watching ice skating

he didn't like being on the ice but he loved watching.

Otso's 25th Month

Summary
It's great to see how Otso's personality is developing. Now that he has more complex thoughts, there is definite moodiness, but we still do see big smiles when he's doing fun things.

Events
23-25.10 visit from neighbors 
30.10 new tooth!
30.10 - 2.11 visit from mummu
1.11 suomi kerho
8.11 new tooth!
11.11 2 year appointment at helsestasjon

14.11 visit Pedro

15.11 suomi kerho

18.11 meeting with barnehage teacher

17-21.11 josh visiting

Development
He is quite good at building towers with Legos or regular blocks.

Language
He repeats the last word he hears, often to hilarious effect.
We can see him separating the languages now, though not with 100% accuracy.  For example, he knows that it's not just the Norwegian "min", but that isä says "minun" and äiti says "my". but since there are both "my" and "mine" in english, that is a bit more difficult. I have seen him look a bit doubtful when he pointed to something and said "it's my!", so i think he remembered that it's a little different in english but he couldn't remember how exactly.
His language comprehension got "approved" at the 2-year visit at the helsestasjon. She chatted with him in Norwegian. He was quite shy but gave a lot of "joooo" agreements when she asked things like "do you go to barnehage?". She asked what he likes to play with at barnehage and he said "bil!" very confidently so we definitely know he likes cars. He was able to identify body parts when she prompted him.

Social
He knows most of the kids' names at barnehage.

We met with the barnehage teacher on 18.11. It sounds like Otso is doing well socially. He really loves circle time and he loves singing.

He sometimes is very moody.

Toys/Games
He still loves balls. He also loves books and Mickey Mouse and cars.

At barnehage, his favorite toys are the trains and the legos (and other building toys) and jumping on the pillows.

Eating
He drinks milk now, almost every day at dinner (and sometimes at breakfast).
6.11 was miserable in the morning, seemingly because i made rice porridge for breakfast instead of oat porridge. but it wasn't clear.
He does not like cheese.

16.11 again miserable in the morning because we didn't understand his breakfast request. it seemed like it was a spoon problem.

They are very worried at barnehage because he doesn't like snack time. We reassured them that he eats a lot at home, but he doesn't eat knakkebröd, especially with stuff on it.

Sleeping
He has been waking up a lot in the night and calling for us, then coming to sleep with äiti.

Health
25.10 beginning a cold?
8.11 woke up with a slight fever and was kind of fussy and clingy all day.

Potty
No progress lately. We are probably tabling this until after winter, so we don't have to deal with the snowsuit in a potty emergency.

Stats
Clothes: sometimes a size 92, but more often a size 98 now. 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. His size 92 pants still fit great in the length, but his hips and belly make them annoying to get on.

At barnehage they pointed out that Otso doesn't really try to put on his own clothes and just waits to be helped. Oops. :)

Teeth: 15 (upper right canine 30.10, lower left canine 8.11 ) 
Weight: 14.6 kg on 11.11
Height: 87.5 cm on 26.9 (86 on 11.11?)

Random
20.10 his first impulse in the morning was to find my slippers and hand them to me. :)

19.10 i forgot to put on the last month that he asked me to carry him to barnehage and then when i complained he grinned and said "sorry!"

8.11 while Lumi and Isä were out at a birthday party, he got to Skype with Grandpa and Mama Dollie. He spent about 10 minutes in this cycle:
 1. build a lego tower
 2. put the helicopter on top
 3. put Mickey in the helicopter
 4. make Mickey fall
 5. laugh
 6. make sure Grandpa and Mama Dollie were watching
 7. repeat

Daniel Tiger

These are the faces of kids watching Daniel Tiger.

tram selfie

Refreshment

The kids really enjoyed filling an old saline pipette with water and then drinking from it.

Lumi: 4 Years and 9 Months

Summary
Highlights of the month include starting swim class and visit from the neighbors and from mummu. She is also gaining more understanding of the world and how it works.

Events
3.10 birthday shopping for otso 
4.10 suomi kerho
9.10 Barnehage trip to frogner park 
10.10 Helmina and Amalie over for cake 
11.10 playdate with Toni, swim class
14.10 playdate with Helmina -- she went home from barnehage with her.
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, swim class
20.10 otso's birthday
23-25.10 visit from neighbors

30.10 - 2.11 visit from mummu

1.11 suomi kerho, swim class

Language
She is increasingly comfortable in Norwegian. The Oslo language is different from the Stavanger language, but she has it under control, it seems. She is starting to sing more in Norwegian, and she still loves to chat with strangers.
When discussing the word "mice", she pointed out that the is also "mais", the "little yellow ones we eat." it took me a while to understand it was a Norwegian word.

