28 August 2018
21 August 2018
20 August 2018
Otso: 4 Years, 10 Months
Summary
We are back in the beginning of the school year. It feels good to have a päiväkoti where he is supported and cared for. He was sad to leave behind the summer schedule of nonstop family time, but he is also enjoying his friends at päiväkoti.
Learning/Development
Now that Lumi is reading confidently, she loves to read to Otso in the car. It helps everyone travel happily.
He has trouble with drawing and writing because he hates to make mistakes.
Language
We had been back from the US for 2 weeks and still the kids were speaking English with each other as often as Finnish (maybe more).
But after päiväkoti started again, he strongly prefers Finnish.
Toys/Games/Other
Favorites right now: playing "dog family" with Lumi, throwing the American football
Like the pool, he does not want to get in the lake.
He named his stuffed animal husky "tabby". He really likes Mummu's stuffed animal Viiru and she let him take it home to Helsinki to borrow. He carries it around by the tail. He also bought a stuffed dog at the second hand shop and he really likes it.
Social
He is happy to be back with the full set of friends at päiväkoti. The list of favorites is currently : Touko, Salli, Samuel, Eeli, and Tarmo.
Health (eating, sleeping, etc)
He is having trouble sleeping at home. He likes to have the fan on.
Events
19-22.7 mökki
23.7 Sami&Ilona visit
27.7 HopLop
28.7 BBQ with Heidi and Ari
29.7 BBQ with Sami and Ilona
30.7-5.8 Nakkila
3.8 MuuMaa
6.8 first day back in päiväkoti
9.8 first day back in montessori instruction time
13.8 BBQ with Hilla and August
19.8 BBQ with vaari and leena
Random
He really resisted the passport picture.
5.8 he showed me how he has prepared one of his old toys for "when we have a new baby"
He informed äiti that her legs are "like a cactus" because they have little things all over that prick you. However, his favorite snuggling is to put his head on äiti's belly. He usually tries to lift up my shirt for cheek-to-belly contact.
He had left his little plastic spiderman at Meredith's house, and she mailed it to him, along with a stack of pictures of spiderman doing various things in their home. He loves the pictures and decorated his room with them. He has even asked for some of the toys from the pictures so that he can recreate the scenes.
We are back in the beginning of the school year. It feels good to have a päiväkoti where he is supported and cared for. He was sad to leave behind the summer schedule of nonstop family time, but he is also enjoying his friends at päiväkoti.
Learning/Development
Now that Lumi is reading confidently, she loves to read to Otso in the car. It helps everyone travel happily.
He has trouble with drawing and writing because he hates to make mistakes.
Language
We had been back from the US for 2 weeks and still the kids were speaking English with each other as often as Finnish (maybe more).
But after päiväkoti started again, he strongly prefers Finnish.
Toys/Games/Other
Favorites right now: playing "dog family" with Lumi, throwing the American football
Like the pool, he does not want to get in the lake.
He named his stuffed animal husky "tabby". He really likes Mummu's stuffed animal Viiru and she let him take it home to Helsinki to borrow. He carries it around by the tail. He also bought a stuffed dog at the second hand shop and he really likes it.
Social
He is happy to be back with the full set of friends at päiväkoti. The list of favorites is currently : Touko, Salli, Samuel, Eeli, and Tarmo.
Health (eating, sleeping, etc)
He is having trouble sleeping at home. He likes to have the fan on.
Events
19-22.7 mökki
23.7 Sami&Ilona visit
27.7 HopLop
28.7 BBQ with Heidi and Ari
29.7 BBQ with Sami and Ilona
30.7-5.8 Nakkila
3.8 MuuMaa
6.8 first day back in päiväkoti
9.8 first day back in montessori instruction time
13.8 BBQ with Hilla and August
19.8 BBQ with vaari and leena
Random
He really resisted the passport picture.
5.8 he showed me how he has prepared one of his old toys for "when we have a new baby"
He informed äiti that her legs are "like a cactus" because they have little things all over that prick you. However, his favorite snuggling is to put his head on äiti's belly. He usually tries to lift up my shirt for cheek-to-belly contact.
He had left his little plastic spiderman at Meredith's house, and she mailed it to him, along with a stack of pictures of spiderman doing various things in their home. He loves the pictures and decorated his room with them. He has even asked for some of the toys from the pictures so that he can recreate the scenes.
18 August 2018
11 August 2018
05 August 2018
03 August 2018
Lumi: 7 Years, 6 Months
Summary
This month we traveled to the US, and also had vacation time in Finland. It has been an exceptionally hot summer (a big heat wave in Europe) and she has been in her bathing suit most days.
Social
She is having a great time with her cousin Zoe. She is also playing with Sophia and Samari but it's nice to have someone closer to her own age to participate in the imaginative role play.
She had a great time with Pihla. They played imaginative role play games like "we are the queens and ..."
