Eating at Christmas in Nakkila.
27 December 2017
20 December 2017
Otso: 4 Years, 2 Months
Summary
This month has been mostly Christmas preparation and celebration of Finland's centennial.
Learning/Development
He is interested in words, and clearly working toward reading like Lumi. We are trying to give him information but also not pressure him at all.
Language
He does not always switch back and forth between English and Finnish easily, but he can still maintain an English-only conversation with äiti if no one else is around. I am trying to remember to give him the English words for things he discusses, even when he doesn't ask.
Toys/Games/Other
Favorites: card games, board games, legos, cars, puzzles
He likes for us to draw numbers/letters on his back so he can guess them.
He goes to perhesähly every Sunday and loves it.
At the päiväkoti performance for the Centennial, he did not want to sing at all.
Social
He adores his best friend, though he is enjoying other peers more and more. He has asked that some other kids come and visit, and at the Suomi 100 party, he had so much fun with August that he didn't want to leave.
He is getting comfortable talking to people he doesn't know. He did well at Thanksgiving (even tolerating the seemingly purpose-less destruction of some of his Lego constructions), and at the doctor appointment he chatted her up.
Eating
When Eeli was visiting, he said he didn't like peas, and left his on the plate. So Otso refused his too. Then after Eeli left, he came back and wolfed them down, straight out of the serving bowl.
Watermelon, ice cream, and eggs are still the favorites.
Sleeping
He usually wants us to stay in his bedroom while he tries to go to sleep at night, but it can easily take 30 minutes or more.
Health
At the doctor visit on 28.11, he got a clean bill of health. The doctor said he is doing really well, and will not need to come back until he is in school.
Events
22.11 Eeli visit
24.11 Thanksgiving dinner
25.11 visit from Sami and Ilona
28.11 4-year doctor visit
1.12 päiväkoti christmas party
6.12 Finland's centennial -- party at michele's
9.12 pikkujoulu with vaari and Leena
13.12 Finland centennial performance for Lumi's päiväkoti
14.12 Finland centennial party at päiväkoti
20.12 grandma arrives
Random
He likes the Francesco car from the movie Cars 2, and he pronounces it "Franz Kesko"
This month has been mostly Christmas preparation and celebration of Finland's centennial.
Learning/Development
He is interested in words, and clearly working toward reading like Lumi. We are trying to give him information but also not pressure him at all.
Language
He does not always switch back and forth between English and Finnish easily, but he can still maintain an English-only conversation with äiti if no one else is around. I am trying to remember to give him the English words for things he discusses, even when he doesn't ask.
Toys/Games/Other
Favorites: card games, board games, legos, cars, puzzles
He likes for us to draw numbers/letters on his back so he can guess them.
He goes to perhesähly every Sunday and loves it.
At the päiväkoti performance for the Centennial, he did not want to sing at all.
Social
He adores his best friend, though he is enjoying other peers more and more. He has asked that some other kids come and visit, and at the Suomi 100 party, he had so much fun with August that he didn't want to leave.
He is getting comfortable talking to people he doesn't know. He did well at Thanksgiving (even tolerating the seemingly purpose-less destruction of some of his Lego constructions), and at the doctor appointment he chatted her up.
Eating
When Eeli was visiting, he said he didn't like peas, and left his on the plate. So Otso refused his too. Then after Eeli left, he came back and wolfed them down, straight out of the serving bowl.
Watermelon, ice cream, and eggs are still the favorites.
Sleeping
He usually wants us to stay in his bedroom while he tries to go to sleep at night, but it can easily take 30 minutes or more.
Health
At the doctor visit on 28.11, he got a clean bill of health. The doctor said he is doing really well, and will not need to come back until he is in school.
Events
22.11 Eeli visit
24.11 Thanksgiving dinner
25.11 visit from Sami and Ilona
28.11 4-year doctor visit
1.12 päiväkoti christmas party
6.12 Finland's centennial -- party at michele's
9.12 pikkujoulu with vaari and Leena
13.12 Finland centennial performance for Lumi's päiväkoti
14.12 Finland centennial party at päiväkoti
20.12 grandma arrives
Random
He likes the Francesco car from the movie Cars 2, and he pronounces it "Franz Kesko"
17 December 2017
10 December 2017
03 December 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 10 Months
Summary
Lumi has had a fairly good month. She is more and more interested in her peers, and things happen at eskari that we do not know about.
Social
She is making more friends at eskari and seems more settled.
She was helpful when we hosted Thanksgiving. We put her in charge of helping guest take off coats and put them in the right place, and she did great.
Leisure
She likes role playing games using dolls or stuffed animals, and also making crafts.
She seemed to enjoy the music class we went to. She got to sing a lot and play a couple of instruments. She played the djembe, the electric guitar, the bass guitar, and a drum set. Her favorite was the drum set.
She seems to have hit a new level of understanding of the world where she is not as scared of things on TV and can handle more complex things. We watched a lot of the first Harry Potter movie -- she got too scared to continue after the 3-headed dog, but she enjoyed watching Quidditch.
Learning
She is learning new words all the time, and generally enjoying reading. She can read through a lot of baby books, especially ones she is familiar with. The big difference is that she seems bolder -- she does not get as easily frustrated when she doesn't know a word and therefore can push herself toward longer texts.
Language
Her Finnish is getting stronger by the day. Now I would say the two languages are getting closer in her mind. She is forming casual sentences more easily in Finnish than before.
She loves Mad Libs.
Food
She likes to rate new foods with a thumbs up or thumbs down. It has helped her to try things.
Events
3.11 first sauna in the new house
9.11 isänpäivä breakfast at päiväkoti
10-12.11 weekend in Nakkila
15.11 try the music class
19.11 perhesähly (floorball)
24.11 Thanksgiving meal; hosted a dinner
25.11 visit from Sami and Ilona
27 November 2017
20 November 2017
Otso: 4 Years, 1 Month
Summary
Not too much has changed since last month. Toward the latter half of the month, he has ramped up the physical play -- ping pong and floorball are favorites.
Learning/Development
We still have the stroller, and we typically use it for getting to Perheliikunta (his gymnastics class).
His teacher says he is strong in math for his age and has a good grasp on manipulating the numbers 0-9, and also understanding odd and even.
Language
He sometimes struggles to remember the English word, and he is clearly more comfortable expressing himself in Finnish.
He still has trouble with the "tr" or "thr" sound in English. And it has a great effect now that his default is a big, rolling Finnish "r" sound, so "three" becomes "frrrrrree". And "Uncle Troy" becomes "Uncle Frrrrrroy".
Toys/Games/Other
When he comes home, he usually immediately heads for the Lego box.
He was captivated by watching ping pong at the sports center, so we got a couple paddles and balls. He also got some floorball equipment for his birthday and he is thrilled.
We sat in on a music class for Lumi. He was very interested, and liked singing along. He also liked the djembe, and was able to follow along and play the rhythm the teacher did.
Social
He has his best friend at päiväkoti but the teachers say he is also flexible about playing with other kids, and he is not afraid to approach other kids and ask to play.
Eating
He is a pretty good eater.
Favorites: cooked carrots, roasted meat.
He is into adding things to his bowl of Cheerios : raisins, cashews, shredded coconut.
Sleeping
He usually wants us to stay in his bedroom while he tries to go to sleep at night, but it can easily take 30 minutes or more.
Health
We did his 4-year neuvola checkup on 15.11. He is doing great, and perfectly average for height, weight, and head circumference. He said the shot didn't hurt.
