Nolan 3 - "The year of negotiations"

This has been the year where little sweet toddler turned into terrorist! 😀 Which means that Nolan got his own will. For instance, if before I could get him wear the clothes I wanted him to have on, then now he wants to decide himself. And of course if banana breaks while peeling then to be sure not even offer that to him - lol! I actually have plenty of those examples! 😂 At the beginning it actually drove me crazy, it still does, but now I have learned to manage my own emotions and pick the fights. In some cases it is not even point in fighting and it is better to use some negotiation tactics instead. I am quite sure that all toddler parents would do great in negotiating the peace to the world since they have had plenty of practice at home with their little terrorist! 😁

Autumn in Estonia

What we have used in negotiations are iPad (he likes to watch random kids videos in youtube, but especially Spiderman, Weekend music videos, Paw Patroll), food he likes, cartoon/movie).

B-day 🥳

On a bright side it has been also the year when Nolan has became more fun to play with. He can now speak and understands better different games. So from the positive side I have laughed as much as he had drove me crazy - I guess that is how things remain in balance! 😀 

Picking strawberries in the summer cottage in Estonia

LIKES

Nolan started to like Spiderman. I think it is because Kevin has watch many spiderman movies together with him! I also got him the spiderman costume and let´s say it was super difficult to get him wear any other clothes! Now he has spiderman backpack, hats, gloves, socks, trousers, sweater. The only way I got him to wear the hat was when I bought the spiderman hat. It is quite funny to see him climbing up on shelves and throwing spider web. One day we watch a movie about a monster and then he put his Spiderman costume on and pretended to fight the monster. First time I actually gave him the costume he was very sad that he did not turn into real spiderman and no spider web is coming out! 😅

Building Lego tower was a thing

Now he has also started to like Paw Patrol. On some period we basically had to watch it every day (it was part of negotiation strategy, I think we wanted him to eat proper food.) And Super Sonic is the latest obsession. He has a nightclothes with Super Sonic and so he is running before bed and pretends that he is super fast! 😃

Spiderman forever 😃

He is also obsessed about Weekend music videos and likes to imitate them! At one point he also liked Ed Sheeran, but now it is only The Weekend!

Dancing outfit

DAYCARE TO KINDERGARDEN

In Denmark children start kindergarten at the age of 3, but the spot can be offered about 3 months before. That is what happened to Nolan. We got the spot in the forest kindergarten. It means that every morning all children go together with a bus to the kindergarten at the outskirts of Copenhagen that is more closer to the nature. I first thought that they are going to spend all day outside making fire but actually there is a proper building with kitchen area, but the play area outside is just bigger and they have possibility to go in and out as they please. They also make fire though on some days and make cacao there that is super cozy. It is also closer to the nature so they take small trips. 

Casual Monday stroll in daycare

Last day in daycare & his morning snacks

The downside is that the bus leave on a fixed time so you need to make sure to drop the kid off by that time otherwise you have to take the child yourself (approximately 30 min by car or 1h by public transport) or keep the child home. The same goes if the child gets sick and you need to go pick him up. Usually the children in this type of institution tend to get sick less often. I have been picking him up approximately 2 times in past 3 months, once it was due to allergic reaction and once he did not feel well. We do not have a car so I usually go by public transport unless it seems sth serios, then I take taxi - it is about 400 dkk one way (60 EUR). Still cheaper than own a car! 😃

3y celebration at Kindergarten

The difference from the daycare to kindergarten is huge. Nolan went to private daycare with more grown-ups per child and I could be on top of if he slept, what did he do and no clothes got missing. Once he got home from Kindergarten with different shoes since they could not find his other shoe. However somehow many clothes do pop up later. Overall Nolan is happy to go there and the teachers are helpful and he can spend more time outdoors, which is good since he is super active! 🤗 

Bikes and cars are still favorite!

POTTY TRAINING

This is the topic I have been most stressed about. I fist planned to do it during Easter since there are 3 public holidays in Denmark during that period. Then I decided to go to Estonia instead and postponed the training to June where was 1 long weekend. My idea was to do the 3 day potty training - such a failure 💣I think the issue was that I was not committed and Kevin was not convinced either that Nolan is ready to use the potty. In his understanding the child learns himself to use the potty - yeah right - one in millions. So the next time could have been the summer vacation but lets be hones I did not want to spend my valuable 3 weeks to watch how my child sit and pee everywhere - probably a bit selfish mum here 😅 I think it is super hard to do the proper potty training if you have to work full time.

