Tessie 4, Caden 21 months

Can you believe that we just celebrated Tessie's FOURTH Birthday?!
It was a bit of a whirlwind weekend with parties. We have been busy with friends and playdates and school. The kids have visited the zoo (the highlight Tessie keeps recalling is the Gorilla ate his own poo...) and we have our garden started. We have some new additions to the plantings in our yard. In addition to last years crop of tomatoes and cucumbers we will now have lettuce, strawberries, and blueberries! Yum. Hooray for summer harvest!
Easter was fun. The weather was beautiful enough to hunt for eggs outside. Shortly after Easter, we enjoyed a visit from Nana Sally. Although the visit was short, we were all recharged by her coming and had fun.

Tessie
For Tessie's 4th Birthday, she hosted a Fancy Nancy Dressy Tessie Birthday Party at the YMCA. Last year we had way too many kids there, so this year we only invited 8 of her friends. SOOO much better. She had a couple of friends from her storytime crew (from 6mos old), former daycare, and current daycare. They all got along wonderfully. At the end of the day I had to reflect on what a wonderful group of friends Tessie has and how lucky I am to have befriended their mothers. I can only hope that she continues to choose to be around such kind, outgoing individuals for the rest of her life.
Although the Birthday has trumped all other excitement right now, Tessie has been busy with other things. She has been going to swimming classes and is getting much better at taking chances jumping from the starting blocks. We will turn her into a swimmer yet!
She cracks me up with her thoughts. I really wish I could tape record every conversation I have with her. She has such a fun perspective on life. We have a "bird restaurant" (bird feeder) as opposed to a bird house where birds would sleep. She wants to learn everything we know...like how to get to Fenway Park. She said she wants the map in her head, too.
Tessie is a wonderful big sister. She tries very hard to deal with an inflexible little brother as he slaps her. Most times just quietly complaining when Caden "slimes" (drools on) her or tackles her, but also quietly enjoying it when Caden is tortured by diaper changes and medicine dosages.

Caden
Just when I thought Tessie was a genius, Caden came into my life. He has grown so much more since the last blog. He is a little talker! He has over 200 words in his vocabulary. He is able to clearly articulate what he wants most of the time. Understanding speech development as a teacher I am impressed with conversational milestones he has met so young. He is speaking in two and three word phrases ("daddy truck"), initiating conversation ("wha-you-doin'?"), and turn-taking in conversation (C:Momma?...*waits for me to answer* ME: Yes, Caden? C: Umm...tree! ME: You see a tree, Caden? C: yeah.) If he does not get an answer, he gets mad. If I do not respond with the exact thing he saw like a tree, car, fire truck, etc. he gets mad because he thinks I wasn't listening so he will repeat the word over and over again until I tell him that I saw it, too. Such a funny kid.
He is into all sorts of manly things like trucks, balls, dirt, and destruction. He is also swimming when Tessie has class at the YMCA. He LOVES the water. He already floats horizontally on the water, uses alternating arm strokes, kicks, and blows bubbles. Just not at the same time, so for now I hold him (or my friend Pamela does) while he is in the pool. It will be a fun summer!

Tessie 3.9, Caden 18 months

The holidays have come and gone and a new year/decade has started. The kids have been doing well. Tessie was very excited for Santa's visit. We made cookies and left them by the tree to bribe the big man for some fun toys. Tessie was rewarded with a set of Disney Princess (Barbie-like) dolls and Polly Pockets. An hour later, she was playing in the laundry basket. Santa brought Caden some blocks and trains. He was thrilled, but now he is learning Tessie's rule of, "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine." He is pretty good about sharing. Santa left a couple of lumps of coal for Tessie as an I'm-watching-you warning.

Tessie also got her first pairs of ballet and tap shoes to prepare for her first class on Saturday. She loves to show us how acrobatic she is by showing off her "moves". Maybe a little guidance will give her some grace. She still loves anything girlie: dresses, princess, chapstick, shoes, etc. She was in her glory when Auntie Kris took us to see "Disney on Ice". Her face during the whole show was just precious. She is doing very well at Preschool. She can write her first and last name, Caden, mommy, daddy, Ava & Nora (her friends). She loves to play rhyming games, count (up to twenty-ten), read books with us, and do puzzles. She also loves to watch movies. She looks forward to Caden's naptimes on the weekends when she can watch them. She's on a Snow White kick right now. When she starts to act up, I tell her that she's being "Grumpy" and to pick a different dwarf to act like. When I told her to be "Dopey" once, she said "But Dopey doesn't talk". My reply: "PERFECT!" She is generally a very good girl, but she will tell you that, "Santa brought me coal 'cause I was a little bit bad."