Events
21.10 birthday visit to HopLop
25.10 syysrieha at Suursuo päiväkoti
29.10 Eeli's Halloween party
9.11 isänpäivä breakfast at päiväkoti
10-12.11 weekend in Nakkila
15.11 4-year neuvola check up
19.11 perhesähly (floorball)
Random
15.11 he had a great time at the neuvola 4 year check up. He did the eye check and drew pictures and used scissors and threw a ball and chatted and had a vaccination (with a blue monkey band-aid). Afterward, Kimmo asked "What was your favorite part? The drawing? The cutting?" Otso answered "The vaccination!"
10 November 2017
04 November 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 9 Months
Summary
This month, the reading is really making a big jump. It's amazing to see.
Social
She cares more about how she looks now. She decided to go to a professional for her big haircut because 'I want it to look cool.'
One fun thing about living where we live is that it is easier to casually meet up to play. She has one close friend who drops by a couple of times a week.
Leisure
She likes role play games, and also gymnastics. She is increasingly interested in small toys, and wants specific branded toys for Christmas.
Vaari let her drive the boat on the lake, and she loved doing doughnuts, riding over he own wake.
We're expanding the reading a bit -- books from the Secret Kingdom series by Rosie Banks, and we started the first Harry Potter and also Prince Caspian.
Learning
She really enjoys worksheets and games. She is also writing a lot (in Finnish). She likes to write messages on the magnetic drawing toys, and write out the answers to our questions instead of speaking them aloud.
Her reading is taking off. She can handle reading most Finnish "normal" words, though the long compound words are difficult.
Even her English reading is improving! She can go through these early reader books with some help. She is often frustrated because of course these books do not have very interesting plots.
Now we are working on reading comprehension. In Otso's birthday package, Veera and Elsa sent along some books that have simple text and also questions about the plot at the end. She does not respond well to me simply quizzing her about other books (I need to work on my delivery I guess so it doesn't sound so judgemental) but since these questions are actually part of the book, she accepts them and we talk about it.
Language
Her English is still probably strongest, but the Finnish is definitely getting stronger by the day. Especially when discussing things that she does at eskari, the Finnish comes easily. She is still leading her brother along in English at home.
Food
She still hates soup, but apparently does eat it at eskari.
She likes sandwiches and lots of other things, though. She can fix herself a slice of bread with butter and peanut butter on it.
Health
She is better than ever about sleeping in on the weekends. She probably does not get quite enough sleep on most week days (there is a nap time / rest time at preschool but the teachers also read a book aloud during that time and she claims she is too interested in the story to sleep then).
Events
11.10 haircut! She has a cute bob.
13—15.10 weekend at the mökki with vaari
18-20.10 fall break ; Mummu came to stay with the kids during the day
21.10 HopLop
22.10 Hilla and August visiting for dinner
25.10 syysrieha at Suursuo Päiväkoti
1.11 Valojuhla at eskari
27 October 2017
20 October 2017
Otso : 4 years
Summary
The little bear is four years old! He likes to make us laugh. He cheerfully tries new things, and will happily kick a ball around, or play board games, or build little Lego airplanes.
Learning/Development
He knows how to read four words : Lumi, Otso, stop, and Autokeidas (translation : "car oasis", where we stop on the way to Nakkila). Also now we can probably add "IKEA" to the list.
Language
His Finnish is dominant now. The words come more easily, especially on the days when he is at päiväkoti. He still speaks the sentences to äiti in English, but often nouns here and there are in Finnish. During the weekend, he often reverts back to mostly English.
Toys/Games/Other
His favorites these days are Lego, cars, and there is a mild renewed interest in puzzles. He also loves to go outside and kick the ball back and forth.
He also likes board games a lot. He loves memory games, or "muistipeliä". These days adults do not let him win; he can win easily. His teachers call him "muisti monsteri" because he is so good at it. That said, he is mostly a good sport and does not get upset even if he loses.
He is getting quite good at the balance bike, and prefers it to the scooter.
Social
He has a little buddy at päiväkoti, which is nice.
Eating
He still loves savory food. His favorite seems to be oven roasted vegetables and potatoes, and pork or chicken from the oven.
On beef entrecote roasted in the oven: "se on aika aika aika aika aika hyvä kana!" (this is really really really really really good chicken!)
Sleeping
He usually wants us to stay in his bedroom while he tries to go to sleep at night, but it can easily take 30 minutes or more.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 29.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
22-24.9 weekend in Nakkila
29.9-2.10 helmine / amalie / monica visit
1.10 ferris wheel downtown
13—15.10 weekend at the mökki with vaari
18-20.10 fall break ; Mummu came to stay with the kids during the day
Random
The kids love the They Might Be Giants song "I can add" and Otso sings it "one is plus is two, two is plus is three, three is plus is four, four is plus is five, and five is plus is sixteen..."
(note that now he has corrected this)
When he says goodbye to äiti, he has a little ritual lately: he gives a kiss on each cheek, the nose, and the chin.
18 October 2017
10 October 2017
03 October 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 8 Months
Summary
She is settling into her routine at eskari.
Social
It's nice to see her with new friends.
One friend from eskari is in her gymnastics class and they excitedly gave each other a big hug when they arrived.
That said, she seems to be having trouble with the boys with bullying and other negative interactions. They harass and tease and she did not experience this in Norway.
She has been moody and struggling a bit.
She was really happy to see Helmine (and Amalie but of course Helmine is her special friend).
Leisure
She is really interested in learning to do a cartwheel.
We got her a new scooter! It has 2 wheels instead of 3, and a heavier metal frame. she is proud of it and likes it, but definitely still not used to it.
At eskari, her teacher complimented her on being good at tidying up.
Learning
She memorized my phone number! but now i am changing it (funnily enough, for something easier to remember).
She was brave at the neuvola appointment, even though there was a surprise shot. It was so easy, compared to her 4 years appointment in Oslo two years ago when she went absolutely nuts because they asked her to do an eye test.
She really likes her main teacher at eskari, Virpi.
Language
Her Finnish is really coming along. She is often stuck for the English word, while the Finnish comes smoothly.
Her Norwegian speaking ability is almost gone. She had to work really hard to remember words while Helmine was here, and she had a lot of trouble forming sentences. She filled in words with Finnish. She seemed to mostly understand Helmine, though.
Food
She definitely still has fussy moments but overall she is much better these days about food. I think the pressure of Finnish päiväkoti is paying off!
She is also excited about using her knife and fork to eat like a proper Finn, and loves to lecture Otso about it.
Health
She is better than ever about sleeping in on the weekends.
Stats
I'm still tracking this privately, but I am going to stop posting it publicly.
Events
5.9 first gymnastics class -- "Sirkus-akro alkeet"
7.9 babysitter
11.9 new scooter!
16.9 stayed out until after 20:00, and the kids were delighted to see that it was dark. First time in many months! Lumi said that it was beautiful.
18.9 neuvola appointment -- 6 year checkup, including vaccination
22-24.9 weekend in Nakkila
29.9-2.10 helmine / amalie / monica visit
1.10 ferris wheel downtown
Random
She is interested in pets. She really wants a dog. We usually talk through the tasks associated with a dog, and she is convinced at the time that it isn't a good idea for us. But then the next cute dog we see, it is all forgotten and we have to have the discussion again. Because the cats have scratched her before, she is convinced that they do not love her, and she wants to get a new pet who definitely loves her.
