Tess and Puzzles

Tess loves puzzles right now. She can do a 24 piece puzzle by herself after doing it with us many times to learn it. I'm really interested in how she sees puzzles. She really can't see the shapes. I have tried numerous times to teach her the concept of the edge and the corner of the puzzles, but she can't see it. She works from the pictures, and she's becoming more perceptive about color connections on the edges of the pieces.

She has a block puzzle with 16 pieces that we do together sometimes. There are 6 puzzles total--each side of the cubes have a different puzzle. But what's interesting about this puzzle is that 12 of the total pieces have a border on them. Each time we do the puzzle together, I try to show her that the border has to touch the wooden edge, and yet she still can't grasp the concept. Today she seemed closer to understanding it than I've ever noticed before, and so I tried reinforcing the idea over and over as we worked on the puzzle. She quickly became frustrated, and I think it's because she still can't see what I'm talking about.

It's so interesting to me that she can't see what I see. I'm really curious when it will click.

Diego

We've entered a new TV phase: Diego. Since we only watch streamed television, Tess's TV habits tend to be shaped by an obsession for one show. At the age of three, she knows and has obsessed over three shows: Shaun the Sheep (from about 20 to 25 month), The Backyardigans (25 months to age 3), and now Diego. She ADORES Diego, asking for an opportunity to watch the show several times a day.

Tonight as I was washing dishes, I overheard Tess saying to one of her little stuffed dogs, "come on, we'll save your mommy." She went to another area of the apartment, and then said, "look! There she is across the river. We'll get her." She made an effort, but had to go and get her rescue pack to finish the job. She would also walk around repeatedly saying, "Say: Blast Off!"

I really find the show annoying. The songs burrow into my brain and make me crazy. I can't tell you how many nights I go to sleep with "Go, Diego, Go!" running through my head. But I think I'm stuck for a while. If the past is any indication, she should get over this in about a year or so.

Pop and Wop

We have some imaginary friends in the house. Tess has been talking about Pop (and sometimes Wop) for a while, but I'm noticing that these are becoming more active characters in her imagination. She's choosing some beads for Pop right now. They are sitting on the couch together working it out.

Three Years

Tess turned three on Sunday. I love three. I realize it might be a bit early to be making this call, but here's what I'm enjoying about Tess right now.

• Her sense of humor. We've reached the silly stage. I didn't expect to like the silly stage, but watching Tess laugh is contagious and brightens my day, and suddenly it's pretty easy to get her to crack up. Things being out of place, not as they should be, unexpected are all SO SILLY. It's kind of a delight to see how she's formed enough of an understanding of the world to be so tickled when it misbehaves.
• Conversations. She can really talk now. She even debates me. Regularly. It can be infuriating, but I also love it. I love that when I'm sticking to some decision, she can beg me, "No, Mama, listen to me!" Or that she will find reasons I should give her what she wants. I enjoy the back and forth.
• Along with the conversations comes this new window into how she's perceiving the world. A couple weeks ago Eric got sick at work and threw up. When I told Tess, she said, "Oh. Do they have a bucket at Dada's work? A special bucket to catch the throw up?" So funny that this was her primary concern when it came to vomit. Or to give another example, some friends recently moved to Hong Kong, and we have so many conversations to try and make sense of this. Is everyone there? Can we see them? They have a new house now? The new house is far away? But why can't we see them? But we will see them tomorrow, right? Why not tomorrow?
• I love the way she makes mistakes in her language. The mistakes are the same ones ESL students make, which is kind of fascinating to me. She used the word "knifeses" for "knives." She regularly adds -ed to irregular verbs. She pronounced the word "packed" as "pack-ed." I can see that a lot of the logic of English has been absorbed, because suddenly I'm noticing that many of her mistakes are places where the language isn't logical.
• Her imaginative play has taken off. It's a delight to watch her care for her dolls and animals. It's a crack up to hear her get upset with her "babies." And I can hear her weaving all kinds of stories with the family figurines that my Mom made for her. People go out to play in the snow, Tess gets lost, there are fights about TV, there's a lot of discussion about who is going to do what with whom, etc. 
• When making up stories, she loves to say, "It's so beautiful!" or other enthusiastic expressions. It just makes me want to cover her in kisses.
• She's starting to feel more emotionally mature. For the first time since she was born, I feel like she's making relationships on her own and not through me. She's starting to be able to communicate with others without my help. She's interested in going off without me. It's a strange new freedom and delight to feel her grow up like this.
• She's still a total Mama's girl. I don't have to be sad in the least to watch her leave me, because she still seeks me out for lots and lots of Mama snuggle time. She begins the day by walking into our room and getting a hug from me. Then she goes and eats a bowl of cereal by herself (we set it all out each night) and returns to my room to snuggle with me.  She likes to climb into bed, wrap her arms around my neck and snuggle in as close as I'll let her. (I insist that I need some space to breathe. She's not so picky on this point.) We start the morning like that, sometimes falling back asleep, sometimes giggling, and sometimes chatting about the day to come.
• She's getting more physically agile. She runs faster. She loves to dance and is very responsive to music. Today at a playdate she was trying to hop on one foot. It was such a funny sight, but also totally endearing to watch her concentration and effort. 

I really, really enjoy her company these days. Her earnest pursuit of life is inspiring. And she still has that toddler chub and awkwardness that is totally endearing. So, three is good. So far.