April 2011 Tidbits

I was looking at new hairstyles on the computer and I told Tess I needed to get my hair cut. Her 2 cents: "Yeah Mom, your hair isn't looking too good."

I asked Tess what she'd like to drink for dinner. Her drink options generally include: water, orange juice, milk, or chocolate milk. Her response: "I sink [think] Dr. Pepper or someping like that."

New Tess phrase: "Mom, you no telling the true."

When Tess was putting on her sandals she said, "You no need socks. You just wear your feet!"

"Mom, you got two arms 'cuz you take care of two people!"

We are proud of our Tessie this Easter Sunday! She gave her first Sacrament performance with the Primary kids. It was a complicated song they hadn't practiced much. We were talking with her about it the night before and she said: "I no sing the right words, but that OK!" We were just proud of her for going up with the other kids with no tears. Then after Sacrament, she gave her first prayer in Primary. I stood next to her, but she said the prayer all by herself. We had practiced "Primary prayers" and she did a great job. She thanked Heavenly Father for Easter and blessed the kids to listen to their teachers.

Backseat-Driver-Tess caught me as I sped up to make it through a yellow light: "Mom, that light yellow and you no slow down! You go back and try again!"

We were hanging outside on the deck while Tess performed musical numbers on her slide. She took a potty break and returned with a bare bottom. When I asked about her pants, she said: "Mom, I need a little sun break." I made her go put on underwear and when she returned, she announced: "I got my pants off and I ready for my talent!"

Tess was very excited because the Easter Bunny comes tonight. Every time I came upstairs after we put her to bed she'd pop her head up. "You're not the Easter Bunny! You're my Mom! I just can't sleep!"

"Drewz, you have the cutest little big eyes!"

Tess saw a No Parking sign: "Mom, why no P's allowed there?"

"Mom, I still three? It taking FOREVER!"

"Mom, you know I call the couch a trampoline?!" That explains the condition of our couch.

Before Ryan left for work, he got Tess dressed, fed her breakfast, fed Drew a bottle and his cereal too. All while I was still in bed. Can we say Super Dad? (Or Mama Slug?)

I was proud of Drewsie last night: I fed him at midnight and I didn't have to feed him again until 5:30 am. Then Ryan told me that the Drew woke HIM up at for a feeding at 2:30! That monkey child!!! What are we going to do with that baby?!

Me: "Tess today we get to go to a petting zoo! It's a place where you can pet animals."

Tess: "Mom, I can pet a LION?!"

Me: "Umm, well, no. You probably won't be able to pet a lion. We'll see what kind of animals they have to pet.

Tess: "OK. Maybe I pet a lion or a doggie or a tiger or someping like that. We'll see what kind. Probably a doggie."

Tess had taken off her shoes in the car, and when I went to unbuckle her seat she handed them to me and said, "Here. You can carry these." I looked at her and she said, "What? You not so get-cited 'bout that?"

An increasingly common Tess phrase: "I so frustrated about that."

Ryan: "Tess, what holiday comes after Easter?"

Tess: "I like the Fourf of July 'cause fireworks make me happy. I like the Fourf of July 'cause I like the music and things like that."

I took Tess to see the high school musical "Seussical" last night. Watching her face as she took it all in, I could tell it was a formative experience for her. Theater may be in our future.

A new word that Tess can read: "TOYOTA." She also recognizes the Toyota logo. She points out Toyotas everywhere we go. I have no idea why.

I love how Tess adds a strip of "green grass" to the bottom of her paintings.

Tess was excited when I told her that I got tickets for Idaho this summer, but then she got a concerned look on her face and said, "But I need a new nehture." I asked her twice what she was talking about and then she said, "I show you, Mom." She took me to her room and pointed to her shelf at the nature shadow box she made a Cousins Camp last year. She showed me where one of display items, a small rock, had fallen out and gotten lost. I assured her we could find a new rock for her Nehture Box at the Wild, Wild Woods this summer, and she seemed very pleased with that idea.

