Rolling Marbles

The last couple of days, these little marbles from Kimmo's GeoMag set have been the toy of choice for the kids.

Otso's 31st Month

Summary
Nothing earth-shattering this month. He is mostly agreeable and good-natured, and more fun every day.

Events
21.4 gymnastics
23.4 Barne Universitet
24.4 suomikerho at church
1.5 Vappu picnic in Frogner Park

5.5 - 8.5 trip to Stavanger

12.5 last gymnastics before summer

13.5 barnehage 17 Mai celebration

14.5 bbq and playing with Helena

17.5 Norway Constitution day

Learning/Development
First half of the month we saw some really emotional behavior. He fell to pieces over very small things, and often refused to eat meals (this is new ground for him; he was always an enthusiastic eater). He is getting a bit less sleep due to the sun's rising earlier and earlier, so he may be just tired.
There is the usual suspect of his wants being too complex for his language abilities, so if you can't guess what he is talking about then lots of negotiations end in tears and otso repeating angrily "other kind! other kind!" 

17.5 learned to spit while brushing his teeth. mostly he sprays water all over the sink and mirror.

Language
He says "faff" instead of giraffe, and "fagon " instead of dragon.

3.5 instead of "Mr. Scarecrow"  he said "Mr. Clay Pot"

Toys/Games/Other
He doesn't seem to have a driving passion for any one toy right now. He still likes cars and trains and action figures and so on, but he also enjoys playing games and building things and throwing balls and so on.

10.5 he tried Lumi's old "mopo" and really liked it.

Social
He had a great time in Stavanger with friends. He kept calling Diego "Eggo".

Eating
3.5 at breakfast he dropped some scrambled eggs on the floor. when he was done eating, he pointed it out to me. i helped him from his chair and asked "are you going to help me clean it up?" he responded "no! i eat it!" and shoved the big chunks in his mouth.

Sleeping
He isn't consistent with naps on the weekend.
Also, we have had trouble keeping him in bed until he falls asleep. Most nights he gets up several times to come hang out.

Health
He comes home every day from barnehage with terrible wind burn on the face. We're putting on lots of barrier cream and it helps a little.

He does great at the potty at home and I would say that he is potty-trained. However, it is a disaster at barnehage, and we're not sure why. Most days he comes home with a bag of wet underwear and pants. It seems to happen when he is outside playing.

14.5 We moved the potty into the bathroom (instead of the living room), because we had a couple nights where he woke up to pee at 5:00am and tried to move the stool over to the toilet and put the seat reducer on himself and it was not successful.

Stats
Clothes: size 98/104. Shoes: size 25 or 26.

Teeth: 19 ( right lower second molar 8.5, right upper second molar 1.5)
Weight: 15.1 kg on 8.5
Height: 93.5 cm on 1.5

Random
He loves to watch the garbage truck. He is too short to see out the window, so he listens for it and when it comes he asks to see it. 

When he's not wearing pants (his preferred state), he likes to grab his testicles and say "these are my balls!"

#2

stavanger!

we had a wonderful time with friends this weekend in stavanger. we also got incredibly lucky with the weather; it was sunny and warm the whole time.

Lumi: 5 Years, 3 Months

Summary
Lumi is doing well these days. She seems happy at barnehage, and she is helping a bit more around the house (sometimes after a lot of nagging). She also really makes an effort to help Otso and to play with him.

Events
9.4 dinner with Helena & family
10.4 suomikerho
14.4 dinner & trampoline at Toni's house
17.4 Turist i Egen By
23.4 Barne Universitet.
24.4 suomikerho at church
1.5 Vappu picnic in Frogner Park

Language
We think her lack of finnish is simply due to lack of exposure for more complex sentences. She has more nuanced thoughts now and since her English vocabulary is wider, she uses English as a default at home. We are working on this by watching more Finnish-language movies and trying to give her the missing words.

No doubt due to confounding "training wheels"  and Peppa Pig's "stabilizers", Lumi calls them "stable wheels". She likes to brag about not needing "stable wheels" on her bicycle.

Learning
We have re-started the letter of the day, and now she practices writing some words that start with the letter.
At the Barne Universitet event, she was really into the space booth. She closely followed the presentation on the planets and enjoyed learning about them. She also liked building 3D structures, and the Bubble Lab. The whole thing was really well done and she really responded to it.

Social
4.4 a couple friends got moved to another sub-group at barnehage. she was sad, but seems okay so far.
Sometimes this month she has been really helpful and kind with Otso. We got to sleep in on a Sunday while they sweetly played together in the living room.

Leisure
She loves hiding and finding games.
Her favorite color is currently blue (yellow has fallen by the wayside).
16.4 we spent our gift certificate at Riktige Leker and Lumi chose a Little Mermaid Lego set. it was labeled "easy" and she seemed to put it together pretty quickly.
23.4 went for a bike ride alongside äiti while äiti jogged. It was a success.

Food
She still isn't great about eating dinner, but there are some meals she likes. Salmon filets cooked in the oven are usually eaten without too much resistance.
Favorites: peanut butter on Ritz crackers, yogurt

Health
5.4 low fever in the morning so she stayed home from barnehage
6.4 back to barnehage

Stats
size: 110 (5T) in most clothes. 28 shoe, maybe 29.
height: 110 cm on 1.5
weight: 16.1 kg on 6.3

Random
13.4 she not only got ready for bed without too much fuss, she also helped otso clean up and put his clothes in the laundry. it was wonderful!