* He loves to stand on a kitchen chair with me sitting close behind him and we observe and talk about the backyard nature. This past weekend I was sitting in my chair browsing and he came up to me and started making cute little clicky noises--his squirrel noises--and saying, "deer" and "ker," his words for bird and squirrel, respectively. He then tapped his hands together in a "more" sign, which I replied with, "You're showing me 'more.' Would you like to go look at squirrels?" He was so happy I understood him, even if it was sort of the wrong sign--he's trying, at least.
* His kisses are so cute. He'll come up to you and go mmmmmmm, then plant a big, open-mouthed kiss on your mouth.
* He is such a crazy little gymnast! I swear to goodness, he can already do a somersault! I've got vids to prove it. he's not even two yet. He also loves it when I hold him by his legs and hang him upside down too--and then we finish up with a little roll while I'm holding him still. And he'll keep coming back for more, ad nauseum. He can also jump up with both feet off the floor now--not consistently, but yeah, he's almost there.
* Crazy dancy-pants! He loves to do these hilarious dance moves where he kind of hunkers down for momentum, then jumps simultaneously upward and forward. Then he'll change strides and spin around for a bit, then walk backwards, then start his weird jump moves again.
* The kid is HUGE on cars. The movie Cars, toy cars, real cars: cars, cars, cars! It's really the only word he says all.the.time!
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Lumi at gymnastics class |
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Lumi shows off her drawing of Pippi Longstocking And she's wearing her Spartans hat from Great Aunt Lucy |
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Lumi's Pippi Longstocking |
English: Bye-bye, Mama, Daddy, there, eh-eh (no), ball, apple, hot dog, cookie, plum, bread, cheese, bird, rock, dog, outside, that, Kirre (Lumi's giraffe), car, truck, tractor, egg, cheerios, banana, Dora, Diego, sock, shoe, tree, diaper, Pooh, water. He also says dee-dee, which means two things: Lumi (and that’s interesting to us because Lumi used to call herself dee-dee when she was around this age too), and if he says it in his high-pitched cute voice, it means “baby.”
Finnish: Äiti, tuo, tänne, tähän. kivi, ksylitoli, keksi, auto, and kenkä (possibly more as I don’t always look out for the Finnish words)
Sign language: milk and more
He follows instructions very well in both languages and will throw things in the trash for us, wipe up messes, bring us diapers, bring his shoes--basically he'll try to be helpful if all you do is ask.
In physical development, we can barely keep up with this kid! He's always trying to do things and challenging his limits, while mentally, he is very determined and fearless. For a few months now he has been able to walk backwards with freakish agility, speed, and balance, runs without falling (often), and can climb ladders (scary, because Lumi has a bunk bed). He can kick and follow balls with pretty impressive accuracy, and he has a really good throwing arm and pretty darn good aim for a 19-month old as well.
As far as play is concerned, he absolutely loves cars and trucks! He likes the Tonka trucks/cars that have faces on them, but also loves driving little Matchbox cars around too. He'll go bllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll with his lips as he rolls the cars around, every now and again exploding out, "CAR!!" He likes to wrestle and roughhouse. Occasionally he plays dolls with his sister and he'll kiss the baby dolls with the cutest little "pop!" noise from his mouth at the same time. The Little People Farm is also a bit hit with him, and he loves making various animal sounds.
( Pictures here! )
So here's some of the advances/milestones Lumi has made and stuff she likes since her last update:
She's:
-Just starting to draw things that look like people
-Draws all different types of shapes
-Colors inside of the lines with pretty good accuracy
-Writes her name, very legibly
-Can spell many small words and recognize them
-Learned to do a somersault
-Is learning all sorts of neat poses and rope tricks in her gymnastics class
-Loves her swimming class and is getting more confident in the water with each visit
-Rides her bike very well and for long distances--next summer we'll try to remove the training wheels
-Counts over 100
-Can do very simple addition
-Plays independently in her room
-Helps keep her little brother out of harm's way (well, most of the time)
-Speaks many words in Spanish and can even pick out new vocabulary from watching Dora entirely in Spanish.
