Otso makes pancakes

Note the Daddy Pig "hoopla!" when he flips his pancake.

Otso's 21st Month

Summary
It has been a big month for changes: moving to Oslo, trip to finland, real interest in books, and possibly weaning off the breast (this last one is too soon to say yet but we are on day 4 now).

Events
21.6 hike to månafossen; he rode in the manduca
25.6 new tooth : lower left first molar 
27.6 Leo's Lekeland with Silja and Henri, bbq with the neighbors 
28.6 Soma Gård with isä (äiti was away for the day)
2.7 movers packed up everything
3.7 last day of barnehage 
4.5 mosvatnet 
5.7 drive to oslo, get to new apartment 
6.7 movers arrive in Oslo 
7.7 fly to finland, stay with vaari 
8.7 cousins arrive in Helsinki 
10.7 drive to nakkila 
11.7 baby sat by mummu while parents went to a party
13.7 cousins arrive in Nakkila 
14.7 fancy playground in Pori 
16.7 visit Matti and Anna at their mökki 
18.7 cousins leave 
19.7 drive to Saimaa

Development
Sometimes he helps to set the table. He can put silverware at the proper place. And sometimes when he is especially enthusiastic, he will reach into the silverware drawer to get it himself. Of course, he can't see inside the drawer, so this means that we get somewhat random items .
6.7 both kids got excited about a house fly that was flying around our table at a Chinese restaurant.

Language
One cute addition to the vocabulary : a barely understandable "flowers". And "faw"  for "straw". 
He also started saying "Stomp your feet!" along with the Sandra Boynton "Barnyard Dance" book.
New Finnish words he has picked up during July : kiinni, rahka, auto, and many others. The "language bath" effect has been significant.

Social
He is still excited about Lumi, and is interested in Clémence (our neighbor). He pronounces her name "Vamma!" so we thought at first he was talking about water.
However, he hits when he is unhappy. We have to intercede to protect Lumi.

Toys/Games
favorite toys: that hat Grandpa and Mama Dollie brought him from Bermuda is #1. he also likes balls and he likes to draw. he is getting more and more into books these days, which is fun.

Eating
favorite foods: yogurt, pancakes, Puuro, meatballs. He still won't drink cow's milk.
nursing: once in the morning and once in the afternoon/night. Many days I can distract him instead of the evening nursing session. 
21.6 i made jello from some watered down juice and powdered gelatin. i watered it down too much so it was almost flavorless. and no one liked it...except otso, who ate about half a liter.
7.7 first candy: he has always refused or spat out candy, but on the plane he scarfed down 3 fruity mentos. 
He is eating a tremendous amount in Nakkila, including first ice cream (he has tasted it before but didn't like it ;now eats it enthusiastically). 
17.7 no nursing at all. 
20.7 as of this writing we are in the 4th consecutive day of no nursing. We may be done! 

Sleeping
bedtime is 7:00, wake up at 6:00 (or 5:30, depending on how he's feeling). 
6.7 we put him in the same bedroom with Lumi in Oslo. During the move he has been crying a lot but of course we think it might be the stress of all the changes he doesn't understand.

Health
He seems to be aware of when he pees and poops, but really doesn't like to sit on the potty. We are working on this obstacle by encouraging him to sit, even if he has clothes on. He is starting to do it at the same times as Lumi (before bed, before leaving the house) but only with clothes on. 
And he really hates having a poop cleanup, so we're trying to use that to encourage potty use.
His poop seemed much better for a few days in Finland. It is closer to solid and that makes it easier on everyone. Possibly the potatoes.

Stats
Clothes: size 92 (2T) in most things, though with pants he can wear 86.

Teeth: 11 (left lower first molar on 25.6)
Weight: 12.1 kg on 8.5
Height: 83 cm on 27.5 (imprecisely measured)

Random
He has been kind of a comedian in Finland, making everyone laugh and loving it.

