Summer and sauna

During summer we have warm days and weeks (+30C) as well as cool rainy days. Last summer was wonderful: sun was shining every day most of July. We enjoyed swimming in lakes. My parents live by a lake and water of that lake was +28C. Did you know that Finns go to sauna and jump to lake after that? People who have summer cottages have always a sauna with a wood-burning stove. I go to sauna and swim three times every evening when visiting my parents during summer. Our kids love going to sauna and swimming. They would spent the whole day swimming. My parents don't have a wood-burning stove in sauna. Their sauna has an electric stove that is always warm: you just lift up a lid and throw water to the stove. It is very handy if you want to spent the whole day swimming and want to warm up once and while.

I guess it is impossible even to talk about Finland without starting to talk about sauna. Every house and cottage in Finland has a sauna and I really mean every.

It is important to protect kids from ultraviolet radiation also in Finland. My kids use swimming suits that cover their skin and give protection against sun. That was not the case when I was a child. Times have changed as well as nature. When I was a child the weather was easy to forecast: now we have  had winters when there is hardly any snow and summers when it is mostly raining. 

Babies nap outside in Finland -- all year around!

In Finland babies nap outside even when it is -10  degrees centigrade. When it is cold, we dress them warmly (and if it is VERY cold we cover the pram with a blanket). When you try baby's nape, you will know whether the baby is warm, cold or hot. Babies sleep usually better outside than inside.

I faced problems when I was expecting our second child and we needed the pram for the baby. My daughter never got used to taking her nap inside. So soon after turning two she didn't take a nap anymore at all. Or she did if I took her for a walk outside, which was quite difficult with a newborn baby and bad back pain.

Generally mothers feel safe leaving their babies outside to sleep. Of course they keep them on eye. My babies have slept in our back yard where nobody could see from the street near by. Like everybody, we used also a baby monitor. 

When my daughter was a baby, there was a incident when a baby was taken from a stroller without anyone noticing . It was a miracle that the baby survived because he was buried under snow and it took hours to find him. It turned out that the baby was taken by a girl who was only 10-12 years old.

Maybe that was one reason why I wanted to have a baby monitor with a camera.


The babies who nap in sub.zero temperatures

"Just once" is the beginning of a habit

My daughter held my thumb when I was nursing her. And she held my thumb when she was falling asleep. At first I thought that it was cute. But after she was getting older and older and still wanting to hold on to my thumb to fall a sleep, it wasn't cute anymore. It was tiring. I had to wean her from that as well.

I have noticed that with kids you let something happen ONCE and after that the kids have adopted a new habit. I let our son to come to sleep in our bed once and after that he woke up every night trying to come to sleep between us.

Or you have stopped nursing during nights. One time you are too tired to say "no" and you are back to the same old habit again. And you have to wean the baby again from that habit.

Children need love. I think that often the reason behind all these quickly developed or re-developed habits is to feel loved... What is the love language of your child? Is the words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service or physical touch? (Chapman, Gary: The Five Love Languages). How does the child show you his or her love? That might be his or her love language. We should love our kids with all these languages, but also to try to find our what is the primary love language that especially makes the child to feel our love....

Transitions

When I had my first baby, I started worrying how could I even take her to a day-care and go back to work. She was very clingy. When I left the room she started crying and cried until I picked her up. Not even Daddy was good enough for her.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by. My daughter is already five years old. She is a little bit shy, but very determined. Just like when she was a baby: she knew what she wanted and didn't give up until Mommy picked her up.

This and next week all kids born in 2009 need to be registered to pre-school. There are not many private schools in Finland. There are none close by where we live (that means within 10 minutes travel). The best choice for us is a local public school. It is located only a few minutes ride from our house (1 km). When my daughter is older (7-8 years old), she is able to walk to the school by herself like most Finnish kids do.

I am worried whom we should wish to be in the same class with my daughter. How can we make the right choices... My daughter seems to be playing with many different girls in her kindergarten. Are they forming friendship for the rest of their school years? How do these sweet girls turn out when they become teenager? The feeling of responsibility for my daughter's future feels heavy upon me.

The past has taught me that often there is no need to worry. When my daughter turned one years old, I returned to work for nine months. I am thankful that we didn't have take our daughter to a day-care. Daddy stayed home with her and took care of her. (My husband was a student at that time and he was studying when she was taking a nap.)  I worried that our daughter would cry the whole day, because that is how it had been whenever I left the house. To our great surprised she waved to me at the door and was happy all day. It was a successful beginning for a special bond between Daddy and his daughter.