29 September 2017
20 September 2017
Otso: 3 Years, 11 Months
Summary
It has been a good month. As mentioned last month, he is really blossoming at the new päiväkoti. The teachers note that he is very cheerful and happy, and generally great to be around.
Learning/Development
He loves to do "tricks" with his fingers and cross fingers, or make the devil horns, or whatever, and then say "can you do this?"
He has started to lie about things, often claiming to have brushed teeth when he has not.
Language
His Finnish comes more easily these days. The English is still there and strong at home, but he easily responds to Kimmo in Finnish.
To Kimmo's delight, he is working on his Finnish "r" sound, and it shows.
To Angela's amusement, this affects his English speech too. He still has a "fr" for a "tr" so instead of "triangle", he says "frrriangle" because the R is a bit more rolled than before.
Toys/Games/Other
He seems quite happy at his new day care. He can't answer much about what exactly he does there.
His favorites at home are cars and Legos. He is also interested in board games -- sequence, alias, etc
.
As is his style, he was reluctant at gymnastics and wanted to just watch. But the part that got him pulled in despite himself was the crab walking. he ended up having a great time and is excited to go back next week.
He seems to have good resistance to the television. he won't just watch whatever is on, even during kids' programming.
Social
He has a little buddy at päiväkoti.
Eating
He still loves food, but often wants to complain about it first. For example, we went to a new restaurant and ordered French fries for him. They were a different shape from the fast food ones he is familiar with, so he cried and got angry and refused to eat, and hit anyone near him. But after ten minutes, he tried one and announced "these are good!" and finished the whole basket.
Sleeping
He is still struggling to get to sleep at night on the days when he goes to päiväkoti. We suspect that they let him nap as long as he wants. He usually wants us to stay in his bedroom while he tries to sleep, but it can easily take 30 minutes.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 29.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
26.8 Lankinen sleepover
7.9 babysitter!
14.9 perheliikunta class
16.9 stayed out until after 20:00, and the kids were delighted to see that it was dark. First time in many months! Lumi said that it was beautiful.
Random
27.8 when I told him "you have a cute nose", he responded "you have cute hands."
13.9 describing a fart : "my peppu said 'boom!'"
12.9 "when my belly wants to get out a kakka, my peppu opens up and the kakku falls into the potty!"
When people ask how old he is, he usually responds "Kohta neljä" or "Soon four" .
18 September 2017
Sunny Sunday
It was lovely weather yesterday and we were outside quite a bit. Even the gravel "yard" was appealing.
11 September 2017
03 September 2017
Lumi : 6 years, 7 months
Summary
The big event this month was the start of esikoulu, or "eskari", or "preschool".
Social
She has befriended a couple of kids at eskari. Some days are harder than others, and those are the ones where she misses her old friends. She says she is friends with all the girls in her class, and that is more than she had in Oslo.
Leisure
She has been playing "dance performance" with her cousin Elsa.
This month we started read "The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe" together. She really liked it.
Learning
The first day of eskari was a success! It is of course pretty stressful to get into a new place with a new routine, but overall she enjoyed it. She didn't want to leave when we arrived to pick her up.
Now she wants to be picked up about the same time as everyone else, which is a bit earlier than äiti can get there.
Language
14.8 while watching TV with Otso, she casually commented on it in Finnish. This marks the beginning of a new era in which they don't only speak English to each other.
Food
She was brave about trying the food at eskari on the first day. It's not her favorite, but most days she accepts the challenge like a big girl. At the barnehage in Norway, she always had to taste the food and then if she didn't like it they gave her bread and cheese. Here, she just needs to eat what is there.
14.8 trying a new system : eating the porridge at preschool instead of breakfast at home.
15.8 she really wants to eat breakfast at home, and then have the second breakfast at preschool.
This has continued : she eats two breakfasts most days.
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 31 or 32 shoe.
height: 120 cm on 2017-08-05, at Linnanmäki
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
4.8 drive to Helsinki
5.8 linnanmäki
7.8 first day at new day care / preschool; lankinen visit for dinner
10.8 first esikoulu lesson
12—13.8 Vuori family reunion
20.8 playdate with Viena and Eelis
26.8 Lankinen sleepover
1.9 play date with Vilma
Random
16.8 she claimed that I picked her up too early from eskari, and that the day when she was literally the last child there was better, because she had her choice of the toys to play with. I questioned her, asking if she didn't feel unloved when we were that late, and she responded that she would definitely feel unloved if we didn't show up at all.
27 August 2017
21 August 2017
20 August 2017
Otso: 3 Years, 10 Months
Summary
This month we have been settling in at the new house, and getting started with our new routine. For Otso, this is his new päiväkoti. So far, it is a success and he seems really happy there.
Learning/Development
He is easily frustrated with what he can and cannot do, for example when trying to paint / draw with Lumi.
Unfortunately, he has now added "scratching" to his list of things to do when he gets mad. So when he is angry he hits, kicks, and scratches. This seems to have been learned directly from Lumi.
When we visited the montessori, he loved matching objects with words, and practicing sorting by shapes and sizes.
Language
He has picked up the word "lounging" and uses it to describe any reclining position (example : "I'm lounging in the bathtub!")
He still says "w" for the "r" sound and "f" for the "tr" sound. Also "dr" is hard and comes out sort of "df".
English is still his primary language, but he is getting more and more comfortable with Finnish.
Toys/Games/Other
He still loves cars and loves for grown-ups to play with him. He also loves legos.
Social
He adores his cousin Elmo and will follow him anywhere.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He didn't eat berries at the mökki, and even skipped the mansikkakakku and the mustikkapiirakka. However, he really enjoyed gathering the berries, and overall he has been eating well.
Now that we are in Finland and can easily get our favorite Turkish yogurt, he is eating lots of it.
He loves to announce how he will grow bigger when he eats.
Sleeping
He loves his new bed, and usually sleeps all night there without waking up. He still likes for äiti to stay in his room until he falls asleep, and we have not been too inspired to break that habit.
He gets a nap at päiväkoti.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
25.7 drive to mökki
27.7 merirosvosaari picnic
29.7 drive to Helsinki
31.7 drive to Nakkila
1.8 MuuMaa
4.8 drive home to helsinki
5.8 linnanmäki
7.8 lankinen over for dinner
8.8 visit day at new päiväkoti
10.8 first day of päiväkoti
12—13.8 Vuori family reunion
Random
He was too scared to go in the IKEA play room, but then later that day very sad about the missed opportunity. When we went again to IKEA, he eagerly went to the play room.
2.8 when in search of the nail clippers (kynsileikkuri), he asked, "where is that ruohonleikkuri [translation: lawn mower]?"
He likes to kiss people lovingly on the arm or hand or leg or belly. This sounds cute and nice, but it's usually too much and at the wrong time.
17.8 new household rules: no naked vulvas in otso's room; no naked pippeli's in lumi's room. 😃
19.8 overheard from the backseat of the car, "Lumi, if you put your finger in your mouth, then you can draw on the window!"
This month we have been settling in at the new house, and getting started with our new routine. For Otso, this is his new päiväkoti. So far, it is a success and he seems really happy there.
Learning/Development
He is easily frustrated with what he can and cannot do, for example when trying to paint / draw with Lumi.
Unfortunately, he has now added "scratching" to his list of things to do when he gets mad. So when he is angry he hits, kicks, and scratches. This seems to have been learned directly from Lumi.
When we visited the montessori, he loved matching objects with words, and practicing sorting by shapes and sizes.
