take a few minutes. Every time he has a poop. 
Starting the night of 27.11 we began sleep training, meaning he stays in the crib until 5:00 in the morning. The first night was hard with a lot of crying. But by the third night, he slept a longer stretch than he has in quite a while. Äiti sleeps next to him but not in the crib, sort of sideways on the guest bed. I can put my hand through the crib bars and hold his chest, which seems to relax him.
1.12 last night he woke up at 12:30, and then again at around 4:30 and screamed inconsolably for 45 minutes.  
2.12 last night he needed some help going to sleep and woke up a few times but then slept from 21:00ish until 5:50.
4.12 last night he cried almost the whole night. he had a nap from 4:00-4:30am. äiti nursed him at 5 and then took him out for a walk at 5:20.
10.12 the last few nights have been really difficult. He sleeps a little but will suddenly wake up and start crying loudly. He seems angry. He refuses to be soothed, even crawling away from äiti or isä. He bangs his head against his crib rails when he gets especially mad. When we take him out of the crib and into the guest bed, he rolls away and then bangs his head on the sides. The only thing that can temporarily calm him is nursing and he will stop back-arching if we say "nursing?" to him. But he chews (ouch) and he resumes yelling the minute you take him off the breast. We have gone through the typical culprits:
 - night terrors: no, because he does the same thing when fully awake
 - hunger: no, because immediately after nursing he resumes the yelling. plus he won't eat very much at the table.
 - separation anxiety: no, because he isn't soothed by anyone's presence
 - pain: maybe. he doesn't seem to be helped much by a full dose of pain killer
our current theory is some combination of teething and anxiety about walking. but who knows.
15.12 the worst night yet, trying Pantley stuff like "pull off" technique which seems to enrage him
16.12, 17.12 the nights are just a little better
20.12 won't sleep at night without a breast in the mouth. Since we are sharing a house every night on this trip, äiti has decided to not try to train him to do otherwise until we get home. Hopefully it won't be too hard, because some nights it is really frustrating.

Health
A fever on 25.11
It felt like he was just back to health and now he is vomiting again 3.12. in one evening he threw up on 3 different sleep sacks.
4.12 still vomiting. 
5.12 no vomiting, but still weak and no appetite.

Stats
Clothes: size 86 (18 months) and 92

Teeth: 7 
Weight: ?
Length: 78 cm ?

Napkins are for suckers

Kind of gross, but impressive nonetheless.

Otso pushes the yellow one down

Practicing for Lucia

The Lucia procession at the barnehage on Friday was cute but my videos were all too dark. But here are Lumi and Otso (in their Luciadag white) practicing.

Lumi: 3 years and 10 months

Summary
It has been a good month. Lumi is growing taller and learning more skills. She is sensitive and cautious, but when she is excited about something she is hard to contain.

Events
8.11 lunch with Mira and Dave and Helena and Lilja
14.11 barnehage planning day but she was sick so we didn't do much
15.11 took otso to the hospital and lumi was really helpful and kind to otso
22.11 played at Hattie's house
23.11 Helena and Lilja's birthday party
29.11 Thanksgiving dinner (guests Filippo, Amy, Gemma, and Diego)
30.11 Christmas tree lighting in downtown Stavanger

Language

She is interested in the letters of the alphabet now, and it seems like it must be really hard with the multiple languages (e.g. "i" in finnish is pronounced like "e" in american english) so right now she sometimes spells her name with a combination of languages (like american "u" but finnish "i").
She is practicing a different "r". We aren't sure where it comes from, but it sounds really aggressive and like there might be an "h" involved. 

Learning
She can get herself dressed and undressed now (though often she prefers that we do it or that we make it a fun game).
17.11 we got out the writing and number workbooks and she was very happy to practice writing the numbers and letters
20.11 she wrote her name and Otso's name without prompting or help. Then she wrote a K and called us over. With some spelling help she was able to write Kimmo.
22.11 she helped me write a thank you note and signed her own name.

Social
We are working on overcoming her shyer tendencies.
22.11 she had a great time with the Bennett kids
23.11 she was a bit shy at Helena and Lilja's party but eventually warmed up. The presents she had picked out (hair bands and batons with glittery liquid inside) were a hit.
29.11 Thanksgiving dinner she was a great hostess to Gemma. She let her have her favorite color dishes, and sit in the special chair, etc. And they played together and had a great time. They played hide and seek, they pretended they were going to sleep in Lumi's bed, and they generally ran around the house at top speed.

Toys, Games, what have you
She tried a bicycle with training wheels at the sports store and loved it.
She loves to listen to "Sutsi Satsi" in the car. I played some 90s R&B for her and she deemed it funny but she liked it.
On 22.11 Hattie gave us some toys (a car garage, a toy helicopter) and they have been a hit with both kids. 
Both kids are really enjoying playing with the pile of sweet potatoes in the kitchen. They like to pass them back and forth, and sort them, and throw them.

Food
After some American candy (chewy sweet tarts) she had a horrible tantrum. We are staying away from candy for awhile.
15.11 she insisted on buying Leverpostei (liver pate) at the store, which is a really Norwegian thing to eat. she carried it in her hands from the cash register to the car and then into the house and then opened it for lunch.

Health
Not sleeping well this first week, which has been made much worse by Otso's terrible nights. Lumi has woken up several times due to his screaming.

She seemed under the weather on 7.11 but seems to have regained her appetite on 8.11.
14.11 she was feverish and tired. she stayed in and got some rest and seemed spectacular the next day.

Stats
size: 104 (4T) in most clothes, 27 shoe
height: 99 cm
weight: 14.3 kg on 15.11

Random

10.11 it's dark now in the morning when we get up, and the bathroom light switch is high enough to be out of reach for lumi. today she went for her morning pee and we heard he say rather cheerfully but sassily "i need some *light* in here!" and then announced "i'll get a light bulb!" Then she ran to the living room and grabbed one of the light-up balls that grandpa and mama dollie had brought and she continued to hit that against her belly so it stayed lit while she was in the bathroom.

On 15.11 when we entered the hospital, she walked right up to the information desk and announced in english "Otso is really really really sick!"

On 29.11 before breakfast she requested "the kind with the crust in the pot". It took a minute to figure out she meant boiled eggs.: