"He's Not a Finnish Baby!" - a Doctor Appointment...

I realized today that I don't blog a lot about my kids' experiences here...I suppose that's for a few reasons:

A) They still don't speak (3.5 years and 1.5 years old).
B) It's the same thing everyday - wake up, day-care, come home, playground, eat, pee/poop/shower, scream/fight, sleep....

But a couple days ago - we had quite the doctor's appointment - I cannot resist sharing this...and I'm sure my 1.5 year old won't mind...and maybe he'll laugh at this when he gets much older....

It took me forever to finally remember to get an appointment for Ahti - just his 1.5 year check up...I always missed the slim window of 1 hour from 12pm-1pm because I was in class at the time or the line was busy and I had to get to class after my lunch break.
Well, I got in - 2 months after that phone call.

June 26th - a few days after returning from our hectic Wales/London trip (still working on that London part of the post!) - we're lying in bed and sound asleep in the morning.
The kids were staying home from day-care because Tim's supervisor was visiting and wanted to have a playdate with all the kids some time that morning.
What a treat to sleep in!!!
Suddenly, my phone buzzes and I look at my screen - and it says:

"Ahti Doctor Appointment 8:30 am

In 3 minutes - Snooze or Dismiss?"

I instantly jump off the bed (which was a child's top bunk) and rush into the main bedroom screeching for my husband to wake up.  What are we going to do?!  We cannot possibly get there on time - without a car, a shower, waking the kids...lots of curse words were used by me....
I tried calling the Neuvola nurse we have and she was busy working - nobody answered.

I quickly messaged a different Neuvola nurse (an awesome friend of mine) and she gladly changed the appointment time to the next day...

PHEW! My heart was pounding like a horse race track!

So the next day, we kept Ahti home from day care and made it to his appointment 25 minutes early.  And he was asleep...alright - 25 minutes nap is better than none right?...WRONG.

We had a different nurse take his basic measurements and he freaked...full out screaming and fighting and throwing his soother and any toy across the room.  BUT!  She got his measurements.

We had a bit of a wait for the doctor - so he played with toys and ran up and down the hall and was quite happy.
Then we went into the doctor's office.
The thing with Neuvola doctors is that they are usually quite young (not saying they're not in-experienced!), don't have kids of their own (which perfectly fine too!) but you never get the same doctor when your child has their yearly appointment.
Well, the one I got was both very young and her patience was low...granted, it was near the end of her work shift and having another screaming child (and one that can run at that!) probably didn't make her day any easier.  (Sorry!)
She checked his profile and in that 30 seconds time span - Ahti discovered she had a cupboard of toys behind her desk...specifically - 2 trucks.
She tried to check his eyes and he sat still for about 20 seconds and was more interested in the cars...I was tired of getting bopped in the face with these chunky cars and she couldn't get the light in his eyes properly anyway.
Then he started to scream....so after 5 minutes (or was it more?!) of chasing him down - she suggested politely:

"I need a break and maybe Ahti does too...how about he goes to play in the play room and I will take another child in...then I will come back to you?"

Yep - fine.

We went back in afterwards and he was calmer and happier and instantly went back for her two trucks...she wanted to test his pinching reflexes...I jokingly pointed at my arm where I had a bright purple bruise and said "Oh no worries - he can pinch!"
She smirked a bit and wanted to see him do it with a bead on a short piece of string.  Of course, the trucks take priority and she got frustrated quickly that he wouldn't take it from her.
I suggested she put it in the dump truck, because then he'll give it back to her.  She was fairly skeptical but did it and ta-da!  Ahti picked it up (pinch-style of course) and said "ES!" and gave it to her...she did it again a few more times and was pleased with his pinching.

We tried the eyes again - because she was looking for a reflection of the light in his eyes - should be red apparently...and couldn't find it.

"Well, it's hard to find this red light - because you know...he's not a Finnish baby..."
"Huh?  Do you mean his eyes are really dark so you can't see this light?" -me
"YES!  His eyes - the pigment is so dark...I can't see this light...but maybe it's okay because he can clearly see - he's running around and driving the trucks.." (and not bumping into anything was my thought)
A part of me wanted to say "Oh but he is � Finnish!"  but his file probably says he has a Canadian dad... 

