A Change of Subject

Tired of hearing about shots, estrogen and follicle counts? Me too! Let's change the subject.

Life marches on in spite of IVF injections and frequent doctor's appointments. Here's a little of what's been going on:

Tulips
I was missing my Valentine's Day tulips, so I treated myself to a bouquet from the grocery store. Tess picked out a lovely purple bunch. We got home to find Ryan home early, with what else in hand, but a bunch of lovely white tulips!

Tess saw the white flowers and said, "Two flowers! Purple!" I had to explain to Ryan that I had bought myself the same gift. I don't know how he knew exactly what I wanted, but now I'm rolling in tulips! It's almost like spring!

Self

"Self" is Tess' new favorite phrase, right after "Tess' turn" and "Mine." Tess wants to do everything herSELF. She likes to try and get dressed herSELF--pants, shirt, shoes and socks.

Tess is starting to have clothing preferences. She found this pair of strawberries bloomers from an old summer outfit and started calling them "beach pants." It's a little chilly for beach pants, so I let her wear them under her pants. You never know when the beach may beckon.

Tess loves to help me in the kitchen. One of her favorite things to make is "Pizza Pie." I don't know where she heard that term, but whenever I mention pizza she yells out "Pizza Pie!" I have to make sure to have plenty of toppings on hand because she usually eats her fair share before it makes it into the oven.

Tess is a good resource to tap when you don't know what to have for dinner. When I posed that question to her the other night, she came up with: "Corn. Peas. Fries. Popcorn. Strawberries. MM's dessert!" I went with the corn, peas and M&M's. Fries, popcorn and strawberries will have to be for another night.

Company

Whether it's eating, sleeping or playing, Tess loves to have company along, usually in the form of babydoll or stuffed animal "friends."

Her bed is more of a toybox/bookcase than a restful retreat. Every night she insists on sleeping with her bedtime story, and she won't let us clear out any of the old stories. In addition to books, she has to sleep with 4 blankets, at least one water cup and several "friends." Whatever gets her through the night!

Puzzles

We've been spending a lot of time on puzzles lately. We check them out of the library and she practices all week. I'm impressed with Tess' skill and persistence in doing puzzles.

This is a pretty tough puzzle, and I was proud of her pushing through and finishing it. This is typical Tess behavior when she gets frustrated, but she's pretty well mastered this puzzle now.

Pictures

Tess loves to draw several times a day. Her favorite subject is still faces. She absolutely cannot resist an open circle--if she sees one, she is compelled to draw eyes, a nose and mouth. Sometimes I draw circles so I can watch her eagerly finish them off. She also likes it when I draw a variety of monsters and leave the faces for her to fill in.

She has started pointing out that everyone has a "circle head." We'll be in the grocery store and she'll point to some unsuspecting old man, and Tess will say, "Look, Mommy! Circle head!" Then she'll draw a circle in the air like she's tracing the outline of his head.

Line down, line on top

Tess had a breakthrough tonight! I've been teaching her about the letter "T" for the past few days. I've been showing her how to draw a "T," with a line down and line on top. She could do the line down part, but she wasn't get the line on top. Tonight she broke out her markers and started filling the page with "T's."

That's enough distraction for one night. Shots are done & my mind's off it--until tomorrow morning at least.