16 months

Tessie has successfully made it through a short week at daycare. The first time I dropped her off, she was so excited to see the muffins they were giving out for breakfast that she didn’t even notice me leave (in tears, mind you). She started on Wednesday and her teachers say that she has adjusted amazingly well. They love her (who wouldn’t?) and she has lots of fun all day with the other kids. She is probably just happy to have a steady routine now because August was a hectic month.
We went to Long Island to meet her new friend Katarina. She was obsessed with her and was sure to let everyone know there was a baby around by signing “baby” to exhaustion. I think the whole experience motivated her to finally say the word “baby”. She now needs reminders not to call kids that are bigger than her “baby”. She also says “by-byeee”
Tessie and I went with Grampa, Uncle Dave, and Midnight to New Hampshire for 4 days. She met more kids at the beach and had fun chasing Midnight around. Again, she was doing the sign (for dog this time) a ton to be sure that we all noticed the dog in the house. Tessie and Midnight had fun and, the partners in crime that they are, learned that if the two of them pushed together, they could get the screen door open and make their great escape to the outdoors. Luckily I was watching when they made their run for it. She also learned the sign for motorcycle after sitting on Uncle Dave’s.
Tessie is almost able to reach to doorknobs (and knows to twist them) so childproofing is a work in progress again. Whenever Tessie was doing something wrong/unsafe Nana Sally said “ba-ba-ba!” when she stayed with us, so now whenever Tessie is on her own getting into mischief we hear Tessie saying “ba-ba-ba!”. She is her own worst enemy when she gets herself into trouble. She loves to sit at the kitchen table at an adult chair, but can’t quite be trusted. She can feed herself with a spoon, as long as the food is somewhat sticky, like applesauce, yogurt, or cereal soaked in milk. I still can’t get her to drink milk straight up, but she is starting to at daycare when she sees the other kids doing it. - Sorry this update is so long, but there was just so much to say. Tessie is growing so fast! And she has finally sprouted her 3rd tooth. I think the 4th is not too far behind.

15 months

July turned out to be a very busy month and August is looking equally eventful. Tessie had a successful week at home with daddy while mommy was at a workshop. He took her to the zoo (and didn’t take ANY pictures... I could kill him) and brought her to work a couple of times. She has had a lot of outside time playing in the mini-pool and just running around the back yard. Auntie Sally kept Tessie busy and into trouble visiting for a week. We also had some of the Dowgos family over for a visit on Sunday. Tessie enjoyed playing with everyone.
On Friday, Tessie had her 15 month appointment and some shots. She was very brave. She now measures 30.5 inches tall and has finally hit 20lbs. She is learning more signs. She has about 10 that she uses and understands like eat, more (thanks to cousin Jaime), hat (says “hat” too), dog, sleep, baby, siren (we hear lots of those), airplane, bird, sit, book, and she’s still learning more. She says “mumma” and “dadda” although she sometimes confuses them. She is teaching us how to baby-proof better because she is a climber. All benches/chairs must be pushed in because she uses them to climb onto the picnic/dining room tables. I’m wondering how much adrenaline a body can produce because I use my quota daily by keeping Tessie safe.
We have planned a long weekend trip to New York to visit the college friends and Tessie newest baby-friend Katarina! I’m sure we will have more pictures when we return.

14 months

Happy Independence Day!

Tessie is really becoming a little girl. She is learning so much so fast. It is incredible what she is able to understand and is even letting us know that she understands. I have been doing some sign language with her and she is starting to use the gestures. She does the sign for eat when she is hungry- and sometimes just when she sees something she wants to try to eat. She is 100% off baby food and baby’s milk. I can’t quite convince her that cow’s milk is the way to go. Any advice you might have to sway her otherwise would be helpful.
She loves books. We have one book that is just labeled photos. I think it’s her new favorite, second only to the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Anyway, when she sees the picture for “feet” she puts her feet on the book, when she sees the picture for “nose” she touches her nose, and when she sees the picture for “ball” she searches the house and brings back a ball.
She loves to dance. We listen to music a lot during the day. She twirls and stomps her foot (very cute). Her favorite song is the itsy-bitsy spider. She points her fingers together when she wants to hear it and does some of the motions- I can’t get her to do the sun part.
She shows love by leaning in touch her head to yours. It’s awfully sweet. She does it to her little baby friends too. I think she is going to be just fine in daycare. She is still working on sharing toys when her friends come over. She is generally good about it as long as they don’t take her favorites.
We did a couple of day trips to the Cape to visit with cousins Rainy and Pat and see friends from the Lowell School. July will be a fairly calm month. Daddy will be with Tessie for a week while Mommy does some training for school…It will be good practice…for both!

4 months

It’s amazing to really watch a human grow. Tessie is changing so much and learning so much every day. She is still sleeping through the night and stays busy during the day. She is awake more than asleep, which makes it a little harder to email, but much more fun overall. She rolls around a lot- sort of uses it as a mode of transportation. She is trying to creep and crawl, but hasn’t quite figured out how to hold her head up when moving her legs, so mostly she just plows her face along the carpet. Tessie is really watching what everyone is doing and pays close attention when we are eating. I think she may be almost ready to start cereal with her milk.
She is very grabby and mouthy. She grabs for anything that looks remotely interesting and shoves it into her mouth. Tessie’s new favorite toy is her Baby Einstein activity center. You should see the thing- it’s no wonder kids end up with ADHD with all of those attachments. She loves it and it keeps her attention. She is still chatty and seems to have found out her voice can get louder. She loves to hear it and look at herself in the mirror.
Tessie and I traveled to Long Island where my friend Kristen took about 200 pictures... don’t worry I didn’t attach them all. Then we went to New Hampshire with family for a few days too. She has gone swimming in a pool and dipped her toes in the ocean. She loved it. We may have another swimmer in the house! She is growing so fast. We will be getting her Christened on September 10th. No other major plans yet for September. It’s so strange to not be doing back-to-school shopping…

3 months

Tessie is almost 3 months old and she is doing great. She is already beyond many of the milestones expected for her age. (3 months and I'm already turning into "that" kind of mother. What can I say? I'm proud.) So, she is lifting her head up lots when she is on her stomach. She can sit propped up and still tries to stand. Our little genius has mastered rolling over from her back to her stomach- which makes us a little nervous. We have to really watch where we put her. At night I am learning that no matter how many times I flip her on her back, she is going to roll over to her stomach and sleep. She is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT for most nights from about 10 or 11 until about 5 or 6 am. This makes everyone happy and ready to play when morning comes. She is cooing and gooing and has had a few real belly laughs at Daddy and Grandpa. Nothing compares to that.

We have done a couple of day trips including her first boating trip in New Hampshire (the lifejacket was bigger than her) and one to visit her cousin Sara and family in the Albany area. Her Aunt Terri watched her while Stephen and I went into Boston for a date on our 2nd Anniversary- I took a photo before we left too (of course). We have had some visitors from all over and are looking forward to more family coming the end of the month from Louisiana. Tessie and I are taking a trip away from daddy for a weekend with the college roomates in Long Island. That means even MORE photos.

2 months

I just thought this might be a good way for everyone to watch Tessie grow- if you can't see her every day like I do.
Tessie is starting to smile more...more than just gas...and trying to talk. I don't know whether she gets that from her mother or father. Whatever- it's adorable and we play along. She is sleeping about 4 hours at a time at night. Not yet through the night. I’m looking forward to that. Maybe I should be spending more time resting when she is sleeping instead of using her as a prop and snapping pictures... Hope you have a great Independence Day!