Tess had a small blister on her foot, and I was using the clippers to remove some of the dead skin. She was nervous, so I explained that it was old skin and new skin would grow back in its place. Her comment: "My skin like the snake at the nature center! I get new skin like a snake!" (She saw a snake with its shedded skin at the nature center weeks ago.)

Ryan asked Tess what she thought Drew would like in his Easter basket. He offered some silly suggestions, and Tess said, "No, he's just a baby!" Ryan asked, "So what would Drew like?" Tess replied, "Maybe he like hot water." It is one of two important ingredients in his bottle!

I told Tess a joke tonight and while laughing, she said: "Oh Mom, where I get you from?"

"Drewsie, you a little cannoli!"

Today I surprised Tess when I came around the other side the van to buckle her carseat. I said to her, "Fancy meeting you here!" She laughed and replied in turn, "How can I help you today?" while pretending to tip her hat.

When we walk through the door after being out for a while, Tess frequently says, "Phew! We made it!"

Last Wednesday morning I asked Tess where she was attending preschool that day. (Her preschool rotates among four houses.) At dinner that evening, I asked her the same question. Her answer: "Dad, you already asked me that." The best part: she rolled her eyes during her response. First of thousands to come.

Ryan: "Tess, when I get home from work tonight I want to hear about everything you did in your exercise class."

Tess: "That's a long story for that."

Another fun day of preschool at our house. Tess' friend Cade didn't want to leave when it was time to go home. "I want to be a Botham." [Translation: "I want to be a Higginbotham."]

Tess likes to pull down her eyelid, show her eyeball and say, "Creepy!"

"Mom, Drewsie is a sweetheart. I love to give him kisses. He so fuzzy."
Tess has become aware and concerned now that her clothes "match." She'll take her pants and shirt and lay them out on the floor to see how they look together. She has interesting notions of what "matches," though. She likes to match patterns, so if her pants have a hearts pattern, she'll pull out a shirt covered in hearts. Makes for some pretty psychedelic combinations.

Tess doesn't say "yes" anymore. She says "yep, yep!"

Baby Bootcamp Night #1: One hour of crying before Drew fell asleep.

"Drewey, you a little pickle. And you a little grape too!"
When I shower, I set Drew outside the bathroom in his bouncy seat. Yesterday while I showered, I could hear Tess run up and down the hallway while laughing her head off. When she reached Drew, she'd tell him, " Tag, you're it!" and then dash away.

Ryan told Tess that it is DC Squirrel Week. Laughing, she said,"Maybe they have a parade!"
Tess [laughing hysterically]: "I love my bum, I love my bum, I do! Mom, I show everyone my bum! Just kidding! That a funny joke!" Doctor's assessment of Drew's seal-bark of a cough: "He probably has a cold." So much for that co-pay. Today Tess & I took advantage of 80 degree temperatures and spent the afternoon in Occoquan. We had pie at the Garden Kitchen and looked at Easter & spring decorations in all the stores. On the way home Tess said, "I love Occoquan!" When I asked what was her favorite part of the afternoon, she replied: "I think my favorite part was hiding from you in the bathroom!"

This morning I (Ryan) heard Tess loudly exclaiming, again and again, "I'M ALLLIIIIVVVVVE! I'M ALLLIIIIVVVVVVE! I'M ALLLIIIIVVVVVE! I'M ALIVE AGAIN!" Hers was a spot-on reenactment of a classic movie scene. I asked her about it at breakfast, and she described seeing a bumblebee outside that came back to life.

While washing hands, I explained to Tess that the water helps take the germs away. "Mom, it like water the Metro for germs to go down the pipe!" [Translation: "Mom, it's like the water is a Metro for the germs to ride on down the pipe."]

"Me and my toothbrush are excited for EASTER!"

"Mom, a potty is like a swimming pool for pee pee's." (Sorry for all the potty talk, but it's a consuming topic of conversation these days.)