Caden is growing so fast. He is officially a toddler. He walks/runs all over the place, tortures his sister, and is a wonderful huggable creature. He is quickly becoming a little boy. He, again, has changed so much since the last post. He is showing us every day how much he understands. I have been signing with him like I did with Tessie. I really think this has helped his language and vocabulary tremendously. When he recently switched from the infant to the toddler space at daycare, I wrote out all the words he knows and I was amazed. He has about 70 words that he communicates to us! They are: all done, apple, baby, ball, banana, bath, bear, bike, bird, book, bubble, bus, bye, car, cat, cheese, coat, cookie, cow, cracker, cup, dadda, diaper, dog, doll, duck, eat, eye, fish, flower, frog, grampa, grapes, hat, helicopter, hi, horse, Mickey (mouse), Minnie (mouse),momma, monkey, more, motorcycle, no, nose, orange, penguin, phone, plane, please, plug (pacifier), poo-poo, Santa, sit, snack, snow, snowman, sock, spoon, strawberry, stuck, Tessie, train, tree, truck, uh-oh, uncle,up, waffle, wash (hands), water. He understands much more, but that's just what he either says or signs. He also tries to parrot words when we label them- overall he's just great with language. Caden is learning to feed himself with a spoon given the food is sticky, like cottage cheese. He is a climber, too. I'm amazed that he hasn't had as many black & blues as Tessie had as this age.

Stay tuned as the winter bears down on us. Hopefully the thaw will come sooner rather than later. These kids need to get outside more!

Tessie 3.6, Caden 15 months

What a difference a few months make!
All the leaves have fallen and the cold is coming quickly. Being back to work and with both kids in daycare, life is moving quickly. It doesn't leave much time for blogging. Our new commute takes us right by the park, so we stop there on our way home almost daily. We are still trying to make the most out of the outdoors while it lasts. I got a trailer for my bike. The kids enjoy riding in the back. Caden's not a big fan of wearing the helmet, so our rides haven't been very long.

Tessie has adjusted well to her new "purple and blue school". She has made lots of new friends and enjoys having Caden close enough to visit, but far enough that she has her own space. She had a blast going to all sorts of parties for Halloween and trick-or-treated for Nana, Auntie Terri, Uncle Cookie, and Uncle Bill. I think she got addicted to candy for a few days, to the point where she got grumpy (I think with withdrawals) when we ran out. Tessie is still a princess that refuses to wear anything but dresses. A couple of weeks ago she actually wore jeans and I hardly recognized her.

Caden is officially walking. Actually borderline running now. He has curbed his appetite somewhat. His favorite foods are bananas and cheese. I swear his can finish an entire banana in less than 2 minutes. That's no joke. It's actually kinda gross- like a hot dog eating contest. He is dancing/bobbing up and down when he hears music he likes. He has more signs (banana, grampa, duck, bath, Mickey Mouse) and is saying some words: Tessie/"Dezzie", daddy, "uh-oh", "buh-bye", ball(for anything round), dog (for most animals that might look like dogs), duck, banana/"na", car/"cah", bath/"bah", grampa/"bub-buh", diaper/"bah-bur", and "no" (courtesy of his big sister by the tone he uses it). He loves to take baths. As soon as dinner is over he starts to sign and say bath, hoping it's bath night. He's a really happy kid. He will pucker up when you ask for a kiss. He's still a momma's boy and clingy, but getting better. I can tell when he's tired because he grabs a hold of my ponytail and won't let go. We're losing daylight so quickly.
I hope everyone counts their blessings this Thanksgiving. I know we are so grateful for our children and all of our extended friends and family.

Tessie 3.3, Caden 1 YEAR!

Beware: 90 photos in slideshow. Sorry it has been a while.


Monthly updates no more. We got a slower start to the summer because the weather didn't seem to cooperate, but still managed to keep busy. We spent the day in Boston for the Life is Good Festival way back in June. It was like kids' heaven: parachute games, seed spitting contests, live music, face-painting, Goldfish crackers, and free ice-cream. We also visited family in the Albany area to see Oma and cousins. On my way there, I got some amazing news that I was hired to work here in my town. While I will miss Watertown, it is an incredible opportunity. The kids will be at daycare in my school so I don't need to stress about the commute or drop-off/pick-up anymore.
We visited friends in Long Island, NY and spent almost a week in NH on Lake Winnisquam. We also did day trips to Grampa's house. He opened up the old sandbox from 25 years ago and fills up the kiddie pool for the kids. Tessie has a friend that we visit up in Maine, I have a friend that we visited down the Cape,and Nana Sally visited us for a week.

Tessie has mastered hopping on 1 foot. She likes to do chalk drawings on the driveway, coloring, writing, singing, making up songs, visiting with friends. She is still very active and likes to spend her energy at the park. She is more confident swimming with just a bubble. She is a grown up little girl. You can carry on a full conversation with her. She has somewhat hit the terrible 3s- generally low-key but has her moments of meltdown. Tessie is very excited about her new "purple and blue" school. We got to take a tour of her class and meet some new friends before she starts on Monday.

