I just realised today that I haven't written anything about one of the biggest changes Isabella has gone through in the last little while. Potty training! For quite a few months before mid-June (when I decided to take her diaper away completely she had been using a potty training diaper (not much padding) and she was doing really well with it. She rarely peed in her diaper for at least 2 months but I was scared to change it completely because of the changes it would cause daycare. So I wanted to have her at home for at least a week full-time for us to accomplish this. I think that she was ready for at least a month or more by the time we did this.
Isabella has been doing brilliantly! We took off her last diaper on June 18th and she hasn't looked back. She has only had two peeing accidents and I have to admit that I think that they were both pretty much my fault (I forgot to ask her if she needed to pee before we went out). But other than that...nothing! No peeing in her bed at night or anything. I cannot believe how well she has done. All while having all the other changes in her life of a new house, new bedroom, new big girl bed, etc. I think that she thrives on change...kinda sounds familiar! hee hee
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A day at the beach and new shoes
We have been having lots of fun in Finland's great summer of 2010! It has really been a great summer so far (if even a little hot for me). Not often that happens. We have had a few solid weeks of good weather and it is supposed to continue. So we have been to the beach once with Marjut, once with Natu, and once by ourselves. Lots of fun.
Isabella got new shoes...they are Finnish flag crocs. I have been trying to find out if they make Canadian crocs but I haven't found any. ;-(Where is that plane going? To Greenfield!
Once we got to England we had a nice sleep and then the next day we went to the park that is near my Mom's place. Most of the things in the playground were too big for Bella but we were able to have some fun. She is a bit of a scaredy cat so once she climbed up it took me a long time and a couple of bruises trying to get her down.
We also went to Costco while we were there. That was lots of fun. My Mom and Bella tried out all the garden furniture and looked at lots of books and clothes. We bought lots of stuff...too much as usual! But we didn't buy the giant can of tuna that Bella is holding.
We met lots of people while we were there. We met my friend Heather and her 2 kids in the park in Uppermill. Bella had fun and she learned to climb on the rope climbing equipment (which I haven't really seen here in Finland). We also visited many other people and had general English fun!
My Mom put Isabella to work as her peg passer when the laundry needed putting out. I think that she liked it. Next time I will advise Bella to ask for some money. Maybe she will even need a union rep. And finally, the first photo is of us at the airport waiting in line to check-in. My little princess...she sure is cool!
Midsummer Grandma
My mother came to visit during the midsummer weekend...and again she was in Finland when nothing is open. Seems to be a feature of her visits since she tends to come on holidays! Bella had lots of fun having her here. She was here from the Friday to Sunday and then Bella and I flew out on Monday to visit her...so here are some photos of her here during the weekend but 
mostly they are of us getting ready to fly out to see her. Since our flight was so late, I decided to get her to fly in pjs so that she could go straight to bed when we got there. Good idea...but she did look a little silly at the airport! Luckily she didn't notice.
At the airport she was able to visit the Moomi store and meet Pikku My- she really liked that! This was also her first time going on a plane where she realised that she was on a plane and she like it a lot!!
An expensive lesson
As new homeowners Taneli and I are learning something new almost everyday. But I would say that the biggest one that we have learned so far is to keep a key somewhere outside the house! Poor Isabella (and the two of us) had a scare about a while ago when I ran outside to put the cover on the already slightly flooded sandbox (since we have used the emptied pond there is no drainage). The weather was kinda stormy and it was getting windy and Taneli was out getting something from the store. So I ran out and the door slammed behind me…no problem you might say but our doors here are, by default, set at lock. I didn’t have a key since I was only going to cover the sandbox and it was such an instantaneous decision to run out there. I was hoping that Taneli would have a key…so I went to the neighbour and used their phone to call him in order to hurry him up . Luckily Taneli was almost home…but he didn’t have a key either! So there we were no key and Bella stuck inside. I had also shut all the windows because of the storm coming.
She was ok at first but she was starting to panic after about 10 mins. She kept puling the door handle which of course wouldn't open the door. She kept shouting for us to come in and saying that she needed help. I knew that my house keys were on the dining table so I told her to go get them but I had no idea what I would get her to do with them since we don't have a mail slot or anything in the door. I was really just trying to keep her busy. Taneli called a locksmith and they would come as soon as they could but they had to drive about 20-30km to get to us- so it was going to take a while. Once she got the keys she was trying to put them through the (unopened) window next to the door...we were lucky that we had that so that she could see us otherwise I guess that the panic would have been worse for longer. She kept telling me to take the keys as she pushed them against the window. Overall she was stuck in the house about 40 mins...poor girl...by about minute 25 she was crying and I was starting to freak out. I was trying to get her to do things and get things to keep her busy but she stopped doing anything and was just crying and asking for us to come inside.