Lumi: 4 years and 5 Months

Summary

This end of the month marks a big transition for all of us. On July 3rd (her 4 years & 5 months day), we take the kids to this barnehage in Stavanger for the last time. In 2 days, we will leave our dear friends behind, and the only home Otso knows, and the only home Lumi really remembers. 

She has had a good month and is mostly cheerful. I think she is excited about the move.

Events
6.6 farm in randaberg
7.6 vitenfabrikken
10.6 sommerfest at barnehage
14.6 first self haircut, "traffic playground" in sandnes
20.6 goodbye to diego + gemma + amy + filippo
21.6 hike to månafossen
27.6 Leo's Lekeland with Silja and Henri, Victoria's birthday party, bbq with the neighbors 
28.6 Soma Gård with isä (äiti was away for the day)

2.7 movers packed up everything

3.7 last day of Lasse Liten barnehage

Language
Her Norwegian is great and people compliment her on how well she speaks (considering her immigrant parents).

Learning
She is practicing writing. One very tricky thing is that the vowels sound different in her different languages. For example, the letter "y" is known by 3 different words. This means when she is asking for help spelling something, she has to parse out who is speaking and what they call each letter.
21.6 while we were in the car she asked something like "when kids are grown up do they still have grown ups?" so she was asking what happens to the parents when the kids are grown up. we explained that we will still be there for her to call and talk to even if we don't live together, and then we reviewed that grandma is my mother and grandpa is my father and then she asked about mama dollie and who her parents are and who she is the parent of. it was a good discussion; i only felt sad that we weren't home so we didn't have the pictures to look through. she has seen lots of pictures of matt and valerie and jake and natalie, and jeannie and beau and isabel and liberty and this would have been a good time to connect everything.

Social
She is really going to miss her friend Lily from barnehage.

This month she went to a birthday party for one of her friends from barnehage. A couple parents (me included) stayed and we all agreed it was fascinating to watch the kids interact because even though we go there every day we only see the transition and we don't see them all together playing. Lumi behaved like I expected: not exactly shy, but slow to warm up and she really takes her time to assess a situation before she feels comfortable.

Leisure
She loves biking around and is getting stronger and faster. She also loves the scooter she borrows from Gemma.
13.6 we tried the balance bike and while she prefers her pedal one, she will use the balance bike. it's both lighter and quieter, so i prefer her to use it when we go on an errand where there are hills when i might be expected to carry the bike.

Food
She still refuses food a lot, and refuses to even try. Only the occasional temptation of a dessert will make her try something relatively new. A couple of those times she discovered some new proteins: roast beef and stir-fried shrimp.
22.6 we pan-fried salmon filets and she voluntarily asked for some and ended up eating about 50g. we were so pleased, as we normally have to prompt her for even a couple bites.

Health
15.6 came home feeling stuffed up and cranky.

Stats
size: 104 (4T) in most clothes (though some 4T shorts slide off her hips and some 104 are too small). Any new purchases are in size 110 (5T) or bigger. 27 shoe (though this varies widely by brand). She seems to have destroyed the (reinforced) toes of her sneakers, and we're not sure how. Maybe dragging her feet when she swings or bikes?
height: 104 cm on 7.6
weight: 15.1 kg on 23.3

Random
5.6 she has been singing the Norwegian national anthem a lot.

About the move: she keeps announcing to people that we are "never coming back." it sounds ominous, especially because she is so cheerful about it.

7.6 she keeps singing the Doc McStuffins theme song, and she often sings "i like it under the weather" instead of the line "when you feel a little under the weather".

14.6 she was happily practicing with her scissors cutting up some ribbon and then announced, "äiti, i cut my hair!" there was a big chunk from the back of her head missing. we tried to play it cool, since 1. we like how she looks with her hair short and 2. i had given her a trim yesterday and it wasn't even so i had wanted an excuse to clean it up.

23.6 we were explaining how the landlord/lady came to inspect our apartment:
A: "Today Tor Magne and Torunn came by to..."
L (interrupting): "celebrate!"