Language
He has picked up the word "lounging" and uses it to describe any reclining position (example : "I'm lounging in the bathtub!")
He still says "w" for the "r" sound and "f" for the "tr" sound. Also "dr" is hard and comes out sort of "df".
English is still his primary language, but he is getting more and more comfortable with Finnish.
Toys/Games/Other
He still loves cars and loves for grown-ups to play with him. He also loves legos.
Social
He adores his cousin Elmo and will follow him anywhere.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He didn't eat berries at the mökki, and even skipped the mansikkakakku and the mustikkapiirakka. However, he really enjoyed gathering the berries, and overall he has been eating well.
Now that we are in Finland and can easily get our favorite Turkish yogurt, he is eating lots of it.
He loves to announce how he will grow bigger when he eats.
Sleeping
He loves his new bed, and usually sleeps all night there without waking up. He still likes for äiti to stay in his room until he falls asleep, and we have not been too inspired to break that habit.
He gets a nap at päiväkoti.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
25.7 drive to mökki
27.7 merirosvosaari picnic
29.7 drive to Helsinki
31.7 drive to Nakkila
1.8 MuuMaa
4.8 drive home to helsinki
5.8 linnanmäki
7.8 lankinen over for dinner
8.8 visit day at new päiväkoti
10.8 first day of päiväkoti
12—13.8 Vuori family reunion
Random
He was too scared to go in the IKEA play room, but then later that day very sad about the missed opportunity. When we went again to IKEA, he eagerly went to the play room.
2.8 when in search of the nail clippers (kynsileikkuri), he asked, "where is that ruohonleikkuri [translation: lawn mower]?"
He likes to kiss people lovingly on the arm or hand or leg or belly. This sounds cute and nice, but it's usually too much and at the wrong time.
17.8 new household rules: no naked vulvas in otso's room; no naked pippeli's in lumi's room. 😃
19.8 overheard from the backseat of the car, "Lumi, if you put your finger in your mouth, then you can draw on the window!"
14 August 2017
07 August 2017
03 August 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 6 Months
Summary
This month has been nice but also sort of lonely for Lumi. She is adjusting to being in Finland but we haven't been able to see many kids her own age.
The move went well overall, but she was disappointed that we didn't move in immediately to our new house, and that things aren't 100% ready. However, she is thrilled to have her own room and loves to shut the door and have alone time. She has ideas for decorating, and some specific wishes of furniture and other items.
Social
She definitely misses her friends Helmine and Toni, but she has been making friends at the playground. She is bold about going up to people and kind of tagging along and then joining the game.
She and her cousin Elsa have paired off as buddies.
She met a couple of nice kids who will be in her same eskari group, and that was promising and comforting.
Leisure
She practices pull-ups at the playground. She can move herself around on monkey bars and that kind of thing. It's wonderful to watch.
The Leikkipuisto in Maunula has a shallow pool, which has been kind of a godsend to us. It's refreshing on a sunny day and it is such a novelty that the kids are very happy to go there. The move has been hard on the kids because we have had work to do at the house, and we have been staying in vaari's apartment. It was a disappointment to not move in immediately. Lumi seemed the most upset at first, but has bounced back more easily.
She enjoyed picking blueberries at the mökki, and she loved all the wild strawberries that we found.
Learning
Reading is the big thing these days. She generally hates being asked or prompted to read something, but loves working on it by herself and then showing off. She is still not at book-reading level, but she loves to figure out what signs say, or what packages say.
Language
She is really getting into the Finnish usage. She is listening intently and really trying to speak Finnish as much as she can.
Food
With some exceptions, she has been eating really well since we have been in Finland. Especially in Nakkila she devoured meals (her explanation: "because the food is always so delicious!"), even new things like spinach pancakes.
She had fun making pulla with Mummu in Nakkila, and making mansikkakakku and mustikkapiirakka with Leena at the mökki.
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
11.7 kids and äiti drive to Nakkila
17.7 drive to helsinki, first night sleeping in the new house
18.7 movers arrived
20.7 Lankinen visit
25.7 drive to mökki
27.7 merirosvosaari picnic
29.7 drive to Helsinki
31.7 drive to Nakkila
1.8 MuuMaa
Random
She can use the shower in the new house, when we put the head at its lowest point.
This month has been nice but also sort of lonely for Lumi. She is adjusting to being in Finland but we haven't been able to see many kids her own age.
The move went well overall, but she was disappointed that we didn't move in immediately to our new house, and that things aren't 100% ready. However, she is thrilled to have her own room and loves to shut the door and have alone time. She has ideas for decorating, and some specific wishes of furniture and other items.
Social
She definitely misses her friends Helmine and Toni, but she has been making friends at the playground. She is bold about going up to people and kind of tagging along and then joining the game.
She and her cousin Elsa have paired off as buddies.
She met a couple of nice kids who will be in her same eskari group, and that was promising and comforting.
Leisure
She practices pull-ups at the playground. She can move herself around on monkey bars and that kind of thing. It's wonderful to watch.
The Leikkipuisto in Maunula has a shallow pool, which has been kind of a godsend to us. It's refreshing on a sunny day and it is such a novelty that the kids are very happy to go there. The move has been hard on the kids because we have had work to do at the house, and we have been staying in vaari's apartment. It was a disappointment to not move in immediately. Lumi seemed the most upset at first, but has bounced back more easily.
She enjoyed picking blueberries at the mökki, and she loved all the wild strawberries that we found.
Learning
Reading is the big thing these days. She generally hates being asked or prompted to read something, but loves working on it by herself and then showing off. She is still not at book-reading level, but she loves to figure out what signs say, or what packages say.
Language
She is really getting into the Finnish usage. She is listening intently and really trying to speak Finnish as much as she can.
Food
With some exceptions, she has been eating really well since we have been in Finland. Especially in Nakkila she devoured meals (her explanation: "because the food is always so delicious!"), even new things like spinach pancakes.
She had fun making pulla with Mummu in Nakkila, and making mansikkakakku and mustikkapiirakka with Leena at the mökki.
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
11.7 kids and äiti drive to Nakkila
17.7 drive to helsinki, first night sleeping in the new house
18.7 movers arrived
20.7 Lankinen visit
25.7 drive to mökki
27.7 merirosvosaari picnic
29.7 drive to Helsinki
31.7 drive to Nakkila
1.8 MuuMaa
Random
She can use the shower in the new house, when we put the head at its lowest point.
27 July 2017
20 July 2017
Otso: 3 Years, 9 Months
Summary
The big event of the month was leaving Oslo and moving to Helsinki. He did not have strong friendships in Oslo, so he is not missing the friends quite like his sister. But he is definitely frustrated with all the confusion and lack of routine.
In the new house he has his own bedroom and he is very upset when Lumi does not allow him into her room.
Learning/Development
He likes to count.
In Finland, riding in cars is new. For the first day, at every red light he demanded "why are we stopping?!"
Language
Now that we are in Finland and we hear more Finnish around, he is speaking more. At first he said "he talks like vaari!" but now it's becoming clear to him that this is normal. He says "hyvää päivää!" instead of "hyvää yötä" to mummu.
He has lots of cute English constructions, like instead of "we bought" he said "we buyeded"
One thing that always comes in Norwegian is the request for someone to push him faster on the swing, so he says "more fahrt!" or "big fahrt!"