-Sings on-key very well
-Can use the computer and play games really well
She loves Dora the Explorer, Diego, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, My Little Ponies, and is just getting into Barbie dolls. Her favorite color is red, and her favorite food is *hides* hot dogs. And she absolutely adores playing with stickers and tape.
That's Lumi in a nutshell!
( Lots of pictures here. )
I guess the biggest advance she's had is that she's spelling small words by sounding them out. Sometimes she asks me what a word says and I say, “How about we sound it out together,” and she will make the letter sounds as we look at them together and then she'll put all the sounds together into a word.
She finished her first gymnastics class in May and just recently got brave enough to do a somersault. She knows tons of information about various animals thanks to Go Diego, Go! And still loves watching Dora the Explorer as well.
And she also loves to help me wash dishes at the mökki--what a great helper!
( Pictures and gymnastics videos under the cut. )
He's verbally behind Lumi was at this age, however. She had many more words in her spoken vocabulary by now, and although Sakke had a pretty good start several months back, his vocabulary seems to have shrunk again to only a few real words: kaka, äiti, there, bird, trash, that, bye-bye, diaper are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. We can't be sure if it's just that he doesn't really want say the words he used to know anymore, or if perhaps the lingering fluid in his ears may be delaying his speech slightly. We have an appointment with an ear specialist in the fall to see of the fluid has finally drained from an ear infection back in April.
This doesn't mean he isn't talking or communicating, however. He babbles tons—mostly the same types of sounds, so there are definitely words he is trying to form repeatedly. He also points at things and say “there.” He also uses some signs as well—“more” being the latest addition to his few-word signing vocabulary. But the most notable thing about Sakke's communication style is that he mocks the noises of the things he hears around him every day. Cars changing gears as they pick up speed, buses whooshing by, birds cheeping or cawing, whirring noises from construction, etc etc—he is so good at imitating noises. I try and realize that as his best form of communicating things to us, so I just reinforce his noises with encouragement and real words: “Oh, you hear a car going fast!,” “That's a crow cawing,” or “The people are working on that building.” He's our little Lyre bird (his favorite thing to watch actually is this Lyre Bird: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdf
Sakke adores birds. Absolutely loves them, would love to hug them and squeeze them and take them home and love them forever—that kind of love! If ever he needs to be calmed down or distracted, we go look for birds, either on youtube or we go outside for a walk to find them. I decided to get him a baby-safe bird toy as a lovey. The only thing I could find without plastic bead eyes was a WWF penguin, so that's his new best friend, so originally named “Bird.”
And like I said, he's so active: climbing everywhere into the most daring spots, running, jumping—he even likes to put his bum up into the air and look at us from between his legs. And for eating, although he's still a messy eater, he is so independent. He uses forks and spoons (and hands!) so well. I forgot how easy my mealtimes are these days until I see other mums feeding their same-aged or older children still. Sakke's very adept at eating and enjoys it.
So a few things have become better lately: he's now back on milk products. Allergy tests showed no allergies. And his digestive system seems to be working better now if he's getting regular doses of probiotics and lots of fiber. Nothing like good 'ole ROUGHAGE!
( And now, for a picture update...videos to come later when I've edited them for viewability. )
He's literally always on the move: climbing and running around. He's always finding new ways to get up or reach things above him, including moving chairs and other furniture to stand atop or to climb to a new level. He can navigate "tunnels" I make with chairs by crawling under them. He's in a very dangerous stage now and I have to keep a good eye on him.
His appetite for solid foods recently exploded--he's been eating pretty well since we started giving him foods back at 6 months, but now that he has learned to shovel with spoons and forks, he really digs in! He eats with very little if any help from me--all I do is set a bowl or plate of food in front of him and he will eat the whole thing with his spoon, fork, or hands on his own. He's very open to trying new things, even spicy foods.