Leisure
In Florida we have gone to the pool every day and she loves it. She is using floaties that we bought in the US, but listening to Tita Des ' swimming instruction and trying a little.
She loved the space center, but is not so interested in becoming an astronaut.
She is really interested in money. She count and recounts her money and spends a long time in a store deciding what to get.
At the mökki, she is still using her floaties in the lake. But she loves being in the water and splashing around.
Learning
Both kids are having trouble with the round doorknobs in the USA.
She seems to have made a big reading jump! Previously she has comfortably read picture books, but now she has graduated to chapter books. She loves to read in the car, in bed, on the sofa -- wherever -- and it can be difficult to pull her away. Otso is not happy about it because often she would rather read than play.
Language
Not much change here; she speaks easily in both Finnish and English.
Her English vocabulary is increasing in the USA.
Health
She is experiencing a bit of sunburn for the first time. But overall she has done fairly well in the sun and despite the sunscreen she has a golden tan.
She did a great job sleeping through the night on our first night back in Helsinki. It is hot upstairs so she and Otso are sleeping in the basement on gym mats and it really suits her.
29.7 lost a tooth : left top lateral incisor
Events
4.7 movie theater - Trolls
5.7 space center
8.7 drive to Georgia
9.7 hair cut -- a cute angled bob
10.7 hike stone mountain
11.7 splash pad
12.7 horseback riding lesson
14.7 play with Paige and kids
15.7 visit to Meredith's house
16-17.7 flights home to Helsinki
18.7 leikkipuisto
19-22.7 mökki
23.7 Sami&Ilona visit
27.7 HopLop
28.7 BBQ with Heidi and Ari
29.7 BBQ with Sami and Ilona
29.7 lost a tooth!
30.7-5.8 Nakkila
Random
She observed that "in America, it is cold inside and warm outside." (in air-conditioning in Florida summers)
She bought a giant hair bow with her own money but was very sad when she realized that she can't tie it in her hair anymore because she got a hair cut. So we returned it to the store.
While hiking stone mountain, she spotted a large black snake! Very exciting for everyone, including fellow hikers.
At Meredith's house, the pet hermit crab peed on Lumi's hand during the 10 seconds she was holding it.
22.7 lost the scoop of ice cream off the top of her cone.
This month we traveled to the US, and also had vacation time in Finland. It has been an exceptionally hot summer (a big heat wave in Europe) and she has been in her bathing suit most days.
Social
She is having a great time with her cousin Zoe. She is also playing with Sophia and Samari but it's nice to have someone closer to her own age to participate in the imaginative role play.
She had a great time with Pihla. They played imaginative role play games like "we are the queens and ..."
Leisure
In Florida we have gone to the pool every day and she loves it. She is using floaties that we bought in the US, but listening to Tita Des ' swimming instruction and trying a little.
She loved the space center, but is not so interested in becoming an astronaut.
She is really interested in money. She count and recounts her money and spends a long time in a store deciding what to get.
At the mökki, she is still using her floaties in the lake. But she loves being in the water and splashing around.
Learning
Both kids are having trouble with the round doorknobs in the USA.
She seems to have made a big reading jump! Previously she has comfortably read picture books, but now she has graduated to chapter books. She loves to read in the car, in bed, on the sofa -- wherever -- and it can be difficult to pull her away. Otso is not happy about it because often she would rather read than play.
Language
Not much change here; she speaks easily in both Finnish and English.
Her English vocabulary is increasing in the USA.
Health
She is experiencing a bit of sunburn for the first time. But overall she has done fairly well in the sun and despite the sunscreen she has a golden tan.
She did a great job sleeping through the night on our first night back in Helsinki. It is hot upstairs so she and Otso are sleeping in the basement on gym mats and it really suits her.
29.7 lost a tooth : left top lateral incisor
Events
4.7 movie theater - Trolls
5.7 space center
8.7 drive to Georgia
9.7 hair cut -- a cute angled bob
10.7 hike stone mountain
11.7 splash pad
12.7 horseback riding lesson
14.7 play with Paige and kids
15.7 visit to Meredith's house
16-17.7 flights home to Helsinki
18.7 leikkipuisto
19-22.7 mökki
23.7 Sami&Ilona visit
27.7 HopLop
28.7 BBQ with Heidi and Ari
29.7 BBQ with Sami and Ilona
29.7 lost a tooth!
30.7-5.8 Nakkila
Random
She observed that "in America, it is cold inside and warm outside." (in air-conditioning in Florida summers)
She bought a giant hair bow with her own money but was very sad when she realized that she can't tie it in her hair anymore because she got a hair cut. So we returned it to the store.
While hiking stone mountain, she spotted a large black snake! Very exciting for everyone, including fellow hikers.
At Meredith's house, the pet hermit crab peed on Lumi's hand during the 10 seconds she was holding it.
22.7 lost the scoop of ice cream off the top of her cone.
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