Toys/Games/Other
He loves cars and legos. I brought home a catalog of Legos from the toy store and he calls it the "batman magazine". He is interested in the classic Batman toy, "with the blue helmet".
27.6 trip to grocery store to use up Norwegian coins, and the kids got spinners
The Leikkipuisto in Maunula has a shallow pool, which has been a godsend to us. It's refreshing on a sunny day and it is such a novelty that the kids are very happy to go there.
Social
He is primarily focused on the family, instead of outward with other kids. That said, he does have fun at barnehage with other kids.
Rolv gave him a sweet going away present -- a Karius and Baktus mug
When he is angry, he calls people "baby".
The move has been hard on the kids because we have had work to do at the house, and we have been staying in vaari's apartment. It was a disappointment to not move in immediately. Otso seemed okay at first, but now his temper gets the better of him often. He goes from seemingly okay to enraged in a matter of seconds. We have been asking Lumi to just not engage with him, even if it seems like he's having fun, simply because it has so often turned into a fight.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He only likes milk and water to drink, and sometimes hot chocolate.
He does not like maple syrup, or icing on cake, or fruit in his ice cream, or juice, or other fruit-y sweet things.
He liked the pigs-in-a-blanket served at sommerfest.
He does not want to eat strawberries, but he likes hunting for them. He loves the peas from the garden in Nakkila, even though last year he did not want to try them.
Sleeping
He is resistant often at night when trying to get to sleep. But he rarely comes into the parents' bed anymore.
Health
He still wants us to be "really careful!" every time we are near any of the ouches -- the cut from last month on his forehead, or his knees.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
21.6 barnehage "sommerfest"
25.6 Oliver's birthday party
29.6 moving truck, night in hotel
30.6 last day of barnehage, fly to Finland
11.7 kids and äiti drive to Nakkila
17.7 drive to helsinki, first night sleeping in the new house
18.7 movers arrived
Random
30.6 He said that his food went into his mouth and into his tummy (sort of a quote from Peppa Pig) but then he added "and into my legs!"
12.7 he had some great descriptions of items we were searching for :
When Mr. Lau was missing, he said to Lumi, "if you see something black, and fluffy, with a black tail, that's Mr. Lau."
When we couldn't find the moose slippers, he said "they are brown, and they have eyes."
The big event of the month was leaving Oslo and moving to Helsinki. He did not have strong friendships in Oslo, so he is not missing the friends quite like his sister. But he is definitely frustrated with all the confusion and lack of routine.
In the new house he has his own bedroom and he is very upset when Lumi does not allow him into her room.
Learning/Development
He likes to count.
In Finland, riding in cars is new. For the first day, at every red light he demanded "why are we stopping?!"
Language
Now that we are in Finland and we hear more Finnish around, he is speaking more. At first he said "he talks like vaari!" but now it's becoming clear to him that this is normal. He says "hyvää päivää!" instead of "hyvää yötä" to mummu.
He has lots of cute English constructions, like instead of "we bought" he said "we buyeded"
One thing that always comes in Norwegian is the request for someone to push him faster on the swing, so he says "more fahrt!" or "big fahrt!"
Toys/Games/Other
He loves cars and legos. I brought home a catalog of Legos from the toy store and he calls it the "batman magazine". He is interested in the classic Batman toy, "with the blue helmet".
27.6 trip to grocery store to use up Norwegian coins, and the kids got spinners
The Leikkipuisto in Maunula has a shallow pool, which has been a godsend to us. It's refreshing on a sunny day and it is such a novelty that the kids are very happy to go there.
Social
He is primarily focused on the family, instead of outward with other kids. That said, he does have fun at barnehage with other kids.
Rolv gave him a sweet going away present -- a Karius and Baktus mug
When he is angry, he calls people "baby".
The move has been hard on the kids because we have had work to do at the house, and we have been staying in vaari's apartment. It was a disappointment to not move in immediately. Otso seemed okay at first, but now his temper gets the better of him often. He goes from seemingly okay to enraged in a matter of seconds. We have been asking Lumi to just not engage with him, even if it seems like he's having fun, simply because it has so often turned into a fight.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He only likes milk and water to drink, and sometimes hot chocolate.
He does not like maple syrup, or icing on cake, or fruit in his ice cream, or juice, or other fruit-y sweet things.
He liked the pigs-in-a-blanket served at sommerfest.
He does not want to eat strawberries, but he likes hunting for them. He loves the peas from the garden in Nakkila, even though last year he did not want to try them.
Sleeping
He is resistant often at night when trying to get to sleep. But he rarely comes into the parents' bed anymore.
Health
He still wants us to be "really careful!" every time we are near any of the ouches -- the cut from last month on his forehead, or his knees.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
21.6 barnehage "sommerfest"
25.6 Oliver's birthday party
29.6 moving truck, night in hotel
30.6 last day of barnehage, fly to Finland
11.7 kids and äiti drive to Nakkila
17.7 drive to helsinki, first night sleeping in the new house
18.7 movers arrived
Random
30.6 He said that his food went into his mouth and into his tummy (sort of a quote from Peppa Pig) but then he added "and into my legs!"
12.7 he had some great descriptions of items we were searching for :
When Mr. Lau was missing, he said to Lumi, "if you see something black, and fluffy, with a black tail, that's Mr. Lau."
When we couldn't find the moose slippers, he said "they are brown, and they have eyes."
07 July 2017
New sport?
You received this mail because Angela Carpenter shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here.
Get the Google Photos app
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, CA 94043 USA | |||||||||||||
03 July 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 5 Months
Summary
She is handling the move well. We have not appreciated enough how easy she has made it on us by being excited (rather than scared) and looking forward (rather than backward). The fact that her friends at barnehage are all going on to different schools has helped, because there have been a few ceremonies and rituals to mark it for her. In fact, after the "sommerfest" at barnehage when they said goodbye to everyone, she was ready to go and seemed frustrated that we didn't move immediately.
But the bigger news is that she is reading. She is sounding out words all over the place in all three languages. No books yet, but her progress in the last week of this month was amazing.
Social
She loved playing with 6 month old baby Johan.
She has said that she will miss her friends, but I think it helps that most of the kids in barnehage are splitting up and heading to different schools.
Leisure
The Richard Scarry "A Day At The Airport" book is very popular with both kids.
She is loving the books about fairies (the "Rainbow Magic" series), and we checked out more at the library. We also checked out a Magic Treehouse book and she seems into it.
She is all of a sudden dying to get a dog. Her friend from barnehage has an adorable new puppy and now she begs us for a puppy. "Or at least a cat". 😃
She found the calculator app on her phone (an old HTC that only holds a few apps and very simple games) and has loved practicing addition and subtraction. She even likes to quiz Otso.
27.6 trip to grocery store to use up Norwegian coins, and the kids got spinners
Learning
She likes her workbooks but really resists the "boring" stuff, like practicing the same letter several times. She gets quite frustrated with English spelling. For example, she wanted to write "palace" all by herself, so she wrote out "pales". When she checked it with me and found out it wasn't correct she got really mad and abandoned the whole project.
She is excited about having her own room and getting to make a sign that says something like "Keep Out" for the door. She is excited in general about the new house. We taped a drawing of the house (thank you vaari!) to the kitchen wall and she has been analyzing it.
14.6 she read through the list of names in her barnehage group, with no mistakes.
19.6 I think we can say concretely that she is writing in Finnish -- it is fantastic! She showed me a note in barnehage on 19.6 where she had written "Ustävä koko ajan" about her friends. It seems that she has figured out that Finnish is much better for sounding out words.
