DEC 27th // HOW DO YOU TEACH A CHILD TO BLOW THEIR NOSE?!

Really though.  How do you teach a child to blow their nose?  I've been hearing "MY NOSE! MY NOSE!" non-stop this trip and I think I'd hear the phrase a whole lot less if Nory would either use her sleeve (not an option, it ruins her outfit) OR if she possessed the COLD SEASON SKILL of blowing her nose!  Since the latter option is the only reasonable solution for Miss Clean-and-Tidy, I welcome any tips and tricks from all you parenting pro's :)  (Under normal circumstances, I would buy her a special box of Kleenex, but it seems as though people in Finland either NEVER have a runny nose OR rid of it in other ways because there's never been a bigger scavenger hunt than finding Kleenex in Helsinki....)

In other news, we had a first-filled December 27th, with Nory going for her first skate, Jettie playing in her first snow (Nory has yet to have this because she thinks snow makes her shoes dirty), and all of us (MINUS GEM) attending our first ringette game.

Some pictures pour vous:

^^^  Juliet woke up early but then managed to fall back to sleep in these cozy blankets on the living room floor.  I drank as much coffee (ah-hem, late night) as I could before she woke up again and we started our messy breakfast routine.  Since she no longer takes anything on a spoon, yogurt goes on the table and heaven knows where it goes from there.  

 
^^^  A messy breakfast calls for a morning shower, which Juliet loves.  Especially when Nory is still sleeping and she gets all the toys (and water!) to herself.  Afterwards, we got her into her adorable kitty shirt from Auntie Gem and played toys until the rest of the gang woke up. 

^^^  Once everyone was alive and ready to face the world again, we decided to go skating "like the hockey players!"  There are a few outdoor rinks we've seen, but the one we went to is right down town by central station.  Phil, Steve and Nory lined up to rent skates, while Em, Jet, and I admired the skaters already on the ice!

 ^^^  Once we spotted the snow pile at the end of the rink (and other kids playing in it!), we decided to take Juliet over for a play.  She LOVED IT :)  Too bad her sister isn't a fan!

 ^^^  With Juliet sleeping in the Ergo, the skating team was finally ready to take the ice!  Nory was unsure at first, but then ended up all smiles.  I wasn't quite sure how the experience would go, so I'm thrilled it ended up being a positive one :)  Phil felt on top of the world after skating with his big girl :)

 ^^^  We heard the World Ringette Championships were going on in Helsinki at the same time as the World Juniors, so we decided to check out Team Canada in action.  Since it was also at the Helsinki Ice Hall, we assumed it would draw in some of the hockey fans.  Well.  Let's just say we hiked a HIKE to find an unexpected "second rink" at the venue...

^^^  Turns out the Canadian Girls were not as sought after as our hockey players.  Not even a little bit.  We sat right near the Team Canada bench, beside moms and dads and........tournament volunteers.  It was like stumbling into a timbits hockey game at a small arena back home.  Sigh.  The good news is that our girls were INCREDIBLY SKILLED SKATERS and they were really enjoyable to watch.  Nory thought it was neat that the girls were on the ice instead of the boys :)  GIRL POWER!

Thankfully, despite being up late the night before, the girls went to bed at a reasonable hour on this day.  We woke up refreshed and ready to go for the next Canada game!!!

Please don't forget to send me some nose-blowing tips!

XOXO