Caden is still on the edge of taking his first steps. He is cruising quickly, using a push along walker, climbing stairs, chairs, slide, and low surfaces. His favorite thing to do right now is EATING, groaning with pleasure as he does it. His favorite foods are ice cream, Cheese, peaches, blueberries and pumpernickle bread. He is clapping, signing more (signed dog, more, ball, all done), and tries to do motions from storytime (itsy bitsy spider). He also like to play in the water. He can blow bubbles in water and even does it on command which is neat knowing that he understands us. We have had a great year at home with our friends from the Library on Thursdays and Friday. He is a big fan on Mickey Mouse and dances (bobbing and swaying his head) when he hears the theme music from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show that both kids seem to be obsessed with. Caden also reached the milestone of turning ONE on August 18th. Can't beleive how quickly it has gone by. He has a Birthday BBQ at our house but the poor kid was sick and didn't enjoy it at all. We'll have a do-over next week or something.

Happy Labor Day everyone. Hope you enjoyed the summer. I will try to get on top of things and do the blogs more frequent again.

Something Fun: Here is a photo of Stephen that I scanned. I see quite a bit of Caden in him.
Stephen


Caden

Tessie 3 years, Caden 9 months

May was a very busy month. I'm trying a new format to give each child their due, although I already know that Caden is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to photos.

Tessie turned 3 on May 8th. We all comsumed more cake in one week than the average person probably does over a few months. On top of her own birthday, many friends have birthdays (and parties) so we have not had many weekends to ourselves. We even made it to a Chuck-E-Cheese party. That won't happen again anytime soon. Another party required a trip to the hospital when she twisted her knee on a trampoline. No more parties after this weekend.
She has learned how to snap her fingers and practices hopping on one foot. She can get herself dressed for the most part. She mostly wears dresses anyway. She's fine now, but also got a fat lip this past week. She is going to the potty more independently and even asks us to close the door and says , "I want privacy"...just turned 3 going on 13.
New games she likes to play are hopscotch (but she hops on both feet) and Hide-and-Seek (but she usually tells you where she's hiding). Her favorite book right now is Tikki Tikki Tembo and favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She loves school and all of her friends there. About 6 kids from her Preschool class just finished a session of swimming lessons. We provided the extra carseat and the YMCA took the group over to the pool in a van then brought them back to school. She loved it.
She is beginning to talk on the phone more. She can spell full name and writes her first name- although her S is just a little squiggle, but hey, she just turned 3. She'll tell you that she's 3 and that her birthday is May 8th. She can recite her phone number, address, she can write many letters of the alphabet and draws people. See the picture she drew of herself. Click on it to truly appreciate it


Caden a.k.a. the Meat-man, Porky-pine, Fat-man, C-dog, etc. is about 19 lbs. He is Crawling with the same funky one-leg-up crawl that Tessie had. He pulls himself up to standing and cruises along furniture or whatever he's holding onto. We have been re-babyproofing the whole house. He still manages to cause trouble. Caden claps his hands, waves hi/bye, and says "Buh-buh" for bye-bye. He responds to his name and some signs (milk, more, cereal, finished, bath). He is finally eating solids. He absolutely refuses baby food, but eats cereal like there's no tomorrow, and will try new finger foods if he feeds himself. Caden is generally sleeping through the night, but he is up at 5AM. He wakes up happy. As soon as he gets up he throws his pacifier, and is ready to chat, chirping and yelling in the hallway as soon as he's up. We go to baby gym on Thursdays and the library on Fridays. We have met a nice group of moms so Caden can have friends outside of the younger siblings of Tessie's friends. Like his sister, he is also a fan of Mickey Mouse. His favorite thing to do is splash in the bathtub or kiddie pool. He also likes to play catch. Maybe he will go pro someday...

2.11 and 8 months

I wanted to give one more update before Tessie turns three, so I'd better hurry. It has been a while since the last entry. We went south to Florida for a week to visit Nana Sally, Uncle Bob, Uncle Freddie, and Robbie. The kids had a great time being in less layers than when up north, although the weather was pretty cool for FL standards. Now that spring is emerging, we are getting outside more. Both kids are making use of the swingset now. We made a trip down to LI to visit my collge friends and Tessie's friend Katarina. Easter was very exciting for Tessie this year. She was excited the Easter Bunny visited and left baskets for her and Caden. He even hid some eggs in the house and in the yard. She was not fond of the egg filled with green beans, but she did love the "browns" (chocolate) he left for her.
The kids are doing great. Not quite 3 yet, Tessie is becoming a bit more challenging - typical of the threes I guess. She is still a sweetheart, but has her moments of being uncooperative. She is very flexible with Caden's sleeping schedule (or lack of) and mostly tries to be a good helper. She loves to help make food in the kitchen. She and mommy have matching aprons now. We even planted some seeds to hopefully eat some of own vegetables this summer. Tessie's preschool has started taking kids to the YMCA pool for swimming lessons. She LOVES it.
Caden is almost 19 lbs now at 8 months. He wants to be part of the action all the time now. Tessie is practicing sharing with him now that he is starting to want things to play with. Caden is on the move now, too. He is squirming across the floor in a military style crawl and continues to roll as a faster way to get there. He has also pulled himself up to standing holding onto toys and people. His legs are still very wobbly and he forgets that he's holding himself up, so he falls if your not spotting him. He is affectionate and loves to hug and squeeze. He has been known to grab me by my hair and pull, gumming on my face. Tessie even knows to beware of Caden when he is in "attack mode". Hes starting to babble a little saying "Ba ba ba" and shouting and squeaking. We go to the library for 1:1 time on Fridays while Tessie is at Preschool.