30.6 she spent the train ride to the airport reading words from signs all around her, in both Norwegian and English.
Language
7.6 she made a card for kimmo at barnehage. she wrote "Isäle" (=Isälle) "Lumita" (Lumilta) and clearly she didn't have any help because no one there speaks Finnish. it was really great!
She asks about words and their meanings now. She likes the Amelia Bedelia books but finds the humor to be very confusing, namely because she doesn't get the exposure to the idiomatic expressions. Since we live in an international environment, I (Angela) have tried to eliminate those from my speech so as not to be deliberately confusing to my friends and colleagues.
Food
6.5 we went to Burger King after our hike. One of the kids meals has pancake "bites" and she really loved them. She kept saying "these are really quite good!"
Health
11.6 she woke up a bit sniffly and achy.
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
5.6 hike up Vettakollen
6.6 playdate with Leon
8.9 the "5 Års Klubben" kids all spent the night at barnehage!
16.6 Helmine spent the night
18.6 lunch with Helena & Johan and family
21.6 barnehage "sommerfest", with ceremony for the 5-års klubben kids who are leaving for school
23.6 surprise party at Toni's house for the 5-års klubben -- lumi said it was the "best day ever"
25.6 Emmi's birthday party, Oliver's birthday party
26.6 Stellan's birthday party
29.6 moving truck, spent the night with helmine
30.6 last day of barnehage, Adrian birthday party, fly to Finland
Random
She tells us almost daily that she does not like curly hair and fervently hopes that her hair will stay straight. We have no idea where this is coming from: not liking äiti's hair? a friend's hair? a movie character?
3.6 she mentioned that she likes doing new and interesting things (after we complimented her on her creativity for using barrettes to attach various legos to äiti's hair while äiti was napping on the sofa)
5.6 on why we needed to bring a jacket when going up on a mountain "because it is closer to outer space, which is really cold."
8.6 she said to äiti, "sometimes you are the worst, but sometimes you are the best."
21.6 she was excited to get the family dressed on the day of "sommerfest" at barnehage. Otso wore his Hawaiian shirt. She asked Isä to change shirts to something brighter, then declared him "handsome". She asked that Äiti wear a dress, and demanded to see the options.
3.7 the city bus was taking a roundabout quite fast and Lumi exclaimed "wow, he's a great driver!"
She is handling the move well. We have not appreciated enough how easy she has made it on us by being excited (rather than scared) and looking forward (rather than backward). The fact that her friends at barnehage are all going on to different schools has helped, because there have been a few ceremonies and rituals to mark it for her. In fact, after the "sommerfest" at barnehage when they said goodbye to everyone, she was ready to go and seemed frustrated that we didn't move immediately.
But the bigger news is that she is reading. She is sounding out words all over the place in all three languages. No books yet, but her progress in the last week of this month was amazing.
Social
She loved playing with 6 month old baby Johan.
She has said that she will miss her friends, but I think it helps that most of the kids in barnehage are splitting up and heading to different schools.
Leisure
The Richard Scarry "A Day At The Airport" book is very popular with both kids.
She is loving the books about fairies (the "Rainbow Magic" series), and we checked out more at the library. We also checked out a Magic Treehouse book and she seems into it.
She is all of a sudden dying to get a dog. Her friend from barnehage has an adorable new puppy and now she begs us for a puppy. "Or at least a cat". 😃
She found the calculator app on her phone (an old HTC that only holds a few apps and very simple games) and has loved practicing addition and subtraction. She even likes to quiz Otso.
27.6 trip to grocery store to use up Norwegian coins, and the kids got spinners
Learning
She likes her workbooks but really resists the "boring" stuff, like practicing the same letter several times. She gets quite frustrated with English spelling. For example, she wanted to write "palace" all by herself, so she wrote out "pales". When she checked it with me and found out it wasn't correct she got really mad and abandoned the whole project.
She is excited about having her own room and getting to make a sign that says something like "Keep Out" for the door. She is excited in general about the new house. We taped a drawing of the house (thank you vaari!) to the kitchen wall and she has been analyzing it.
14.6 she read through the list of names in her barnehage group, with no mistakes.
19.6 I think we can say concretely that she is writing in Finnish -- it is fantastic! She showed me a note in barnehage on 19.6 where she had written "Ustävä koko ajan" about her friends. It seems that she has figured out that Finnish is much better for sounding out words.
30.6 she spent the train ride to the airport reading words from signs all around her, in both Norwegian and English.
Language
7.6 she made a card for kimmo at barnehage. she wrote "Isäle" (=Isälle) "Lumita" (Lumilta) and clearly she didn't have any help because no one there speaks Finnish. it was really great!
She asks about words and their meanings now. She likes the Amelia Bedelia books but finds the humor to be very confusing, namely because she doesn't get the exposure to the idiomatic expressions. Since we live in an international environment, I (Angela) have tried to eliminate those from my speech so as not to be deliberately confusing to my friends and colleagues.
Food
6.5 we went to Burger King after our hike. One of the kids meals has pancake "bites" and she really loved them. She kept saying "these are really quite good!"
Health
11.6 she woke up a bit sniffly and achy.
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
5.6 hike up Vettakollen
6.6 playdate with Leon
8.9 the "5 Års Klubben" kids all spent the night at barnehage!
16.6 Helmine spent the night
18.6 lunch with Helena & Johan and family
21.6 barnehage "sommerfest", with ceremony for the 5-års klubben kids who are leaving for school
23.6 surprise party at Toni's house for the 5-års klubben -- lumi said it was the "best day ever"
25.6 Emmi's birthday party, Oliver's birthday party
26.6 Stellan's birthday party
29.6 moving truck, spent the night with helmine
30.6 last day of barnehage, Adrian birthday party, fly to Finland
Random
She tells us almost daily that she does not like curly hair and fervently hopes that her hair will stay straight. We have no idea where this is coming from: not liking äiti's hair? a friend's hair? a movie character?
3.6 she mentioned that she likes doing new and interesting things (after we complimented her on her creativity for using barrettes to attach various legos to äiti's hair while äiti was napping on the sofa)
5.6 on why we needed to bring a jacket when going up on a mountain "because it is closer to outer space, which is really cold."
8.6 she said to äiti, "sometimes you are the worst, but sometimes you are the best."
21.6 she was excited to get the family dressed on the day of "sommerfest" at barnehage. Otso wore his Hawaiian shirt. She asked Isä to change shirts to something brighter, then declared him "handsome". She asked that Äiti wear a dress, and demanded to see the options.
3.7 the city bus was taking a roundabout quite fast and Lumi exclaimed "wow, he's a great driver!"
27 June 2017
20 June 2017
Otso: 3 Years, 8 Months
Summary
He seems pretty age-typical: complains about things, but generally happy to be around people he knows and trusts. He likes to make us laugh.
Learning/Development
Most of his learning these days seems to be vocabulary. Now that he has the main things down (at least in English), he is trying to fill out the details.
He loves to make "jokes" that are simply him using nonsensical words that rhyme with the real word. For example, he will say "Hi Bläiti" instead of "Hi äiti".
Another word he throws around is "baby". For example, sometimes when he is annoyed he will repeat everything back in a mocking way, replacing a word with "baby":
A: put on your socks now, Otso.
O: put on your baby now!
He acts difficult most days during the things he must do: in the morning we struggle to get him to brush teeth and change into daytime clothes. In the evening, we struggle to get him to change into pajamas and brush teeth.