"So!  Let's look at his belly and I have to check his testes and everything..."
**Cue my 1.5 year old stripping....I told him we had to have a diaper change and POW!  He's wiggling and pushing his diaper down and running 100% buck-naked.**
"Well....um...I have never had this happen before!  He must like being naked!  This will make it so much easier to check his stomach!" -her
"Yes, well - you have to catch him...that part isn't easy.." - MY TURN TO SMIRK!
Between the two of us - we manage to tackle him down and she quickly presses everything and he is laughing and trying to smack her in the face with a truck....
Then while he's still running about (still have to check his little boy bits) - she's laughing at how fast he is...and he started to head towards her chair (you know - the office type with fabric...)...and I say, "Oh - by the way - he's not potty trained yet...so we should finish this quickly - just in case!"

Well, that wiped a smile off her face pretty quickly.
Nothing happened - but you never know!!

Anyways, the final verdict was that he's growing well for a boy his age (and probably for a non-Finnish kid) and the red light in his eye thing...well, she's going to e-mail some eye doctor and explain our situation...and see what they say.

"But I looked at his notes and the last doctor could sort of see a very faint red line....and it's obvious he can see....so I think he's okay..."

Such comforting words to end an appointment....

So this appointment started at 1:20pm...and we did not leave until 3:50pm....we should have been out within an hour maximum....or even 40 minutes!

Until next time!

Palapeli = Done.

It's been a tough two and a half months not being able to blog as much as I would like as I have been studying and taking Finnish lessons via Palapeli.

The exams were this past week and involved 3 days worth of tests.

Monday:  The speech test.  You are in a room with two teachers - one to ask you the questions, the other to mark your responses down.
Some questions I was asked and not necessarily in this order (translated English):

• What's your name?
• Are you married?
• Do you have children?
• Tell us about your family.
• How old are you?
• How long have you lived in Finland for?
• Why do you live in Finland?
• What is your profession?
• What do you like to do?  (hobbies)
• What would you like to do in Finland? (Long term goal or dream)
• What is your nationality?
• What country are you from?
• Where do you live?

Then - the describe the pictures session:

You look at a comic strip and describe the time and what the character is doing.

"They wake up at 6, they shower, they eat breakfast, then go to the bus then get to work ...etc."

Then the situation questions...this was brutal for me as the teacher who asked me the questions wasn't my regular teacher (she was marking my responses down) so I was just picking words and stringing them together and hoping they made sense...

• You're in a grocery store and want to know where the pepper is.  How do you ask for help and where the pepper is?
• You're in the grocery store and you found the pepper but it doesn't have a price.  How do you inquire about the price of it?
• You're waiting at the bus stop and when the bus comes - you need to ask the driver if this bus goes to the hospital.  What do you say?
• You get on the bus and your bus card (pass) is empty - what do you say or do?  

Then it was conversation time.

• "Huomenta!" - I responded with "Huomenta, mit� kuuluu?" (Good morning, how are you?)  Apparently that was the wrong answer - I should have just stuck with "Huomenta."  Why was this the wrong answer (sort of)?  Because her next question was:
• "Mit� kuuluu?"
• Do you know where the bathroom is?
• Can I borrow a pen?

That's all I can remember, considering it's been over 2 weeks since I started this post and did the exams.

The written ones were alright...mix and match, write a description of photos, label things, explain what's going on based on advertisements, write your profile out etc.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take my tests home (so I could give you a slightly better description) because they re-use the tests every time it seems.

The final markings are based on A-C levels - based on comprehension, reading and speech - so if your percentage (out of 100%) was a bit low - do not stress.

Mine were 82 and 76% respectively (there were two written exams plus a listening one) but my A levels were A 1.2-1.3 - so pretty good for a beginner studying Finnish!
And if you're wondering (sorry I don't have the descriptions of levels with me right now) a C-level is pretty much a native to Finland who speaks Finnish as their mother-tongue.
So if you're not a C-level...don't worry.

I have learned since that Palapeli is not available anywhere else in Finland - just in Jyv�skyl�...but I'm sure if you live in a different part of Finland - your city will have something similar to offer assistance to foreigners to learn the language!

And afterwards - there is another couple classes then there's some group outing...then perhaps a massive potluck - I wouldn't know because I left early to travel to Wales.

