Four and a Half

Tessa is 4 1/2 (ok, 4 3/4 now)!  

She can't wait to be 5.  She'll invite and un-invite you to her birthday party on a daily basis, depending on how she feels about you at the moment.  We didn't do a birthday party last year, but we probably will this year.  She's trying to decide between a Build-a-Bear party and a Taekwondo party.  

She thinks this is the funniest book EVER.

If you read my earlier post about Alyse -- here's proof positive about that 'pushing each other's buttons' statement:

She loves riding her bike!  She really wants to get rid of her training wheels, so we've been practicing a lot lately!

She just loves the 'biking gloves' that her cousin Abigail gave to her!

She's super silly.  Here's what I frequently get when I try to take her picture:

She makes you work hard to get that natural smile!

She's so NOT a girly girl.  She wants to wear shorts and a t-shirt every day and she refuses to wear anything in her hair.  She will occasionally agree to a loose pony tail to get the hair out of her face, but I can only get her to wear a dress if we are going to church or to a party. She absolutely refuses to wear a skirt under any circumstances.

She's still pretty bossy and has a wicked temper...but I think we are finally seeing some slow improvements there (wait...have I said this before???)  She still needs a nap on most days, but no longer gets one at daycare. So evenings can sometimes be pretty rough!  She is definitely a girl who needs her sleep.  (And everyone else around her needs her to get her sleep!)

She is usually very shy around new people.  But once she feels comfortable, she will talk your ear off -- especially adults!  She's such a little charmer.

Some funny recent conversations with our girl:

Tessa:  "Hey Mom! You know those little blue germs with the white hat and white shoes? Those are called murfs, right?"

Tessa:  "Why do you have a purple scarf on your head?"
Mom:  "A scarf?"
Tessa:  "You know - the scarf you get after you have a boo boo?"

Tessa:  "Yesterday we played in the sprinkler and got all muddy to celebrate Mother's Day." 


We went bowling this summer, and after throwing the ball, she turned around and said "Did I get a stroke?"

Other things to remember about Tessa at 4 1/2:

• She still has the cutest little lisp.
• She always needs to cuddle her stuffed piggy when she's upset.
• She takes her unicorn pillow pet with her everywhere.
• She loves to wear "crazy clothes" to bed.  That means she wears regular clothes instead of pj's.  We occasionally let her do this, because, well...it makes our mornings just that much easier! 
• She really loves to help.
• She is a total germ-a-phobe - mostly related to food. She will not eat anything that someone else has already touched, because "It has their germs on it!!!!"
• Whenever she finds a coin, she calls it her 'lucky penny'. 
• She loves to sing.  She recently joined the Little Lights choir at church and is loving it! 
• She still loves her baby dolls so much.  They have to be bald and she pretends they are all boys - she has zero interest in girl babies. She even chucked her American Girl doll at Alyse and said "Here, you can have this. I don't like girls."
• She loves to play hide and seek. It's fun. Except when she decides to play in the middle of a store. Without telling you first. Then it's not so fun. 
• She really thrives on alone time with Mommy and Daddy. We're really trying to create those opportunities for her, so she got to go to Pittsburgh with Daddy for a weekend this summer and to Michigan with Mommy for a weekend this fall. Both trips were great!
• She bumped a tooth at school a while ago, and it loosened up a bit.  Now she is convinced that it's going to fall out any day now (it's not.)  She loves to tell everyone she sees that she has a loose tooth.
  

Tessa Camille, we love you so much!  It is so much fun to watch you learn and grow!

Two and a Half

She's technically 2 3/4 now, but I guess I'll still consider this the "two and a half" post, since I actually started writing it a few months ago.

" I paintin' "

Such a good mommy!

Reading to Jaya

What to remember about Alyse at 2 1/2:

• She wants to get dressed the instant she wakes up.  And then she wants to change her clothes about 8 times a day. And she's super picky about what she wears now.  She claims that most clothes "hurt me."  Fun times!

• She is obsessed with her baby dolls, and Rohan and Jaya are still her faves.  We spend a lot of time changing their diapers and clothes. She's not only picky about what she wears herself, she's becoming quite picky about what her dolls wear!  Right now, she demands a shirt and shorts (which, is actually the same that she demands for herself.)  Unfortunately, our stock of baby doll shorts is pretty limited!

• She loves to pretend she's sleeping.  Anywhere the urge hits her!  

• She loves to play ball.

• She's not at all interested in using the potty.

• She loves "eatmeal" (aka oatmeal) 

• She has to have her bed just so when she goes to sleep.  We have to fluff her pillow pet, and situate her dolls in just the right spot.  And don't even think about trying to cover her with a blanket!

• She loves chocolate!

• She'll walk into the room, put her arms around you and say "I love you too."

• She'll point to her eyes and say "I have blue and white.  You have blue and white?"

• Whenever she is happy with something (a particular food, book, etc.) she'll excitedly say "You buy this??" followed by "Thank you buy this!!"

• She loves music, dancing, coloring and painting.  And she LOVES books. We frequently find her alone in her room tearing every book off the shelf and looking through them for long periods of time!

She's making huge strides in both speech and physical therapy.  The picture above was taken a few months ago -- see her drool-covered shirt?  This almost never happens now!  She still drools some, but she is so much more aware of it, and knows that she needs to wipe her chin or try to keep her mouth in a closed position.  Yay Alyse!  She still wears a brace on her right foot, and is about to get a custom-made one (read: $$$$).  We have high hopes that this continues to help her make improvements!

She's the earliest riser at our house, so we sometimes go down in the basement to play before anyone else gets up.  She totally looks out for me by saying "Let's go downstores.  Get your coffee, Mommy."  (That's how she says "downstairs".  So stinkin' cute.)

Our easiest sleeper has taken a drastic turn in that department. It started with her being scared of the music in her room, the noises outside her window, her clock, etc. She now screams bloody murder when we put her down for naps or bedtime. When we go in to try to calm her, she informs us she is scared.  Of what?  Monsters?  Noises?  Oh no.  She's scared of us.  Soo...there's a ton of parental advice out there about what to do when your kid is scared of monsters...but what do you do when Mommy and Daddy are the monsters!? 

I just love how her speech is exploding, but I do miss her baby talk. She no longer says my old favorites "Doonin?" and "Gonin?" (i.e. What are you doing? and Where are you going?) 

Her hair is finally starting to recover from that unfortunate hair cutting incident this Spring.  The one involving a certain "Salon Tessa".  It was a close call, but we decided not to fire Grandma over that one.

She and Calder are two little kindred souls.  They are so much alike and love each other to bits. She often requests that he read to her at bedtime and he always obliges.

Tessa and Alyse have a slightly more volatile relationship.  They really know how to press each other's buttons and arguments are not uncommon.  Alyse tends to give in to her big sister's demands -- probably more than she should.  But they do have their tender moments as well.  See?

We love you, Leesie!

First Day of 2nd Grade and Pre-K

First day of 2nd grade...complete with a fake smile and the outfit he put together himself!

Tessa was so excited to have her first "first day of school" photo taken!  She started Pre-K at her daycare, and she absolutely loves it.  ESPECIALLY the homework!  I suppose it's too much to ask that her homework attitude continues until...12th grade, right?

OBX 2013

We enjoyed another wonderful week at the beach this summer!