Photo Catch-Up

Tessa's First Birthday Festivities

Tessa at 12 Months

At 12 months, Tessa:

• Signs "chicken" and "again"
• Got four teeth in two and a half weeks
• Adores Norah
• Says "ya" when asked a question and "ba" for bites of food
• Likes all her food pushed into one pile in the center of her high chair tray. When it's all spread out she thinks she doesn't have enough.
• Walks 2-4 steps at a time
• Is eating mostly table foods
• Tries to imitate most sounds

Here are the pictures:

Signing "baby."

Cheese! 

No comment.

Petting the chickies at the fair. 

Swimming for the first time.

The official one year picture.

Here's Norah's one year post.

Random Catch-Up Pictures

We call these "sister kisses" 

From our May visit to Carlsbad. 

Sisters in the boat, again. 

Helping make brownies. 

Helping out around the house. 

Lost in an amusing thought. 

Meeting the baby chicks at the fair. 

Showing Daddy how to fix the TV. 

(we don't even know what to say) 

Signing "I love you." 

Ready to go! (in the background you can see the "fort" we used to build to keep Tessa off the steps)

We went to see a Signing Time concert back in May. Norah is still talking about it. 

On the carousel at the mall.

Tessa at Eleven Months

At eleven months, Tessa:

• can stack rings
• will put blocks in a container
• gives a doll drinks from a bottle, then hugs the doll close to her
• give hugs and kisses
• attempts to imitate new signs and seems to have mastered "fish" and "baby" this month
• likes to go upside down
• "brushes" her own hair, usually with the back side of the hairbrush
• now has four teeth. Instead of getting the two top front teeth, she got her right front tooth and next one over on the left.
• loves playing with water

Tessa likes the baby in the mirror. 

Signing "baby." 

You can kinda see the crazy order her teeth came in. 

Tessa riding in the "boat" with her big sister. 

Having fun with the water table.

Brushing her hair (apologies for the blurry pic). 

Playing peek-a-boo.

This was the best picture we got on her 11th month birthday. If you're wondering why she's upset, it's because Norah's not awake yet and Tessa loves to go up to get her big sister.

Here's Norah's eleven month post.

Has anyone seen my Cheerio?

I know it's around here somewhere...

Tessa at Ten Months

At ten months, Tessa:

• Claps for herself when she stands on her own for a while.
• Says mama and dada (indiscriminately).
• Plays peek-a-boo, although most of the time her hands are on her temples while she's "hiding."
• Prefers Norah's big girl sippy cup to her own.  This works because Norah prefers Tessa's sippy cup (she thinks she's getting away with something?).
• Took a step or two towards Aunt Kari at 9 months and 1 week and hasn't taken any steps unassisted since.
• Can sign "more" and definitely understands what the sign for milk means. Also understands the sign for brushing teeth.
• Loves to have her teeth brushed. If she's upset at the end of a meal we can buy a minute or two by signing "brush teeth."  She "sings" along with the ABC song we use to time tooth brushing.
• Eats books, not just an exploratory chomp either.
• Had her first trip to the ER. She's still getting the hang of standing on her own, and usually sits herself down nicely, but one of the few times she didn't her forehead found the corner of the wall.   Luckily it didn't need stitches, just some fancy glue and a bandage.
• Rode on the swing for the first time and loved it.
• Prefers any food she can feed to herself over anything from a spoon.  She's starting to have some table foods like rice, green beans, peas, and toast.

This was a few days after she hit her head, hence the bandage.  Even a few minutes after it happened she was more-or-less ok.

Tessa loves the swing. 

Silly cheese-ing girl. 

Standing by the fish tank. 

Tessa loves to help feed herself.

She is ten months old already?

Here's Norah's ten month post.