We've entirely stopped using his crib, instead laying him down on a cot mattress next to our bed. He seems to prefer it, since he would shriek when we put him in the crib, but on the mattress he just peacefully falls asleep on. This is ok with us, however, since our room is more-or-less toddler proof and we feel it will make the transfer to a toddler bed easier in the future.
He's becoming more cooperative about diaper changes or getting dressed for outside, calming down when I explain to him that I need to change his diaper or we'll go outside. He also likes to help out by emptying grocery bags, or sweeping, mopping, or vacuuming the floor.
As for toys, he really loves his car park/ramp. He enjoys playing with cars, pushing them along on the floor and going "ehhhhhhhhhh," which must be his attempt and making motor sounds. And he puts them into the car park's elevator and pushes it up and down, or presses the buttons on the car park to make gas pumping or car wash sounds. Little People are also quite fun: he makes them hop around on the floor then tries shoving them into cars. He also likes the shape-sorter toy: squares and circles go in fairly easily now, but his sister usually does the stars and triangles for him. His baby doll is still a favorite: when I pretend it's crying he still gives his baby a big, wet kiss. And he also likes a pull-toy dog that barks and plays music that his godmother Jenni gave to him.
( And now, some pics and a vid. )
The party was perfect! Not a single tear was shed by any child there. We had colorful helium balloons that served as both decor and our party favors for the kids, and a big festive Happy Birthday banner. His first birthday cake was a dairy-free carrot cake topped with dairy-free "buttercream" frosting.
Sakke enjoyed playing with all of the older children there and was happy to be in other adults' laps, but made sure to check in with Mommy or Daddy every 25 minutes or so. He's so independent like that already!
( Click here for birthday pictures and more. )
Since the last time I posted, Sakke celebrated his first Christmas and enjoyed meeting Santa for the first time. He got a baby doll that he adores and will kiss and carry it around if you pretend it's crying. He also got a play cell phone, Little People, and some baby cars to play with.
His walking and climbing have picked up the pace. He's really fast on his little feet and likes to chase Lumi around as much as she enjoyes chasing him. He's gotten sure enough on his feet that I dress him in winter boots and he can walk outside in the snow, though this is still quite difficult for him with all his snowgear on.
I have officially deemed him a toddler (mentally and physically) as of his 11th month. He's into EVERYTHING and it's relentless, destructive, and he's also frighteningly daring—so much that I've had to batten down all cupboards and drawers so he doesn't pinch his busy little hands in them anymore. I've also removed the lower shelves of DVDs and CDs so he'd stop pulling them down and destroying them, and basically try to keep anything I don't want him getting into hidden or blocked off. We've found him on more than one occasion standing on top of his sister's kiddie chairs or her bathroom stool climbing up to get something off of a counter, or using some other piece of furniture to climb up on top of something. He's just so quick that I can turn around for a few seconds and there he is standing on top of Lumi's play table or something. More than a few times he's pulled Lumi's cups of water or milk down on top of him from the table if she's left them too close to the edge.
He also gets really angry and starts crying or screeching whenever something is taken away from him (no matter how gently we do it and even if we give him a distraction toy). He's very verbal about things that make him angry or frustrate him and will throw his head back into the floor or thrash his head from side-to-side in a mini-tantrum. But on the other hand, he cooes very sweetly when he's happy and snickers and laughs a lot during the day. Games like peek-a-boo or wrestling on the bed make him belly laugh. He plays independently very well for 20 mins or so, then comes to check in with me for 5-10 mins of happy cuddling and/or nursing.
He eats around four times per day and mostly eats what we eat. He's now got 7 teeth and he chews really well—so well that he can gnaw corn off the cob as well as any adult can and can also handle chewable vitamins/medicine when given with care.
He loves his sister and bites-kisses her many times per day. He also loves babies still—ooo, those eyeballs are great for gouging at and oooo—their foreheads are much tastier to bite-kiss at than his baby doll. The love is there—it's the genetleness we need to work out.