Good luck!

Wales Trip!

Hubby has 3 conferences this month and they're all in England.
We decided we would join him for the second one because one of his colleagues from Canada was planning on being there, but at last minute he wasn't able to get there.
The conference we went to was only 4 days long and in Cardiff, Wales.
I have never been to England before, with the exception of a stop over in Heathrow Airport (London) - so this was super exciting for me!  (And what if I saw a Royal?!)

Well, Wales rains everyday for at least five minutes and multiple times a day...sometimes it's drizzle, sometimes it's a lot of rain and sometimes - it's a downpour.
I'm sure the babies there are born with rain coats, splash pants, rain boots and an umbrella!

The signs in Welsh were amazing...they were a mix of letters that made absolutely no sense to me (thankfully the English translation was included!) and I now understand why people say Welsh can be a tricky language!

What to pack when traveling to Wales:

• Rain boots or sandals if you don't mind your feet being wet!  If you intend to do a lot of walking about - good foot wear is a must!
• A good rain coat that is not only water proof but warm!
• A good camera - mine finally kicked the bucket while I was there, so I don't have many photos and had to resort to a cell phone while there (blegh).
• UK plug converter...no, your North American/EU one (or other country) will not fit :).
• An empty suit case for all the goodies you buy at Pound Land or Pound World...and it's not full of things that will fall apart after using them once or twice!! There were brand named items and even the non-brand name stuff (i.e. children socks as we forgot to bring some!) were pretty decent quality!

We stayed at the Church Guest House, which was a nice 10-15 minutes walk from the downtown area.  The host, Andrew, was very friendly and nice and gave us lots of tips on where to visit while we were there.

However, there are some pit falls to the Church Guest House that maybe one travelling with little family members should know about:

• There is a continental breakfast included (cereal, fruit, nuts, yoghurt and hot toast with jam/butter, and tea/coffee or juice) but they do not have high chairs or booster seats...(yet they have a play pen? Keep reading...)
• We stored our stroller in the breakfast dining room and just kept our children there while we had breakfast the first morning.
• A hot breakfast is available at extra cost, but we found it cheaper to eat at local pubs/caf�s for breakfast.
• It's ideal to let the staff know that your child has any kind of condition that may cause them to be louder "than the average child".  Guests above us had complained that our son was too loud - and yes, he did yell quite a bit, and we tried our hardest (covering his mouth, letting him watch Cars a million times, playing his favourite Youtube channel all night, Simplynoise.com - ANYTHING to calm him down) to keep the noise to a minimum at night time - but sometimes crap happens.
  When I advised Andrew that our son has Autism and that we are trying our hardest - he understood and I assume - advised the guests above us - so they knew we weren't trying to make their vacation a horrible time...we didn't have any more complaints after that.
• Hot water in the shower didn't last long - hubby took a 10 minute shower maximum - and I didn't have any hot water after him...and when you turn on the hot water, you have to wait a bit for it to kick in...like brush your teeth then the water is hot enough.
• Bring your own shampoo and body wash - or pick some up at the Pound shop - the samples in the bathroom were kind of small for 4 of us and my hair just didn't feel clean after...but that's personal choice!

• The mattresses are approximately 2 weeks old (as of our travel dates of June 12-17, 2013) and they are not protected by mattress protection covers.  
• We found this out the hard way, when our 3.5 year old leaked out of his diaper due to stress of a new environment and travel (he is Autistic) - and despite peeling the blankets back, the smell of urine and the wet hand towel (that we used to soak up his mess) left on the bathroom floor intentionally so it could be changed - it wasn't.  We ended up stripping the bed the next day and putting ALL the towels on the floor with the bed sheets and were happy to see everything was changed the following day.  (We also did not file a complaint in person in case you are wondering - but did find it quite gross - even though the bed sheet and mattress were dry that night).
• When we did strip the bed, the host advised us that the mattresses were less than 2 weeks old and that they would have to be cleaned.  Of course, I agree and would be willing to pay the fee (but we were never advised of any additional fees - despite seeing the host every day at some point) - but I am curious if the mattresses are so new - why aren't there protection covers??  I mean - mattresses are expensive and these were super comfortable ones too!  I would want mine to last a long time - especially when a new person sleeps on it every day or week...
• We were issued a play pen for the child who peed (since we have two - I guess they assumed it was the younger one who did it?) the bed and we just kept it folded up in the corner - because there was no way a 3.5 (almost 4!) year old was going to fit in that play pen...let alone stay in it without making a fuss.
• Some things to also consider when having people sleep on a mattress (with a bed sheet) and no protection covers: 
• Sweat can soak through and stink up a mattress easily.
• Dirt - enough said.
• Flu/Viruses/Colds - think coughing, snot, leaky nose, sweating from chills...usually happens when one goes on vacation!
• Pee - not just little kids that wet the bed.
• Poop - same deal.
• Blood - nose bleed, menstrual cycles, miscarriages, scrapes and bumps, cracked feet...
• Sex - let's face it - it's a B&B and people go on honeymoons and vacations and anniversary trips and if the mood strikes - well...sex is just as dirty as pee.
• Bed bugs...

