No, no, that’s wrong. TESSA owned June and July. We just stepped back and watched her bloom.
Our old SLP (speech therapist) called it “sponging.” I call it awesome. I just want to list all this out, just because. Tessa’s ‘new’ since May-ish is all of this….
1. Standing… Pulling up to her feet and loving it. Seeking out opportunities to stand and finding it exhilarating. She is now motivated. I’m not sure why, but I don’t question it!
2. Stairs… Not only can she go up them, but she goes up lightening fast. AND, she has memorized the sound of the gate opening and as soon as she hears it, she’s off. Next step is to teach her to get down them safely.
3. A million tiny teeth popped out this summer. Molars on three out of the four sides, four top teeth, still has two on the bottom… She’s almost halfway through getting baby teeth in!
4. Straw cup, mostly checked off the list. We still have to work on her stamina, but this is a problem solved by Mommy and Daddy being more consistent with the practice.
5. Communication…. I feel like I need some sub-categories here. A little personality has certainly bubbled up in Miss Tessa. She is a little ham with people around us, waving hello and blowing kisses at anyone who catches her eye. She also consistently waves bye. She has some new signs (play, drink, and all done, which all look almost exactly the same, and cracker). Today, she put two signs together (more and cracker). We think she is saying Papa (both of her grandpas are “Papa”) and maybe Dada, though I’m not convinced on the latter.
6. “In” and “Out” – Tessa got the concept of “out” pretty quickly (meaning, she would take objects out of a box or similar vessel). “In” was a challenge, but she is mostly on board with it now, as long as she wants to let go of the item and we give her lots of praise following. 😉 I’m sure Ellie is thankful to have a clean-up buddy, even if Tessa moves a lot slower than her sister.
7. Play… Wow, the sister interactions are SO fun to watch now! Tessa actively seeks out opportunities to play with her sister. She loves to chase and wrestle with her; she follows her around the house (especially in the bathroom!) and Ellie has adopted “minion speech” because she thinks that it sounds like Tessa’s words. She sneaks around Ellie’s shoulder to watch the tablet games that Ellie plays. Their favorite thing to do together is crawl in circles and laugh hysterically.
8. She dances.
9. She sings and does the Itsy Bitsy Spider motions.
She’s got lots of areas to continue working on (don’t we all???), but I have to tell you that this “sponging” phase has been pretty awesome. I just love this kid.
These last three of Tessa are from today… I can’t wait to print them to hang in my office. She is so pretty! 🙂 
Yo soy La Lay 