2.9 years and 6 months

What a long winter it has been so far. The kids have been stuck inside so much because it has been either too cold or too icy to play. Despite being in such close quarters for a long time, we actually still love each other. We have been doing our best to change things up and do new things. We have gone to open gym times at the local YMCA and gymnastics gym. We get together about every week with friends from the library and another family we have met through daycare. We went with them to a winterfest about a couple of weeks ago and Tessie got to ride a pony for the first time. Getting all that fresh air, Tessie actually napped (a rare occurance).
Indoors, I'm impressed by Tessie's imagination. She is always inventing new games and words and I'm proud to say that she plays the way that all children should: without batteries- building forts out of cushions, driving cars across the wood floors, building with blocks, reading books and having tea/birthday parties with her dolls and using pretend objects.
She impresses me with her mature language sometimes. She corrected me the other day about the periwinkle color of her toothbrush. When I told her it was blue she said "Actually, it's purple, mommy." She even got persistent when I tried to have her move something by herself ("I just told you, I can't move it. It's too heavy.") Not even 3 going on 13.
Six months already, Caden is growing fast and doing more. He rolls around on the floor to get from here to there. He can sit up by himself, but needs pillows around him for moments of spontaneous combustion when he just crashes backward or to the side. We are trying to get him to eat solids. It's proving to be frustrating for both of us. I'm not sure that he's ready. I keep trying but the poor kid just does not like baby food.
Not much going on here for trips this past month. We had to cancel a trip to NY because both of our friends and Tessie got ear infections. It was her first time on antibiotics and she was great about it- even reminding me that she needed to take it before bedtime when I forgot. She'll be taking care of me in less than a year I think. We are looking forward to our first family vacation to Florida. We all can't wait to shed the layers of clothes and get into that sunshine.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As expected, this Christmas was very exciting. Tessie gets it that Santa comes to our house to leave toys for her. She was very calm and excited to see him and sit with him at the mall. What she doesn't understand yet is that it is only one night. She has been asking to open presents every AM since, is still requesting that I read her Christmas books, wants to watch Rudolph, and didn't want me to put away the Manger because she still wants to play with it. We compromised and decided to keep everything up until New Year's Day. We visited with friends for Christmas and New Year's parties and had some of our friends over for a cookie decorating party. We have been trying to go to the library's storytime and, with the holiday rush, we steered clear of our mall (which by the way is filmed in the new Kevin James movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop"). Between shoppers and the snow, traffic was congested for a while around here. We spent a bit of time at the local YMCA. It has a mat room that is perfect for toddlers to just run their energy out. She is pretty good at somersaults now. Tessie was able to enjoy the snow a little. She couldn't make a snowman (Tessie:"Snow's not sticky enough"), so we made snow angels instead. We kept ourselves amused by doing Christmas crafts and other holiday traditions like cutting our own Christmas tree and decorating a gingerbread house. Tessie even helped put stamps on Christmas cards this year. She loves to help out with things like that. On Christmas Eve we attended church and both of the kids did spectacular, especially considering the size of the Christmas crowd. We baked gingerbread cookies with Auntie Kris and left some for Santa along with a glass of milk and carrots for the Reindeer. She also left her pacifier and some toys she doesn't use so Santa could bring them to children who need them. I was surprised at the amount of toys she was willing to part with. Tessie was happy to see that Santa left trains for her along with some other surprises like a tool belt. She was also happy to play with gifts for Caden from mommy and daddy- which were actually toys that we gave her 2 years ago, hid last Christmas, and rewrapped for Caden. Funny how that works. Tessie has been doing fantastic with potty training. She wears pull-ups only at night. She has even been dressing herself lately when she wears pull-on type clothes. Tessie says that she a a princess, so she insists on wearing dresses every day, preferably blue (her favorite color is aqua blue). She outright refuses to wear jeans despite the color. Whose child is this?! She is going to be transitioned from the toddler room to pre-school this month- such a smart girl. The Star Spangled Banner is still part of her bedtime repertoire. I actually taped her singing it just after I posted my last blog. I hope you enjoy it.