Summer swag in Estonia

So I read another book called "ou crap potty training" and then the alar went on in my head - started to feel like failure mum that let my child wear diaper and walk around with shitty as so long that I really developed the sense of urgency. Since Nolan started in kindergarten and it was a huge change then I postponed the training to December where I was on maternity leave. By the book it was not really recommended and to be honest it was physically not that easy to keep your 3 year home - I appreciate the child institutions so much more now! 😃

Beach fun in Estonia

Anyways, I could write the whole separated post about it, but I felt like I took more notes about potty training than any of the other collage book I had been used! At the beginning it felt like I could write new master theses instead of potty training my child. Overall we did it and I am super happy about that! It would have been much more difficult when having baby at home. And overall it was a good timing in that sense that I either way did not have anything else to do (or could not, since I was 9 months pregnant) than lay on couch and assist Nolan on peeing in the potty.

Running competition in Estonia May 2023

Fast forward, I would say it took about a month for him to really get it! The difficult part was the kindergarten since they go there by bus so I have not event seen the toilet there. 😃 Overall, I kept him home for 2 weeks, then he went back to kindergarten with diaper (when home, then we took diaper off, also at night he was without diaper) and then the baby came so we were home again 2 weeks. And then I just tried my luck and sent him without diaper to kindergarten and he got it! Big part of success I also own to Kevin who changed his mindset (or rather his friend talked to him about his sun potty training, so he understood that it will not happen on its own - than you friend 😘). 

Bath time is also fun play time now!

TRAVELING

We did not take Nolan with us to honeymoon in Maldives and summer trip to Santorini. So his main travels were to Estonia. I would say that it is not really a vacation when travelling with small children and after the age of 2 you need to pay about the same price for plane tickets as for yourself so the vacation budget needs to increased. So I have been happy that my mum has been so kind to look after Nolan and he seems to be fine too. 

Easter in Estonia with nephew Rasmus

Visiting bunnies in Saaremaa, Estonia

The past year was also a year when Nolan got rid of his finger sucking habit. It is actually due to the accident where he had to get a cast on his fingers that he was sucking. So sth good about the accident. Otherwise I would have no idea how to treat that addiction 🙈 In some point he actually even took the pacifier since most of the kids in daycare were using it and I was already stressed about he getting the pacifier addiction, but we were strict about not letting him coming home with the pacifier and the teachers also helped here. 

With nephew Rasmus in Estonia January 2023

SPEAKING

Nolan has started to speak much more both in Estonian and in Danish. Kevin says that he speaks more Estonian but I would say it is still Danish. The easy thing for me is that I can understand both languages where as Kevin only understands some Estonian words so he assumes that when he does not understand then Nolan speaks Estonian which is not always true 😅. Nolan is not completely fluent yet but I can see him improving. It has been especially good to spend more time in Estonia. In the summer he was there 4 weeks and after that he calls me "Emme" instead of the Danish version. It is interesting to see also how he manages to switch languages and say to me in Estonian and then say same thing in Danish to Kevin. So there is a hope that he will be fluent in both languages one day! 🙌 The words that he mainly says in Estonian are "aitäh" (thank you!), tuttu (sleep), auto (car), kommi (candy), kaka (shit), poiss (boy). It is also because Kevin uses sometimes the Estonian word not the Danish.

Little Rudolf at Kindergarten Xmas party

EATING

In terms of eating he is still as picky as he has always been. The main food that he likes are pizza and fries with ketchup. He also eats sandwiches and rise sometimes. We also discovered some candies that he can eat so now he likes candies too! 😃 

Casual lunch nap position 😅

In terms of allergies we got a green light to give him baked egg, the sad thing is that he is not really interested in eating it. Even though he likes to bake waffles together, then he does not want to eat them! We also discovered that he has peanut allergy so that Kevin had to call the ambulance. Luckily EpiPen was not needed so he got out of hospital after 6 hours. I was not home then but his body reaction was to vomit the food out. Overall we still do not give him egg, milk products and nuts - still living the "meagan" lifestyle.

Xmas 2023

When Nolan started in kindergarten when he was 2y and 10 months, then we also started to preparing the lunch for him since they have too many kids to provide custom food. Luckily they still try to take into account his allergies in food preparation so sometimes he will then eat the same food as other kids. Still his spiderman lunch box needs to be prepared every day my me 😅

Tivoli fun in spring!

Beach time at Estonia

My face says how crazy it is sometimes with this little fellow! 😜