19.6 Both parents were trying to get him dressed, but he kicked off his underwear whenever we got one leg on. So we enlisted Lumi's help: Isä held the legs, Äiti held the arms, then Lumi put on his underwear and shorts. But that changed everything: he went from cranky to laughing, declaring "This is fun!" and a bit later "I love this!"
Language
He is trying more Finnish with Isä.
When he isn't tired, he does seem to work on his pronunciation. He was really trying to say "Mr. Frumble" properly when we were reading Richard Scarry books. His "r" comes more clearly now, though inconsistently.
Toys/Games/Other
He likes to turn things into "shooters" (note: he means "guns" but I'm fine with the more innocent sounding "shooter" for now so I'm not correcting it). Even a piece of bacon got turned into a gun.
21.5 we went out with the balance bike and he rode it so easily! what a difference a month makes.
He loves to play cars.
The Richard Scarry "A Day At The Airport" book is very popular with both kids.
He likes to have his nails painted with a very pale color.
He likes games like Sequence and Alias and the Pikku Myy game we got for free from Hesburger last summer.
Social
He is getting braver about birthday parties (it helps that we have at least one every weekend these days, so he gets lots of practice), but he still doesn't like them. He is now brave about saying that he doesn't like saft (juice-like sugar drink that is a must for kids at parties here), but he seems to panic about getting cake. He really hates to say what he wants, and he consistently ends up in tears whenever people are serving birthday cake.
He has a big belly laugh and his sister delights in making him do it.
He loves isä and loves to play Legos or cars with him.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He only likes milk and water to drink, and sometimes hot chocolate.
He does not like maple syrup, or icing on cake, or fruit in his ice cream, or juice, or other fruit-y sweet things.
Sleeping
He is resistant often at night when trying to get to sleep. But he rarely comes into the parents' bed anymore, unless he is sick.
Health
25.5 we got up to hike to Vettakollen, and then he had a big fall on the sidewalk less than two blocks from the apartment. He was wearing shorts so he ripped up his knees and for the rest of the day claimed he couldn't walk or stand. He only felt non-ouchy when his knees were bent, so he pushed himself around the apartment on his bottom.
He did accept a band-aid, which is new. The downside of that was that part of it was stuck right on the wound, as we discovered in the late afternoon. After that got removed (with much crying on his part) he felt better.
8.6 he fell into the edge of the bathroom door and got a gash in the forehead.
10.6 sniffly and coughing a bit; we spent the weekend inside and resting because of it.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
21.5 helmine's birthday party
25.5 holiday; playdate with rolv
26.5 teacher planning day, home for the day
27.5 barbecue at Eino's house
28.5 barbecue at Hans' house in Fornebu
5.6 hike up Vettakollen (which he called "Vettä koulu")
16.6 Helmine spent the night
18.6 lunch with Helena & Johan and family
Random
At Eino's place we played with some Alias cards and quizzed him on the finnish words. He knew most of them! But then when I showed him the picture of the rhinoceros and prompted "äiti says rhino, isä says..." he answered "nuuskamuikkunen".
7.6 Äiti tooted and Otso said "maybe you're hungry!"
11.6 he wanted isä to be next to him while he played on the tablet, and he really meant immediately next to him, with no space in between. If there was so much as a centimeter of carpet visible, Otso would point out the gap and demand that Kimmo come closer.
He seems pretty age-typical: complains about things, but generally happy to be around people he knows and trusts. He likes to make us laugh.
Learning/Development
Most of his learning these days seems to be vocabulary. Now that he has the main things down (at least in English), he is trying to fill out the details.
He loves to make "jokes" that are simply him using nonsensical words that rhyme with the real word. For example, he will say "Hi Bläiti" instead of "Hi äiti".
Another word he throws around is "baby". For example, sometimes when he is annoyed he will repeat everything back in a mocking way, replacing a word with "baby":
A: put on your socks now, Otso.
O: put on your baby now!
He acts difficult most days during the things he must do: in the morning we struggle to get him to brush teeth and change into daytime clothes. In the evening, we struggle to get him to change into pajamas and brush teeth.
19.6 Both parents were trying to get him dressed, but he kicked off his underwear whenever we got one leg on. So we enlisted Lumi's help: Isä held the legs, Äiti held the arms, then Lumi put on his underwear and shorts. But that changed everything: he went from cranky to laughing, declaring "This is fun!" and a bit later "I love this!"
Language
He is trying more Finnish with Isä.
When he isn't tired, he does seem to work on his pronunciation. He was really trying to say "Mr. Frumble" properly when we were reading Richard Scarry books. His "r" comes more clearly now, though inconsistently.
Toys/Games/Other
He likes to turn things into "shooters" (note: he means "guns" but I'm fine with the more innocent sounding "shooter" for now so I'm not correcting it). Even a piece of bacon got turned into a gun.
21.5 we went out with the balance bike and he rode it so easily! what a difference a month makes.
He loves to play cars.
The Richard Scarry "A Day At The Airport" book is very popular with both kids.
He likes to have his nails painted with a very pale color.
He likes games like Sequence and Alias and the Pikku Myy game we got for free from Hesburger last summer.
Social
He is getting braver about birthday parties (it helps that we have at least one every weekend these days, so he gets lots of practice), but he still doesn't like them. He is now brave about saying that he doesn't like saft (juice-like sugar drink that is a must for kids at parties here), but he seems to panic about getting cake. He really hates to say what he wants, and he consistently ends up in tears whenever people are serving birthday cake.
He has a big belly laugh and his sister delights in making him do it.
He loves isä and loves to play Legos or cars with him.
Eating
Favorites: eggs, ice cream, pancakes
He only likes milk and water to drink, and sometimes hot chocolate.
He does not like maple syrup, or icing on cake, or fruit in his ice cream, or juice, or other fruit-y sweet things.
Sleeping
He is resistant often at night when trying to get to sleep. But he rarely comes into the parents' bed anymore, unless he is sick.
Health
25.5 we got up to hike to Vettakollen, and then he had a big fall on the sidewalk less than two blocks from the apartment. He was wearing shorts so he ripped up his knees and for the rest of the day claimed he couldn't walk or stand. He only felt non-ouchy when his knees were bent, so he pushed himself around the apartment on his bottom.
He did accept a band-aid, which is new. The downside of that was that part of it was stuck right on the wound, as we discovered in the late afternoon. After that got removed (with much crying on his part) he felt better.
8.6 he fell into the edge of the bathroom door and got a gash in the forehead.
10.6 sniffly and coughing a bit; we spent the weekend inside and resting because of it.
Stats
Clothes: size 104/110. Shoes: size 28.
Teeth: 20
Weight: 17.6 kg on 2017-05-12
Height: 102 cm on 2017-05-21
Events
21.5 helmine's birthday party
25.5 holiday; playdate with rolv
26.5 teacher planning day, home for the day
27.5 barbecue at Eino's house
28.5 barbecue at Hans' house in Fornebu
5.6 hike up Vettakollen (which he called "Vettä koulu")
16.6 Helmine spent the night
18.6 lunch with Helena & Johan and family
Random
At Eino's place we played with some Alias cards and quizzed him on the finnish words. He knew most of them! But then when I showed him the picture of the rhinoceros and prompted "äiti says rhino, isä says..." he answered "nuuskamuikkunen".
7.6 Äiti tooted and Otso said "maybe you're hungry!"
