Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tess: Almost Age 2

*When Tess takes a bath she likes to slide back and forth on her tummy, saying, "Swim, swim, swim!"

*Tess is a musical tease. One of her favorite games is to deliberately fill in the wrong words to songs. I will sing with her, "Twinkle, twinkle little star," only her version goes "Twinkle, twinkle little...Elmo." Or house, tunnel, Bert, froggy--whatever happens to come to mind. She immediately chastizes herself and then cracks up laughing. "Twinkle, twinkle little...BERT--NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

*Tess had the following conversation with herself in the car this week: "Papa. Nana. Tess. Dada. Mama. Happy."

*Whenever we go under an overpass on the highway, Tess yells out "TUNNEL!" She also thinks all the overhead signs on the highway are tunnels.

*She loves walking around in Mom & Dad's shoes. She's pretty skilled at walking in high heels.

*Part of Tess' bedtime routine includes snuggling into our bed and reading a book. Tess is pretty insistent that Dad is in charge of reading the book, though she likes Mom to listen too.

*Tess thinks that she can end prayers early by simply yelling out "AMEN!" in the middle of the prayer.

*Tess loves to pretend to wash her hands. She'll walk around carrying a big bottle of soap or lotion, hold her hands under the pump, say "S-s-s-s-s-s" (of course, that's the sound of the soap coming out of the bottle), and then rub her hands together. Repeat.

*Ryan has taught Tess that her nose beeps. It's not uncommon for her to beep her nose several times a day. Any other nose within beeping distance is also fair game.

*Tess is haunted by the memory of old battle wounds. She'll point to a place where she had a scrape 2 months ago, get a grieved look on her face and say, "Owie, owie!" Then a smile will break across her face and she'll say "All better!"

*There's a routine Tess likes to follow when she wakes up. She likes to point out all the "T's" in her room, then she likes to shake her moon waterglobe from her great-Granny, then she likes to look at her Wildflower Nature book from Cousins Camp. She's pulled off the dried flowers from most of the pages, leaving only dried stems. But she still sniffs each page and says, "Flower!"

*If you ask Tess which show she wants to watch, her answer without hesitation will be, "Drge!" Tess adores Curious George and gets very engrossed in the show. If George, say, falls off his bike, she'll gets a concerned look on her face and say ,"Oh no! Oh no!" If George spills paint everywhere, she'll say, "A mess! A mess!" George often provokes belly laughs and cries of "Funny! Funny Drge!"


*Tess does not like her activities to be interrupted by something as trivial as lunch. She often responds to a suggestion of lunch or dinner with tortured howls. She can usually be convinced by an offer of cheese--her all-time favorite food.

*Tess makes friends everywhere we go--even at stoplights. More than once I've caught a stranger in the car next to us smiling and waving hello to her at a stoplight. No one ever waves hello to me! Once an elderly man even rolled down his window and had a conversation with her.

3 comments:

Dipsy said...

I'm grateful that you won't let the lack of a camera keep you from informing those of us who want to know all about Tess. Cute post. Love, Dipsy

Maureen said...

I loved this post! So nice to get reacquainted with her before her visit. I can't wait!

Leslie said...

What a great post! I loved reading about little Tess and getting to know her personality (and laughing through it at all the funny things she does). So cute!