Author: magrilless

Helloooooooooo?

Is anyone still there? We’ve been gone for so long I wouldn’t blame anyone for checking out. You know how it is: once it’s been awhile, there’s a lot to catch up on. And so you put it off. But then there’s more. And more. And you put it off more and more. But I hope to come back, pick up at the present. After all, there’s been a lot going on, and there’s most certainly a lot to come. How about for now, I just leave you with a couple of pictures from our trip to Nashville for Uncle Pat and Aunt Sarah’s wedding. (Where we had a fabulous (and fabulously hot) time with all the family (and new family) and big city things.) See you soon!

Fantesstic Friday

Tessa had her 15-month check-up today. In a quarter of a year, she has gone from an off-the-charts tiny little girl to a shorty-pants oompa loompa. Remember that she wasn’t even registering on the graph last time? Well, she’s still not. For height anyway. But for weight she is now in the 25th percentile. And of course that Collins noggin is huge, in the 90th percentile. The doctor was impressed with her growth and her expansive vocabulary, which now includes things like snack, banana, avocado, bread, drink, more, cracker, and cheese. I guess her weight gain shouldn’t have been a surprise. She’s also saying truck, sock, jacket, trash, book, belly, bath, and again. Also a surprise is the fact that she grew two molars without telling anyone. The doctor opened her mouth wide up and there on the top way in the back are these huge honking teeth. Way to go, Tess!

Although she is now battling a cold and some sort of eye infection, she continues to just truck along cheerfully. Walking is definitely still her favorite activity. And she’s gotten pretty darned quick about it. She’ll teeter toward Bill’s and my room, where I keep a box of kleenex on my nightstand, and when she knows I’m following her she begins to “run” and giggle. Most of the time I beat her to it, but I let her get really close because it’s such a sweet little naughty thing to do. Yes, she does know how to be naughty. Poor Eliza has to ask for a drink now because Tessa loves to splash all the water onto herself and the floor. And she has to be supervised closely with a cup because she flips it upside down immediately when she’s done taking a drink. Oh, and she has discovered toilet paper. That’s another one she’ll giggle and run for. But she’s so happy doing nearly everything. Just a happy girl.

Fantesstic Friday

Wow. So. Totally did not mean to take a month-long hiatus. We’ve been, you know, busy and stuff with kids and stuff around here. It’s mostly Tessa’s fault. She decided at the beginning of February to walk. Not by herself, but she became obsessed with the idea of walking holding on to a grownup finger. That’s all we’ve been doing. Walking. All other words in her vocabulary were replaced with one: “walk.” She would grab my finger, pull me to the front door, and bang on it saying “walk side walk side walk.” (So I guess that’s two words to fill a month.) All she wanted to do is walk outside, up the street and down, up the neighbors’ steps and down. Inside the house we just do laps from waking up to eating to napping. Walk. Occasionally I can grab something as we pass and take it to a new room when we get there, but that has been the extent of my household accomplishments during Tessa’s waking hours.
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Until Monday. We got back inside from our (can you guess what?) walk, I took off her jacket and hung it up. When I turned around for her to grab my finger, she was halfway across the living room! On her feet! I scrambled for my camera to document, of course, but she was so fast about it that she had reached the other end of the house and had sat down before I could get it out and ready. So I got the camera prepared and set her up to document her second set of steps.

So there you have it. Tessa is walking. And walking. She is off and nearly running. I find if fairly astonishing how much she can do with less than a week of independent practice. She can turn around in a u-turn on one foot; she can bend down and pick something up and then walk again; she can go up and down curbs. On Wednesday (two days after first steps) she walked three blocks by herself. I followed her from 9th Street to 12th. And she can take direction! “Tessa. Put this in the washing machine.” Voila, it’s in the washing machine! You can tell she’s proud and having fun with this new skill. She’s a toddler!

Fantesstic Friday

Tessa is wonderful. She’s still cuddly and snuggly and always has those two fingers in her mouth. She will walk with one hand holding yours and will occasionally stand for several seconds if you let go of her. She will not lie still for an entire diaper change and gets upset when you try to finish the job while she’s on the move. She sat on her training potty the other day and let me read her three books. She loves stairs and thus it is increasingly difficult to visit certain people or places and do anything except follow Tess up stairs and carry her down, follow up, carry down, follow up, try to distract with another activity, soothe screaming by placing her at the bottom of the stairs, follow her up, carry her down, etc. Compared to other babies her age we come across, she has quite the vocabulary. Dog, Dada, Mama (yay!), Gi-gi, up, down, uh oh, help, drink, Eliza, apple, cup, nose, eye, no, yes. Although I think she wants us to visit Budapest because she shakes her head for yes. See below for how hilarious she thought it was to be “taught” nodding for yes. It’s a work in progress, you know.
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