Learning
She is practicing writing letters a lot. It's fun, and she wants to recognize words. We're trying to go slow and not push her (in the hopes that we don't scare her away from reading).
She is delighted by the idea that our ceiling is our neighbors' floor, and that our floor is our neighbors' ceiling. :)

Social
She enjoys her friends from barnehage. Current favorites are Helmina, Emilia, and Maja.
She went home from barnehage with Helmina. She loved it and it sounds like she wants to go often now. They pretended to be Elsa and Anna from Frozen and generally had a great time.

She really can't stand hearing crying. She yelled at us for not giving Otso the candy he wanted (because he was crying) and was very frustrated that our neighbors wouldn't give Clemence something she wanted either (because she was crying). in the case of Clémence, she gave her the item and said "I'm not going to let her cry!".

Leisure
She loves riding her bike, but is still learning how to start. She is nervous and asks that someone hold her steady while she starts pedaling. She has trouble getting the pedal in the right place, and fears toppling over before she gets enough speed.
11.10 she figured out how to start pedaling and now gets angry if you try to help.

We started swim class this month. There isn't too much instruction but it's fun to be in the water.

1.11 big progress in swim class. i had a chat with her before the class that she really needs to try what the teacher says to do. so when the teacher started having the kids do a "knee dive", and lumi said no, i reminded her that we need to try. she didn't want the teacher to touch her, and this teacher was great after i explained that. the teacher moved further out into the pool and simply told us what we should do. and lumi started with a bit of a jump into my arms and avoiding her face going in the water (some kids were also at this level but some kids dived gracefully and swam underwater for a meter to their parents). the teacher praised her and she was proud. but the funny thing is that after lumi trusted that the teacher wasn't going to touch her, all she wanted was to interact with her! she kept trying and trying to jump/dive better than the last time, and each time she wanted to tell the teacher what she did ("i went on my knee!" "i went under the water!"). i was proud of her for pushing through her fear and making the effort, and she was proud of herself. she also used swim goggles (present from mummu, who was also there watching, which was even more of an inspiration i think) and eventually put her face under the water quite willingly. and as if that wasn't enough, lumi doggy-paddled her longest distance yet -- something like 3 meters. previously she had "swam" about a meter but it could be mistaken for simply pushing off one wall in the water. but this time it was in the deep end and she kept herself up and moving forward. 

Food
6.10 told us she wanted to buy her own butter, so she could eat it all herself (though she said she would share with friends at barnehage). she claimed she liked butter better than she likes ice cream.
12.10 she was thrilled because i gave her a packet of margarine.
14.10 i was really pleased that Helmina's mom reported that Lumi ate well at their house.

Health
The swim class is tiring her out, but she loves it, so we will stick with it for now. Otherwise, she has been impressively healthy. We are crossing our fingers that she stays that way!

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

Random
4.10 announced she wanted money to "buy things". I believe the toy store trip (for her brother's birthday present) had quite an effect, and that she hadn't realized there were so many toys to be had.

4.10 first time we took the bike out on a busy sidewalk. She shouted at the first people who were blocking her way "move to the side!" they were startled but then they smiled and laughed when they saw it was a little girl.

12.10 lumi informed me that i am "the meanest one in this house". 

15.10 she requested that i trim her bangs because they were "too long" and i think it annoyed her. she still wants to grow the rest of her hair long, but i trimmed the bangs.

NRK (the national broadcasting company) does a campaign every year for kids and here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m0cNb52lHg
the kids love it and practice the routine together.

19.10 she said she wanted to sleep in "the bed with my name on it." so we put her in the bedroom with Otso. Then she told us that when she sleeps in the guest room she wakes up but with Otso there she just goes back to sleep. We hope that's true.

26.10 she got some leftover Polar bread from Otso. I said he was a nice little brother, and she replied "he wasn't nice. He just didn't want it."

Her favorite thing downtown is any busker playing an accordion. She always says the music is "beautiful." and I have been giving her 1 kr to give to any musician who she listens to for any length of time. 31.10 she took her own wallet (with all her Norwegian currency, in total about 8 kr)  and she gave to three different accordion players.

1.11 Otso hit isä and isä calmly reprimanded him. Lumi apparently felt Isä wasn't mad enough so she said "minä olen raskas!"  we think it was a direct translation from Norwegian to say that she was strict.