11.6 he wanted isä to be next to him while he played on the tablet, and he really meant immediately next to him, with no space in between. If there was so much as a centimeter of carpet visible, Otso would point out the gap and demand that Kimmo come closer.
19 June 2017
Friends and writing
Lumi has been practicing writing Finnish. These are taped up under a table at barnehage.
17 June 2017
Iltapuuro
You received this mail because Angela Carpenter shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here.
Get the Google Photos app
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy Mountain View, CA 94043 USA | |||||||||||||
10 June 2017
03 June 2017
Lumi: 6 Years, 4 Months
Summary
The overall mood shaping her life right now is exciting change: her peers at barnehage are headed to school in the fall. We are preparing for the move (and selling a lot of furniture, which changes the scenery inside our apartment!). She is excited about the move but also sad to miss the beginning of school here. She is also sad about leaving her friends but excited to meet new friends in Finland.
Social
She is really excited about a new girl in her group at barnehage.
She enjoyed her grandparent time in Stockholm. She read books with Mama Dollie and joked with Grandpa and snuggled with both.
She seems to make friends easily and happily, and one of the things she is most excited about for moving is "new friends". For example, one Sunday we went for a short bike ride in the park. She befriended the girl and scored an invitation to her house the next day.
She was kind with Rolv (even though he was really Otso's playdate)
Leisure
We have been going back and forth about what kind of scooter to get for her. Up until recently, we had planned to leave her 3-wheel scooter (which is broken in a couple of places but rides okay) behind and get her a 2-wheel scooter in Finland. But since she tried Gemma's 2-wheel scooter in Italy, she realized it wasn't as easy to transition. We now have a plan to take her old scooter with us but to buy a new 2-wheel one in Finland and let her gradually get used to it.
Lately, favorite sibling games include:
"Christmas morning" -- they fill Isä's wool socks with toys and enclose other toys in bigger boxes, then announce that 'Santa came!' and they open them up
"Traveling" - they pack the toy suitcases and bags with other toys and then get on the bus (a couple of chairs pulled together) or the plane (the sofa) and go somewhere
In Stockholm, our AirBnB had a pole in the living room. She spent the weekend trying to climb higher and higher and on Sunday morning she climbed high enough to touch the ceiling. It was impressive to see her keep trying and get better and better.
She got to swim in the pool at Eino's house. She enjoyed it quite a bit.
Learning
She is alert to letters in words now and has said she wants to read. She likes to try to sound out words and write them down.
8.5 when i arrived at barnehage to pick her up, she was sitting along at a table, writing "flags" as she had sounded it out. she had also written "cat" and "lumi 6 år".
She has some new hiking boots with laces, so we are working on learning to tie shoes.
21.5 she did her own ponytail and barrettes!
She really wants to learn to write. We do some exercises and she works a little bit on it but it's definitely slow going and she doesn't want to "study".
31.5 she can tie her shoes! she likes the "bunny ears" method.
1.6 learned to jump rope
Language
She is really making an effort to speak Finnish lately, especially when she isn't tired.
Food
She is skeptically exploring tastes. She tried a sip of beer but declared that it was disgusting.
Health
She has continued to have great health and generally avoids colds. We are lucky!
She has trouble relaxing into bed now that its still so sunny at bedtime, and she has been using an eye mask (leftover from a plane).
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 30 or 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
7.5 Helena's birthday party
12-14.5 weekend in Stockholm with Grandpa and Mama Dollie
20.5 playdate with Atrisa
21.5 Helmine's birthday party
25.5 holiday; playdate with rolv
26.5 teacher planning day, home for the day
27.5 barbecue at Eino's house
28.5 barbecue at Hans' house in Fornebu
2.6 playdate with Toni
Random
12.5 when watching the ground from the plane, she said " it looks like a map! "
The overall mood shaping her life right now is exciting change: her peers at barnehage are headed to school in the fall. We are preparing for the move (and selling a lot of furniture, which changes the scenery inside our apartment!). She is excited about the move but also sad to miss the beginning of school here. She is also sad about leaving her friends but excited to meet new friends in Finland.
Social
She is really excited about a new girl in her group at barnehage.
She enjoyed her grandparent time in Stockholm. She read books with Mama Dollie and joked with Grandpa and snuggled with both.
She seems to make friends easily and happily, and one of the things she is most excited about for moving is "new friends". For example, one Sunday we went for a short bike ride in the park. She befriended the girl and scored an invitation to her house the next day.
She was kind with Rolv (even though he was really Otso's playdate)
Leisure
We have been going back and forth about what kind of scooter to get for her. Up until recently, we had planned to leave her 3-wheel scooter (which is broken in a couple of places but rides okay) behind and get her a 2-wheel scooter in Finland. But since she tried Gemma's 2-wheel scooter in Italy, she realized it wasn't as easy to transition. We now have a plan to take her old scooter with us but to buy a new 2-wheel one in Finland and let her gradually get used to it.
Lately, favorite sibling games include:
"Christmas morning" -- they fill Isä's wool socks with toys and enclose other toys in bigger boxes, then announce that 'Santa came!' and they open them up
"Traveling" - they pack the toy suitcases and bags with other toys and then get on the bus (a couple of chairs pulled together) or the plane (the sofa) and go somewhere
In Stockholm, our AirBnB had a pole in the living room. She spent the weekend trying to climb higher and higher and on Sunday morning she climbed high enough to touch the ceiling. It was impressive to see her keep trying and get better and better.
She got to swim in the pool at Eino's house. She enjoyed it quite a bit.
Learning
She is alert to letters in words now and has said she wants to read. She likes to try to sound out words and write them down.
8.5 when i arrived at barnehage to pick her up, she was sitting along at a table, writing "flags" as she had sounded it out. she had also written "cat" and "lumi 6 år".
She has some new hiking boots with laces, so we are working on learning to tie shoes.
21.5 she did her own ponytail and barrettes!
She really wants to learn to write. We do some exercises and she works a little bit on it but it's definitely slow going and she doesn't want to "study".
31.5 she can tie her shoes! she likes the "bunny ears" method.
1.6 learned to jump rope
Language
She is really making an effort to speak Finnish lately, especially when she isn't tired.
Food
She is skeptically exploring tastes. She tried a sip of beer but declared that it was disgusting.
Health
She has continued to have great health and generally avoids colds. We are lucky!
She has trouble relaxing into bed now that its still so sunny at bedtime, and she has been using an eye mask (leftover from a plane).
Stats
size: 116 (6 in US size), sometimes 122 (7 in US). She has long limbs and needs the extra length. size 30 or 31 shoe.
height: 117 cm on 2017-05-21
weight: 19.4 kg on 2017-05-12
favorite color: "rainbow"
Events
7.5 Helena's birthday party
12-14.5 weekend in Stockholm with Grandpa and Mama Dollie
20.5 playdate with Atrisa
21.5 Helmine's birthday party
25.5 holiday; playdate with rolv
26.5 teacher planning day, home for the day
27.5 barbecue at Eino's house
28.5 barbecue at Hans' house in Fornebu
2.6 playdate with Toni
Random
12.5 when watching the ground from the plane, she said " it looks like a map! "
02 June 2017
Tired
After very sleepily eating his dinner, Otso looked around for the best place to lay his head down for a nap, and this is what he decided on:
26 May 2017
24 May 2017
pirate!
Otso's friend had a costume party, and Otso wore his pirate costume for the first time. He got mass approval from all the mothers and I think we need more costumes (ahem, Grandma).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