She is still a good big sister to Caden. Tessie can make him smile and giggle like nobody else. He loves her. Caden is a moose. At 4 1/2 months old, he is already 16 lbs! He weighed bigger at his 4 month Dr. visit than Tessie did at her 6 month check up. He has learned to roll over- and alternately learned to NOT roll over because he doesn't like to be on his tummy. He is perfectly content to swing in his swing- as long as he doesn't reach the weight limit on it first! He sleeps better there than in his own crib. I'm still holding out hope that he will sleep 6 hours at night at some point. He likes to be held up standing so he can look around. He is deliberately reaching for things and pulling them closer to him. We have even put him into Tessie's Baby Einstein (like a walker that doesn't move) and he loves that. It gets very messy because he loves to blow bubbly raspberries, too. The kids are growing so fast.
I hope you all are enjoying the updates. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2009!

By the way- I just want to give a plug to a couple of businesses really quick.
1) Keepsafeco.com is a company some good friends of our are starting up. They sell all sorts of gear for families. They are nice, honest people offering some unique items to buy online.
2) Signingtime.com is the company that makes the DVDs that Tessie adores so much. I give them all the credit in the world for creating fun, educational videos that have allowed Tessie (and us) to learn ASL and we hope Caden will learn too. I have used them with my Special Education Students at school, too. Request them at your local library or buy some for yourself.
Both companies are trying to keep afloat in this tough economy so keep them in mind for your own family or for gifts.

Tessie 2.5, Caden 3 months

How quickly the time passes.
Caden is 3 months old, so he can already hold a grudge against me for not documenting his life as I have for his sister...Caden is already so different from the last blog entry; in size (already 14 pounds)and personality. He is much more aware of what is going on around him. He smiles, laughs, and jabbers a bit. He turns his head toward things that interest him- mostly his big sister. I swear he loves her more than anyone else. He is aware of his hands and feet. He reaches for toys when he is laying on the playmat and is rolling onto his side. He has transitioned to sleeping in his own crib in the room that he and Tessie share. So far, his record (and mine) for continuous sleep is 5 hours at night, but mostly 3 1/2 - 4 hours.
Tessie doesn't even seem to notice Caden in her room. She has stopped napping so she's pretty wiped out by nightfall. She is a big girl now. She has been doing a great job with potty, wearing big girl underpants at home and keeping a dry diaper most of the time. She is still going to daycare and has been going into the pre-school room with the 3 yr olds from time to time. She will probably be in there full time in the next couple of months. Our daughter is quite patriotic. Part of her bedtime routine requires that I sing the national anthem (it's a long story) and she sleeps with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the US (another long story).
We have been very busy since the last entry. My college roomates from NY visited Columbus Day Weekend so we took them around New England style by taking them apple/pumpkin picking at a local farm. They had hay rides, food, and entertainment. We were lucky to have had such great weather. Caden was Christened on October 26th- with about 10 other children. He slept through most of the ceremony. Tessie got together with friends for costume parties before Halloween- Tessie was a penguin and Caden was a fish. Since she doesn't really eat candy, we didn't bother with trick-or-treating. We had a couple of campfires in the backyard. Stephen and I were more excited than the kids to roast hotdogs and marshmallows over the flames. We also went to the Albany area to visit family. Tessie had a blast with her cousins and Oma Renate.
These next couple of months are going to be exciting with Tessie. She is at the age where she understands the holidays better although I was able to convince her that Halloween was a holiday to give away candy for now. She has already seen Santa at the mall and looks forward to when he comes to our grey house. She has been a very good girl this year...

It's a BOY!

On August 18th we welcomed the arrival of Caden Alexander. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 12 oz. Tessie has been the best big sister that Caden could ask for. She loves him so much and is a good helper to all of us. It has been great staying at home with them. We have spent a lot of time at the park and with friends and family at home. Tessie is still going to daycare to stay social. That gives Caden one or two days to relax with minimal distraction. He still sleeps a lot, but I still need to be on my toes because Tessie does not. For now I mostly pay attention to Tessie unless Caden really needs me. He's not old enough to understand neglect the way Tessie does with us splitting our time between two now.
Tessie is an absolute hoot to be around. She is just so cool. The way she is able to talk and hold a conversation, she cracks us up. It's fun to watch the way she thinks, takes in the world, and remembers experiences. For instance, she recently named her Mr. Potatohead "Chip". She explains "Like the music". We have a CD with a song called "Potato Chips". Very imaginative. She is going through a phase that she loves the "Do Re Mi" movie (aka The Sound of Music) but only the musical scenes with the children. Thank goodness for DVDs and scene selection. She is still working on potty training, using the potty about 3 times a day. Tessie loves learning already- is she a teacher's daughter or what? She knows all of the letters in the alphabet and some corresponding words. N for Nana, U for Uncle, T for Tessie, C for Caden, L for Library. She can recognize and spell her name out loud and draw a T. I swear I have not pushed her at all. She is just a sponge with an amazing memory. She is 2 though, and is gaining "independent" thoughts. She is testing her limits, but overall means well. Again, I can't say enough about how fun she is and how proud I am of her already.
Caden is growing so fast everyday. He is stronger and more alert to the world around him. He has been smiling and laughing; at what I have no idea, but it's amusing. He rolls with whatever we are up to- whether apple picking or going for walks to the park, or even just tolerating being held by his overly loving big sister. Caden looks more like Tessie as he gets older.

