Love Locks

Otso: 2 Years

Summary
Otso is 2 years old! He is funny and kind. We all love him. He is growing more creative and speaking more every day.

Events
27.9 excursion to Fornebu
29.9 doctor visit to remove splinter 
4.10 Suomi kerho
10.10 helmina and Amalie over for cake 
11.10 playdate with Toni
15.10 "høst fest" at barnehage -- parents invited for soup
17.10 swimming with Eino

18.10 birthday cake in frogner park with pedro and toni

20.10 2 years old!

Development
27.9 he made substantial progress on the scooter. He isn't very fast but he can ride and push himself forward properly.

Language
He definitely says "äiti" and not "äini".
I managed to have him in stitches when i repeatedly called him "sucker".
He likes to shout. 
He has started saying " yeah! " in response to a question or a statement. It's great. 
Other gems: "exactly, otso! "
Calls his belly his " beely". 
Dog comes as "cog".
He seems to think the Finnish word "maali" means door, no doubt because Kimmo and Lumi and Otso practice kicking the balls toward the door.

Social
He likes Pedro a lot. He is also kind of obsessed with Toni, who is in Lumi's class at barnehage. 
5.10 We asked about their days and who they played with and Otso said he played with Toni (Lumi was quick to correct him).

Toys/Games
He really likes Mickey Mouse, both the stuffed cuddly version and the little figurine. 
He likes balls and Legos and puzzles.
The barnehage teachers always inform me, a bit sadly, that otso does not like fingerpainting. but then they gave him a paint brush and he did it a little bit.

17.10 Grandma gave Otso some toy food and a backpack.

18.10 Pedro gave Otso a couple of his toys -- a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and a figure from Kung Fu Panda. They are Otso's first action figures and he really liked the turtle.

18.10 Maria and Pasi (and Elmo and Elsa and Veera) gave Otso an outdoor ball. He loved it.

20.10 presents from äiti (socks and mittens), isä (cars, including a police car), and lumi (legos)

Eating
favorite foods: ice cream , eggs, yogurt, chicken, pasta
6.10 drank milk -- first time! he has had chocolate milk, but only from a box when he couldn't see it. lumi requested chocolate milk when they got home because it was chilly. otso also said "chocolate milk!" and sat in his chair at the table. i warmed him a little and then added a bit of sugar and then added a bit of chocolate and then he panicked and cried. then i switched mugs and gave him some from lumi's mug (which was just warm milk and sugar because i hadn't done hers yet) and he loved it, and drank some more milk (cold, without sugar) with dinner.
12.10 he is still very confused about what "chocolate milk" is. for example, he says it when he sees cake baking. and he won't drink something that looks like chocolate milk (though he loves it in a box where he can't see it). and he generally doesn't like chocolate (he spits out chocolate chips from cookies).

Sleeping
24.9 trying a new system for bedtime. Kids are in separate bedrooms and neither gets to come to our bed. He wakes between 3 and 4 and has a massive pee, which is not even contained by a disposable diaper. We are trying to use cloth at night and simply change him at that time (because the point of disposable at night was so he could sleep through but that isn't the case now).
30.9 went to sleep in the toddler bed. 
3.10 still prefers the toddler bed.
11.10 we let him have the old baby pacifier (tutti) for bed.

Health
21.9 seems to be getting sick: not eating much, very whiny
27.9 unusually whiny all day. Also got a bunch of splinters in the feet.
28.9 still really whiny. it could be just the age, but it seems like it could be that he is uncomfortable somehow and therefore on edge.
29.9 went to doctor to have big splinter removed. This is our first experience with the new oslo doctor. It was positive. 
4.10 during Suomi kerho, he got very clingy and then had a fever. He looked better by the time we got home, but for him the event was pretty miserable.

Potty
30.9 went unprompted to sit on the potty after I got him naked for a bath. He didn't pee, though, and a few minutes later he peed in the shower. So maybe it's a matter of connecting the feeling of peeing with the conscious effort to relax. 
2.10 somehow pushed down pants and diaper himself in protest in his crib, then woke up covered in pee (but with a dry diaper around his ankles) at 5:00
3.10 pee in the big potty just before bath, using the seat reducer.
8.10 he is enjoying wearing his underwear and really hates diapers, so i guess that's the first step? now we have to get him to see the connection between using the potty and getting rid of diapers.

Stats
Clothes: size 92 (2T) in most things. He is in a 23 shoe, though his feet are so wide that it can be difficult to fit the sneakers on, despite having a lot of room in the toe.

Teeth: 13
Weight: 13.1 kg at the airport on 26.7
Height: 87.5 cm on 26.9

Random
He gets mad when äiti starts to do push-ups. It's hard enough to keep in shape without someone working against me like that.