Those are just some things to consider as I said - but really, the Church Guest House (it's not religious inside - no worries if you're not religious yourself) is a lovely place, the staff friendly and the place in a good location (there was a big playground about 10 minutes the opposite direction from downtown).
We would definitely go back - without children (mostly because they are fighters and travelling with kids can be quite difficult for us!).

Onto the rest of Wales.

We enjoyed "proper English breakfasts" (my photos from my phone will be transferred to Pinterest at some point this week...) which consisted of:

• Fried eggs
• Toast
• Baked beans
• Tomato and mushroom (depends where you go)
• Hash browns (so greasy and crispy and delicious...)
• Welsh bacon (not the skinny pieces you get in the shops - but nice wide chunks of bacon...salty and smokey ....and doesn't have a parallel chunk of blubbery fat attached to it)
• Sausages
• English tea of course!

We managed to explore Wales a bit and got on a train to Caerphilly to explore the castle there.  It was nice and big, lots of landscape and geese!
But in the shop - no post cards...tsk tsk.

One restaurant we ate at was "The Golden Corner" in Cardiff.
Food was tasty but there were a couple pit falls to eating there:

1. Cash only.
2. The menu said we would get 3 sticky rice (wrapped in lotus leaves - a Dim Sum specialty) and we only got 2 for some reason.
3. I asked our waitress twice for a glass of ice water (since I planned on eating some dumplings with chili sauce) and she never brought it.  So I ended up going to the counter and asking for it myself...

Definitely check out The Works book shop!  They had a huge 80% off sale when I was there and I ended up scoring 2 knitting books for 3 and 2� each...and it turned out they were a lot more expensive on Amazon or Book Depository!

So if you ever get the chance - definitely pop into Wales!

Finland and The Box...

Finland is quickly making the news again and it's in reference to a BBC article: "Why Finnish Babies sleep in cardboard boxes".

I'm sure the concept of sticking your new baby that you waited MONTHS for into a cardboard box sounds absolutely dreadful but when you think about it - a crib is a type of box.  Putting your baby in your own bed with you and surrounding them on all four sides so they don't fall off - is boxing them in...
Remember, you need the sleep and if you don't have a crib yet or haven't decided if Junior will sleep with you in your bed (pretty common in Europe) - this box is MEANT for being a bed!
And you're not shipping your kid in this box... :)

What are the other benefits of this box?

Well, everything that comes IN the box is pretty sweet.
I've already written a blog post about what comes in the Kela maternity box - which can be found here.

Every year the prints change a bit but the basics are all the same.

Yes, we did end up letting our newborn sleep in that box and it was fantastic.  He slept soundly in it for about a month or so and it was handy because it didn't take up as much space as a traditional crib.  Nor was he in our bed, which was nice too.
Oh and if we had to move rooms and worried about not being able to keep an eye on him or hearing him when he woke up - we just picked up the box and moved him easily.

And when he was too big for the box - we used it to hold A LOT of dishes when we moved to our current flat!  It's a very tough box.
And you can apparently buy covers for the box to make it look nicer - about 35� from what I've seen online!  (Or you could get all scrapbook/crafty on it and go to town decorating it yourself!)

What does the 2013 box look like?  Check it out here - and wow is that box nice!  It appears to have a Family Tree design on top....