27 Months

We are officially on vacation. A month ago, I finished teaching (for a year, anyway) and Tessie had her last full week of daycare. She will still keep going one day a week to stay social and not be stuck with me (and the new baby) all the time. I can't believe it's only about 2 weeks until Tessie is going to be a big sister. She is going to be so good at it. She loves it when her little friends come over with their baby siblings. She loves to kiss the babies and tickle their feet. Let's hope she is willing to do the same with ours. She has already learned to love being a little helper by carrying groceries into the house, putting things away, getting the telephone (and usually bringing it to me) when it rings.
We have cut back on traveling far lately. We did make one last trip to Long Island to visit with my college pals. Tessie visited my school for a day, too. The students I work with wanted to designate Tessie as the class mascot. They love it when she visits. We visited with family down the Cape for a day. We went to New Hampshire for a five days with Grampa. Tessie really enjoyed the beach by the lake this year, although the weather didn't cooperate much. She loved jumping off the dock and swimming with her "Super-Suit" (aka coverall bathing suit with floatation devices around her chest giving the appearance of heroic superpowers). She has been able to go on a boat during day trips to Maine with friends and on Boston Harbor with family (Thanks, Steve and Jeanne). Now she asks to go on a boat every day. She truly enjoys being on the water.
Tessie is very chatty and active. She talks in complete sentences. She connects people to things going on around her. For example: "Sink dripping. Grampa come fix it.", "Telephone ringing. Call Nana Sally.", "Daddy drive in truck. Go to work/shopping/Nana's house." Most of the time she is able to tell us with her words exactly what she is thinking. Her new word of choice is "scary". Anything that is unusual right now, is scary. She sings songs a lot. She loves music and dancing.
She loves it when friends and family come over to visit. She has a good friend from daycare named Merideth that she adores and they actually play very well together- especially for a couple of 2-year olds. We still get together with friends from the Library, but not as often. That will change now that we will be home and looking for fun and exciting things to do.

We had another ultrasound for the new baby. He/She is growing big just as his/her big sister was. They technician estimated at 33 weeks that the baby was already about 5lbs 4oz- a little above average. At my last appointment they estimate more than 8 lbs. The baby is active, wriggling around for the limited space in my belly. Less than 2 weeks (maybe) until we get to meet the little one...

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Tessie is such a love in our lives. I know I keep saying it, but she is just sooo much fun to be around. She is talking even more. I have estimated that she has well over 350 words in her vocabulary. She is stringing together sentences and talking more about experiences rather than just objects. I love sneezing and hearing her little voice say “Bless you, Mama”. Her memory for people is much better, now asking for people by name Uncle (Dave), Papa (Grampa), Nana, Aunt Terri, Uncle Cookie, Kris, etc. She even inquires about them when they are not around (object permanence for you psychologists out there). We have been talking to her about the baby that is coming to live with us. I found a couple of good books about it that we have been reading to her.
We had our ultrasound on March 10th. We did not find out the gender. We did find out that the baby’s due date seems pretty accurate according to the measurements. All in all, healthy is what we are looking for, and it’s what we’ve got so far. Who could ask for more than that?

Back to Tessie-
Sitting on the potty… with results, shall we say? She is using it at daycare and at home about 4 times a day. Now that the weather seems to have broken and we have gotten our final snow storm (famous last words) we are getting much more time outside. Tessie is enjoying experiences like going to the 2 playgrounds near us…driving us crazy because there is no hiding what she wants now that she talks (“Mama, go for walk park/playground” or “Simon Park”) but not understanding conditions that make it less fun (cold, rainy, dark out, 5 minutes from bedtime).
Tessie got a toddler bed (“Happy Birthday Bed” as she calls it) as an early birthday present from us. She transitioned to it no problem and still hasn’t figured out that she can just get out of bed to find us if she wants. She still lays there waiting for one of us to come get her. It’s only a matter of time, I’m sure.
She had a great birthday, although she fell asleep at her own party! She loves playing with all of her new toys, which makes it a little harder to leave home in the morning. She has made some friends at daycare and talks about them often. We have even gotten to know some of the parents, which is nice.
Hope everyone is enjoying the coming of Spring.

(The photos are out of order. Sorry, I don't know how to fix it.)