As for his stats, Sakke weighed in yesterday on his 1st birthday at 9.5 kg (nearly 21 pounds) and is 79 cm (about 30 inches) tall. He's a lightweight for a boy his age but it doesn't shock me given how extremely active he is. Our nurse practitioner said to slather margarine on everything, use fatty meats, and make sure we use a lot of oil so he's getting extra fat calories to keep him on his toes. Both he and I (because we're still nursing) are now off of milk proteins and milk for some time to see if a milk protein allergy has been the cause of some poop issues he's been having over the past few months. Oh, and he's also off the iron supplements now too!
( See lots of pictures and a video here. )
This entry might sound like a big brag session, but I'm honestly just trying to keep track of what Lumi is like around this age for her. That said, here's some briefs about Lumi at 3.5 years:
-Cuts pretty well with scissors and can follow lines roughly while cutting
-Can stand for short periods of time on ice skates and move forward
-Hops on one foot
-Favorite games are tag, playing dollhouse, making birthday parties for various characters found in her room (Winne-the-Pooh, mostly), My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcakes (and putting clothes on and off of them—this is really awesome for her fine motor skills)
-Knows all the letters and their sounds (both alphabets). Has some sight words and can spell them from memory (Finnish and English)
-Can count groups of objects up to 5 very accurately...most times up to 10 as well
-Is able to count up to 30 in Finnish, 20 in English, and also starting to understand that our number system has a scheme (can guess that 41 comes after 40, for example).
-Can follow “homework”-like directions. Examples: “Draw a line between the matching objects,” “Circle all the objects that are blue,” “Put an X through objects in groups of 2”
-Can identify Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Romania, and UK on her map of Europe placemat.
-Knows a lot about local geography—she can tell us if we're going the right direction to a place in our neighborhood on foot or when driving to a friend's place. She also understands near and far and can make relational statements like “S-market is close to my daycare.”
-Can open computer programs on her own and likes to play drawing games, matching games, counting games and letter games. Lumi groks Ubuntu Linux! The GCompris educational suite for Linux is her favorite game program.
-She can trace her way through simple mazes with her fingers and using the computer.
-Still goes to gynmastics class and is learning a lot about her body and what she can do with it. I also see this as a mega confidence-building class
-Plays pretend games which are usually very parallel to what she does/goes through in her life, or what she sees others around her doing. In other words—entirely age-appropriate play
-Is pretty helpful most of the time with her brother. She will sing to him if he's crying, get diapers or clothing for him, bring us puke rags or tissues for clean-ups, can carry him short distances out of harm's way, etc.
-Is bossy. She likes to tell you when you're playing wrong or when you're singing something wrong. She's getting better at this, however. We don't play wrong so often anymore
-Is very sensitive. She is quick to cry. Fortunately, she's also getting better at telling me why she's upset
-Is extremely daring, but not necessarily wreckless. She likes to push her physical limits, but not usually compromising her own safety
-Is still only going to daycare three mornings per week to play with her friends.
-Is still very much mommy-needy
-Still dilly-dallies about when getting ready to leave or when in the bathroom. This has GOT to be the most frustrating thing in my opinion
-Still prefers eating with her hands to eating with a fork—what a mess! The daycare says she eats just fine with a fork, however, so we think she's doing it at home to be like Sakari.
( See the big picture catch-up and video here! )
He loves wrestling with us all, kissing us and EVERY baby or little child he sees, he's waving now and clapping. He eats pretty much anything we put in front of him. He doesn't really say words—I've heard the occasional mama only when he's distressed and wants me to come get him, or älä (don't) on occasion as well, but they're hit and miss. I'm not sure he knows exactly what he's saying yet or not. He absolutely adores baby faces and dolls. He has the most lovely little baby song he sings whenever he sees another baby, a baby doll, or a picture of a baby anywhere. Santa's definitely bringing him a baby doll for Christmas so he'll stop molesting his sister's dolls.
