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.

1 year!

Tessie turned ONE today! Our little baby is growing up. How quickly the year has gone. Tessie is such a wonderful little girl- I can’t call her a baby anymore, can I? Stephen and I are so proud of Tessie. She has developed this wonderful personality of her own. We can’t imagine her being any other way than the way she is. She is very sweet and likable (as any of you who have met her know) and she is learning something new everyday. She says “Hi” now (repeatedly) and waves hi and bye with much better timing. She is learning how to use the new swing-set that Daddy got for her birthday (we have connections), but a little too well. Her climbing abilities make Mommy a little nervous. She has no fear. She is taking baths in the big tub now. She loves it. I switched her carseat to face forward.
Her birthday party went off without a hitch. Everyone had a good time. She got many new fun things to play with and wear. Mommy is happy that Tessie’s college fund is growing. (Can you imagine how much it will cost in another 17 years?)
We visited family in NY this month again. We have been hosting new friends at the house, too. Tessie will be taking her first plane ride to Florida with Mommy and Grampa this weekend to visit Auntie Sally, Uncle Freddy, and the rest of the family in the Sarasota area. Keep your fingers crossed for pleasant DIRECT flights.
Thank you all for watching Tessie grow this year. We hope that you have enjoyed it. I will still try to keep you up to date with photos, but now that she is a fast moving toddler, I may not be so good at it. Thank goodness for digital cameras or I’d be sending you photos of the back of her head.