He counts before jumping. In English, it usually starts at 7 and goes "7, 8, 9, 10!" In Finnish, he loves to say "kymmenen" (10). Sometimes it's "kymmenen, kaksi, kymmenen!" (10, 2, 10). Sometimes he combines the two languages and says "seven, eight, nine, ten, kymmenen! [jump]"

18.10 we had a lovely birthday party in frogner park. we brought cake to share with our friends Maru and Gaston (and Pedro and Maxi and Mia) and Maru's mother was also in town. But then we ran into Lumi's friend Toni from barnehage and her dad, so they joined us for cake. It was a sunny day and perfect fall weather. The kids had a blast and guzzled down chocolate milk. We brought a thermos of hot water and had instant cappuccino and hot chocolate. Otso blew out the candles enthusiastically. We all had a great time.

Otso has a lot of opinions about shoes. He likes certain shoes and refuses to put on other shoes. He is fairly relaxed about clothes, but footwear is a big issue. So now that it's getting colder in Oslo, we want him to wear boots. He loves his summer sneakers and has refused his winter boots. We got him another pair (insulated Viking boots, size 23) and he was eventually coaxed into trying them. We had to do a lot of "wow what awesome boots!" pep talks. The good news is that he can stand up and step into the boots with only a little help, so he is quite proud of himself.

Writing

Reading

Painting sucks

The barnehage teachers always tell me how Otso doesn't really like painting. Apparently all the other kids like to fingerpaint, but Otso doesn't. But then they gave him a brush and he participated tolerably.

He looks a bit sad to me.

Lumi: 4 Years and 8 Months

Summary
It has been a good month. Learning to ride a bike is significant, but also she is really enjoying new levels of responsibility in other ways, like operating the TV remote control.

Events
6.9 Nordre Lindeberg gård, car wash, play date with Toni and Helmina
10.9, 11.9 - barnehage planning day; kids stayed home
10.9 x-ray on arm to confirm that the bone is straightening properly
12.9 visit with Pedro & fam
13.9 suomi kerho
19.9 visit with Pedro & fam
20.9 Toni's birthday party
26.9 training wheels off the bike! 
27.9 excursion to Fornebu

Language
Her Finnish "r" is coming regularly now.

Learning
She is getting quite good at relationships between things.
She is hyper-aware of letters and words now. She may be like this for a while, or it may transition into her reading on her own. We aren't pushing her.
Also, counting is coming along well.
26.9 she had seen a friend from Barnehage this week riding a bike without training wheels and said she wanted to try. So Kimmo took her out this morning and she made the transition really quickly. We were proud and she was proud.

Social
She has a friend at barnehage and they play together a lot. Her name is Helmina and she's kind and cute. Also Emi. 
She and Pedro (an old friend from Prague who just moved here) played together really well and seemed to have a great time.
She likes to chat it up with strangers and will happily interview people in the elevator in our apartment building or other parents at the barnehage. However, she will freeze up when we chat with good friends or family over Skype. strange...
25.9 we met with her Barnehage group leader for a conference. She said Lumi is doing well and seems happy.

Leisure
She enjoys role playing with the dolls. She likes puzzles. We are now in the market for 50-100 piece puzzles.
10.9 spent a few hours building something from the directions with the Lego Friends.
At barnehage she loves to do the perler.

Food
Her appetite is the best it has ever been, and she has been less stubborn about trying new things.
Current favorites include liver paté (!) and jello.

Health
We are trying a new system, where we do books and bedtime with Otso in the kids bedroom, and longer books with Lumi in the living room. This gives Otso a chance to fall asleep without the distraction and Lumi a chance to read longer books and stay up a tiny bit later than her little brother. So far it has meant fewer tears and a more pleasant evening for everyone.
10.9 we went to the hospital to have an x-ray and see the orthopedist to make sure her broken arm is straightening properly. it is. but she was *awful* about the x-ray, despite having done it before, knowing it doesn't hurt, and role-playing it at home a few times. she wouldn't put her arm on the board and after many kind encouragements from the technicians and nurses, it ended in the technician needing to roughly hold her arm in place while lumi sobbed and pulled on her arm. she was a bit better for the doctor, but still was uncooperative and sullen.
17.9 got an email from the barnehage that someone has pinworm. crossing fingers we don't get it.
She is letting me give her a head scratch / back rub / leg massage before she goes to sleep. It's a nice way to reconnect and also help her relax.
24.9 has achy ear.
25.9 woke up with zero ear problems.

Stats
size: 110 (5T) in most clothes. 28 shoe (though this varies widely by brand). She is skinny but getting taller.
height: 106.5 cm on 26.9
weight: 15.1 kg at airport on 26.7

Random
4.9 when walking home from Barnehage, she looked at her reflection in a car's side mirror and said, "I love you! You can be yourself!"

28.9 when i tried to hug her while she was doing a puzzle, "you're wasting puzzle time!"

3.10 announced that In the Night Garden is " kind of boring. "