Almost 22 months

It is almost March and the countdown to Tessie’s 2nd Birthday has begun. She is learning more everyday. It seems like every phase she goes through in life I feel like it is my favorite so far, but right now, Tessie is so fun to be around. She is learning so much every day. It makes me realize why many people have told me to cherish the time with her. Just when I feel like I know her so well, she surprises me be doing and saying more. There is no freezing time to enjoy it, or turning the clock back to remember how it was. I’m just going with the flow rather than mourning the baby that has become more and more independent each day. As many of you know by now, Tessie will be a big sister in August, so the pressure to lay still in my arms on her is going to be lessened when we welcome a new baby to our home. She has been very good about being gentle with smaller babies – like when her friend Katarina came to visit for a weekend and at daycare when she visits the infant room.
So right now she is still interested in the Signing Time Videos and Elmo along with all of the Sesame Street characters. Her Uncle Donald gave her some dolls of the characters for her 1st birthday and she carries them around the house with her. She knows all their names and requests to sleep with Ernie and Bert every night. She even likes to line them all up, sitting them all down on
the couch and sings to them. I think she's pretending to be a teacher like she is at daycare or something! It's so cute... At daycare they have been teaching her how to “march” and crawl around like animals. They have really been doing a great job with her. She also got a little plastic kitchen and she loves to “make tea” for guests. It’s her way of breaking bread and opening up. She tends to be shy for the first 15 minutes when people show up, but forget it after that. You have a friend for life if you’ll just have tea, draw, and read with her.
Tessie is talking much more- even making broken sentences. She knows most of her colors, sings the Alphabet (with about half of the letters and her name is part of the song sometimes, too), and she can count to 10 (but she skips 5 most of the time). I am very glad to report that she has some of the most important words in her vocabulary (please, thank-you, sorry, bless you) and knows when to use them.
At daycare they have started to sit Tessie on the potty, so I have done the same at home. Not a lot of pressure, but she just sits there for about 15 minutes once or twice a day while I read books to her. She seems to like it. She is letting us know almost as soon as her diaper is wet or loaded -sorry to disgust those of you who haven’t been through the process, but it’s a proud moment. We hope that she’ll be trained by the time her baby brother/sister arrives.
We have been enjoying the snow and still try to get outside as much as possible. We still look forward to spring when we can enjoy the swing set more. Not that a little snow has stopped us. She actually in the past couple of weeks started using the big girl swing (while we have snow to cushion the fall if she lets go) and she loves it. We don’t push her very high, but she just giggles away and likes to throw her head back and swing. We have been getting her out this past week while I was on vacation too. We visited with family, had friends visit, and spent a day in Boston going to the New England Aquarium and for Dim Sum in Chinatown with good friends.
Hope you all are doing well, we will continue to update the blog as much as possible although I know it’s already becoming less frequent. We have an ultrasound on March 10th…We still haven’t decided whether to find out the gender of the new baby or not…Healthy is what we want the most.

Almost 20 months

Happy New Year! I hope that 2007 treated everyone well.
First off, I know that I am late with this update. I wanted to include photos from Christmas so I thought I would just put it off by a couple of weeks. November and December have been very busy. Tessie is learning more and more words, so I won’t be reporting on that anymore because I can’t keep up with her growing signing and speaking dictionary. She has gotten I lot more signs since we found these “Signing Time” videos that we rent from the local library.
She has developed some serious interests lately, too. One in a furry, red, Sesame Street Character…I think Elmo is growing on us, too. She has also become very passionate about her art. She loves coloring with crayons (and watching mommy and daddy doodle a bit) and painting which is fun on special occasions. She loves to wash her hands in the sink all by herself. I do standby to control soap and faucets.
She also has become a more “independent thinker” in the respect that we think something needs to happen (eat/sleep/clean-up), and she thinks something else. I guess that’s expected at this age. She has also been showing more interest in the potty. She is able to say and sign it, then pull down her pants and sit on the potty. Unfortunately, this usually happens when she is already finished and she is still wearing her diaper. It’s a good start though. Tessie has also learned jumping both feet at the same time, so she now has added that to her repertoire of ways to get around the house. She especially enjoys jumping off of things like her (kid’s) armchair and potty. Her new favorite song/dance is the hokey pokey and it’s very cute to watch her twirl around with her little pointer fingers in the air. She has also learned how to walk around on her tippy-toes like a little ballerina…also very cute to watch. It’s like she knows that she is entertaining us…Such a ham.
Since I have been sending these emails for a while I thought that, like many people in the world, I should just start a blog. I confess that this is a copycat idea from friends who have done the same for their children, namely Viola and (the newest) lovely Sophia. I will continue to email the Tessie Fan Club to let you know when I have updated the blog. I have posted the previous updates, so it’s pretty neat to take a step back and look at how Tessie has changed. With practice I hope to be able to learn how to add more photos and videos.
You’ll also get to see more photos here, too, like out-takes from our Christmas Card photo shoot. Thanks to Grampa, and the new camera he gave me for Christmas you will be overwhelmed with even more pictures. Hope you enjoyed the blog update. Let me know what you think.