His 10 month stats were 9.14 kg (20 pounds, 2 ounces) and 74 cm (29 inches). He weighs a little more and is as tall as his sister was at 1 year. He's wearing 12 months (80 cm clothes) and some smaller 18 months clothing. His hemoglobin checked out low both times when tested about one month between (8.5 months and 10 months), so we decided under the pediatrician's advice (and some home research) that we would supplement him with iron. He's also taking a probiotic to see if it helps his digestion. I personally wonder if he's lactose intolerant due to family history, but since he doesn't appear to cry before pooping or isn't very gassy, our nurse said we'd look into this further if the probiotic doesn't help him. It has helped to some degree over the week he's been taking it.
For sleep—he takes anywhere from 1-3 naps in a day, depending on how busy we are. If we're out and about, usually one long nap in the pram. If we're at home, he might catnap a couple times for 20-30 mins and then take a longer hour nap. We don't keep any rigid schedule for daytimes. I offer food when he seems hungry, give him breastmilk on demand, and we start bedtime at 7. Bedtime is about the only thing that's consistent.
We're no longer co-sleeping unless I forget to put him back in his crib when nighttime nursing. He sleeps in a crib at the foot of our bed. He's still waking about 3 times per night and usually wants to nurse back to sleep. Daddy also gets up sometimes and pats him in his crib back to sleep, so it's not always me nursing him back to sleep. At least he's waking up for the day around 6 and not 4 or 5 like he was earlier.
( Picture SPAM! )
Also, some other quickies: he's waving now, his first four teeth are almost all grown in, he's eating really good on his own, took his first cruise to Sweden (and made out like a bandit at the boat buffet tables!), and he's still slightly anemic. I'm going to take him for another blood test tomorrow to see if we'll start iron supplements. I should know the answer soon afterward.
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At the dentist Lumi gets her 3-year checkup. All looks good! |
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Lumi stars in her own TV show |
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We had a Halloween party this weekend. Even if Finns don't celebrate Halloween, they sure get into the spirit when someone throws a party! Lumi was Bambi and Sakke was my little pirate.
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babycoreopsisLUMILUMILUMI
He's standing and climbing so well now--it's so hard to keep him safe! I still let him go and just hope for the best sometimes. He's so lucky to be the second child! :)
-Stopped taking naps about a month ago
-Still eats really messy. Sometimes still even places food on her fork USING HER HANDS!
-Whines a lot
-Explodes/frustrates easily
-Loves Dora the Explorer (who speaks Finnish and English here in Finland. Maybe she identifies with her so well because of that?)
-Is counting things like crazy!
-Loves her gymnastics class and goes there all by herself!
-Loves My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, her train set, Legos, and her dollhouse
-Is recognizing more and more letters every day. "Mommy, there's a P on that sign"...etc.
-Knows how to spell her name. This one was a shock--she picked up a card one day and just said to me: "Mommy, this spells Lumi. L-U-M-I."
-Introduces herself to other children on the playground and asks for other children's names
-Is really good with geography. She remembers countries on her map placemat and has a very good mental map of our local neighborhood and places farther away
-Likes swimming
How do they learn things so quickly!? There are days when I feel like I just can't keep up with her, or for that matter, wonder how she knows/remembers certain things.
SAKARI: 7 months
-Still wakes up several times a night
-Eats all wires/plugs
-Eats every little speck of trash he finds
-Squirms and flips when being changed
-Cries when getting his clothes on
-Eats normal people food (within reason)--even ate spicy curry!
-Uses the potty (sometimes). Sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night with a dry diaper just to use the potty. Crawls to the potty sometimes when he needs to go. One time he even started whining, crawled into the bathroom, climbed to Lumi's potty and peed on the bathroom floor (I was letting his bum air dry at the time). EC works, folks! Babies know how to use the potty, even when you're not very committed to EC!
-LOVES his sister, crawling after her, and eating her toys
-Pulls himself into stands--holds himself with only one hand
-Ate his first fistful of sand and swung on the playground swings this month
-Loves to try new foods
-Ate eggs and survived!
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