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!