8 months

Happy 2007! We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and is doing well.
Having Tessie around gave this Christmas a new energy. Santa’s visit was more exciting for us than Tessie, but she will get to know and enjoy family traditions. Although I’m not sure it will always be warm enough to walk to church. We even went to a tree farm to cut down our own tree. I would recommend that to anyone! It was fun and the tree lasted very well for us. Tessie didn’t like the sharp needles at first, but the lure of lights and ornaments was too much and she learned not to mind the poking as bad. Our tree ended up naked on the bottom 2 feet.
Now that Tessie is more mobile, she is getting into a lot more. She is crawling faster and cruising along and between furniture with more confidence. As I write this email it is 6AM- she isn’t awake, so for a moment the house is safe. Tessie is a climber. She has learned how to climb the stairs so yet another barrier was put up- which she immediately learned to climb over. We are working on a new solution. In the past week she has learned how to get herself to standing without help. She can stay balanced for about 5-10 seconds before she drops to her diaper-cushioned bottom.
Tessie is keeping us on our toes. She likes to be chased around the house by her daddy. She sounds like she has a lot to say. Mostly “va va va” but once in a while she speaks her own little language to some new object she finds. She makes a snorting face a lot, too. Again- I think we encourage it by laughing, so she does it more. We don't know if she means anything by it. Maybe it's revenge for taking too many photos. Notice she makes the face on Christmas Day when my perfect photo opportunity comes...
She is trying more new foods. Luckily she hasn’t gotten her mother’s sweet tooth, preferring green beans and carrots over bananas and peaches. We will be starting to splash around a pool at the YMCA when we start a “class” on Thursdays. Maybe it will get her good and tired for Thursday naps with Grampa. ;)