18 months

Tessie is 18 months old! I can’t believe that she has been around for a year and a half. She has grown up so much. As we had expected, she is really understanding and using language now. She now has the following in her (speaking) vocabulary: hi, buh-bye, hat, mumma, dudda, apple, more-more, thank-you (duckoo), ball, shoes, socks, juice, upstairs (uppee), dog, sit (ish), train (choo-choo), boat, banana, bubble, kitty, trash (chosh). She has also added more signs: cat, helicopter, boat, cracker, and cookie, which she uses relentlessly until someone (i.e. daddy or grampa) gives in.

She is still running everywhere and climbing very well. She has become more independent in her play. She doesn’t need an adult on the floor with her all the time. She is happy enough to tinker around with her toys on her own and bring a book over to us once in a while. Her favorite book of the moment is “A” You’re Adorable (based on the song). She loves to sing and dance. She would give Jonathan Papelbon (Go Red Sox) a run for his money. You have to see the video. Hopefully I can figure that out for the next update

The biggest thing for me right now is how on-the-ball she is. She understands so much now. She follows directions (when she wants to) and even learned to be shy and/or embarrassed. It’s so cute. Her head drops down and she looks at her hands in her lap. I’m hoping we can bring her back out of her shell by touring her around again to visit lots of people. She wants to do everything on her own. She gets frustrated when I try to help her with things (like eating, wiping her nose and face, washing her hands, going up/down stairs, etc.) because she wants to do it by herself.

Tessie had lots of fun this fall. We picked out our pumpkins at Parlee Farms and had fun feeding goats. We had (toddler) friends over for a mini Halloween Party. My friend Liz took a bunch of fabulous photos of Tessie in her costume. We went to Brooklyn, New York this past weekend. She was a really flexible about adjusting to city life and being strapped down for the 4.5 hour ride each way. We visited with college roomie Karin (and cat Joey, whom was terrorized by Tessie all weekend). Tessie got her first ride on a train to Coney Island on Sunday. Tessie loved the New York Aquarium. She was a little freaked out by the giant walrus, but loved the fish, water fountains, and the general freedom of running around. We topped the day off by walking the boardwalk (seeing the Coney Island Polar Bear Club take a dip in the ocean) and getting none other than a famous Nathan’s Hot Dog. Take a look at the pictures.

I have changed the way you look at photos now. Instead of attaching huge files, I am sending you to Kodak or Snapfish (you choose) so you can see a whole slideshow rather than just a few pictures. It won’t take up space in your email and you can even have the photos printed locally if you want (Nana Sally). Let me know if you have a preference of a site because it’s tough uploading to two different sites. So look for emails immediately following this one from Kodak and Snapfish.

17 months

Tessie has been doing great at daycare. Everyday that we pick her up, they say she had a wonderful day. When we accuse them of saying that to all the parents (or of lying), Miss Shanell swears that Tessie truly has great days everyday. Along with daycare fun, she has gotten the daycare viruses. She has missed 4 days of daycare already. I keep telling myself that it’s good that she builds her immunity now rather than later when the learning starts to happen. Sick days are also a good excuse to stay home with Tessie or go Apple-picking! She loves to suck the juice off an apple core and says “appa” when she wants/sees one now. She even said “appa-sahs” too. Stephen and I keep trying to get her to say it again, but she’s not as inspired. Tessie is babbling up a storm. She is so sure of what she is saying, but we still don’t know. We think she’s right on the cusp of breaking the language code. Maybe soon…and then we’ll be telling her to be quiet.
On a sadder note, Tessie had her first BIG bump. She climbed up and over the back of the couch and bumped her head in the sweet spot that gives you a shiner. Avoid looking at the first picture if you don’t want to see it. I had to take a picture of it to remind her of the stress she put us under when she was a toddler. That’s what parents are supposed to do, right?
Maybe the next update will include Tessie in a RED SOX jersey… Everyone send your good vibes!

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!

13 months

Tessie has been very busy this month. She took her first plane ride to Florida. She was awake for the first 2 hours of flight and slept for the last hour on both departing and returning flights. She loved swimming in the pool everyday and playing in the sand on the beach.
We spent the day in Boston when cousin Tristan came to visit from NY. She loved walking around and chasing the ducks in the Boston Public Gardens.
She does very well getting toted around whether it is errands, graduation parties for cousins Patrick and Shane, or just going on walks so mommy can get some exercise. At least now she can travel in mommy’s sweet new ride (new Subaru family wagon).
We also had her One-Year photos taken at Target.
While at home, she loves playing on the swingset. She climbs all the way up the slide and ramp all by herself and goes down the slide like a big girl. See the YouTube Video I have posted of her going down the slide.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuNc7AExENM