At about the 35 minute mark I started to think like MacGyver. I remembered that there was a very small window in the basement open- it is about 30cm by 15cm. It was hidden behind some bushes and it had a screen on it but that easily came away. I went into our outside storage and took two of Taneli's shoe laces out of his golf shoes and tied them together...I then found a magnet outside (a left over from the moving process). I figured that if I could tie the magnet onto the shoe lace then maybe once I lowered it into the house (we also had to convince Bella to go into the basement) through the window she could stick the keys to the magnet...but that didn't work. The metal of the key chain would not stick to the magnet. So then plan B...which probably should have been plan A but I was under pressure!!...I took one of her sandbox buckets, tied the shoe lace to the handle and had to squeeze it into a oval shape to put it through the small window. I lowered it down and got Bella to put the keys in it...it worked like a charm! We had the keys in seconds...Taneli called the company back, they were just a few mins away but because we didn't actually need them to do the work, we just had to pay the call out fee which was €50. Phew...even remembering it now, I need to lay down. Poor Bella and Mama...
She was ok at first but she was starting to panic after about 10 mins. She kept puling the door handle which of course wouldn't open the door. She kept shouting for us to come in and saying that she needed help. I knew that my house keys were on the dining table so I told her to go get them but I had no idea what I would get her to do with them since we don't have a mail slot or anything in the door. I was really just trying to keep her busy. Taneli called a locksmith and they would come as soon as they could but they had to drive about 20-30km to get to us- so it was going to take a while. Once she got the keys she was trying to put them through the (unopened) window next to the door...we were lucky that we had that so that she could see us otherwise I guess that the panic would have been worse for longer. She kept telling me to take the keys as she pushed them against the window. Overall she was stuck in the house about 40 mins...poor girl...by about minute 25 she was crying and I was starting to freak out. I was trying to get her to do things and get things to keep her busy but she stopped doing anything and was just crying and asking for us to come inside.
At about the 35 minute mark I started to think like MacGyver. I remembered that there was a very small window in the basement open- it is about 30cm by 15cm. It was hidden behind some bushes and it had a screen on it but that easily came away. I went into our outside storage and took two of Taneli's shoe laces out of his golf shoes and tied them together...I then found a magnet outside (a left over from the moving process). I figured that if I could tie the magnet onto the shoe lace then maybe once I lowered it into the house (we also had to convince Bella to go into the basement) through the window she could stick the keys to the magnet...but that didn't work. The metal of the key chain would not stick to the magnet. So then plan B...which probably should have been plan A but I was under pressure!!...I took one of her sandbox buckets, tied the shoe lace to the handle and had to squeeze it into a oval shape to put it through the small window. I lowered it down and got Bella to put the keys in it...it worked like a charm! We had the keys in seconds...Taneli called the company back, they were just a few mins away but because we didn't actually need them to do the work, we just had to pay the call out fee which was €50. Phew...even remembering it now, I need to lay down. Poor Bella and Mama...
Summer holidays are here...
As you can see lots of fun was had on our trip to Vierumäki. This is the cabin that is owned by my work and that the staff can rent. We were lucky enough to have lots of good weather. There was a bit of rain but that was on the day we were leaving so it didn't matter. We were there from Saturday to Wednesday.We had fun using the big sidewalk chalk to draw pictures all over the driveway...luckily it is paved and big!! As you can see, I also introduced Isabella to hopscotch. She had many a fun minute (short attention span) playing on that with us...hop, hop, hop...
We also spent lots of time picking up pine cones and "playing music" Bella's words for banging sticks on just about anything...in the photo you can see Taneli and her playing music on the shoe brush (this is an object that you use to brush off the mud and or snow on your shoes before entering a house).
Then on Wednesday it was raining but we wanted to walk to somewhere that Isabella could throw rocks into the lake so we went down to a small wharf that they have on one 'beach' (that is too grand a word for what they really have'). She was able to wear her rain gear that I bought earlier in the Spring but have had little use for.
She needs it like a fork in the face...
Katriina came to visit and we went for a walk though the "forest" near our house. We picked flowers and had some laughs...until later...that is when Isabella was outside with Taneli sitting on her little table (see offending item below) eating dinner. And from what he tells me, she fell over because she was playing on her chair. I ran out to see why she was screaming and Taneli was rubbing her leg. He hadn't noticed that she had actually fallen on her fork and all four prongs had pierced her cheek! It was pretty deep but since they were tiny holes, it didn't bleed too much...enough but not too much. At least she got a Dora band-aid...
New sunglasses
Bought Bellasome sunglasses. Last summer she wouldn't put them on to save her life...this year she wants to wear them while she eats breakfast! She also tends to put them on upside down. She does this without humour (if I don't mention it and say it is silly)...she will walk around with them like this all day and not even really notice...silly billy!
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