"Daddy Tell Me About Work That You Go To"

Tess has started what now feels like a ritual at our house. Most nights during dinner, she turns to Eric and tells him, "Daddy tell me about work that you go to."

Eric then tries to describe his day in language that Tess will understand. (When he slips in a story for my behalf, Tess gets irritated and repeats her question until he gets back on track.) Usually this involves listing the people that Eric has talked with, and sometimes Eric will add in other details or visuals to try and make it interesting.

The comical result of this is that Tess now knows all of Eric's colleagues' names, and she considers herself part of the clan.

"Dina and Shenaz are girls. And I am a girl," she'll tell me. And when she got a new Easter dress, she wanted Eric to take her picture in it and show it to Dina and Shenaz. And then the next day, she also wanted to make sure that Joe, and Steve, and Mike saw it, too. "They will really like it!" she assured Eric.

Captured on Iphone

I have not been taking or uploading pictures much lately. But I thought I'd share a few that I took on my phone, because it's been a long while since I put up some new pictures.

We've been to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens recently to enjoy the beautiful spring blooms.

Tess stopped in front of this sign and started "reading" it. "And then the Mommy said...And they had to go to their house..." and so on and so on. When I told her it was time to go, she turned to me and in an exasperated voice told me, "Mommy I'm reading!"

She's done napping most days, but then there are the days where I find her crashed somewhere, late in the afternoon.

Lots of her friends have been having birthdays recently. She doesn't like it when I tell her they are all turning three. "I am three!" she tells me. "They can be five." But she has really liked the opportunity to wear her rose dress to all these parties.

Also, according to Tess, five, twenty-five, thirty-five, it's all the same age!

Conversations This Morning

This morning we had to get ready and drive out to our family dentist. It was a big day, because Tess had her first teeth cleaning and check-up. I was tickled, though, by Tess this morning and thought I'd share the scene.

As I was drying off after my shower, Eric came into the bathroom to get something and Tess followed right behind him holding a small book of Sayings and Wit by Mark Twain. (She liked the size, so she's claimed it from our bookshelf.)
"I've packed a bag with snacks, and I got her dressed, so I think we're ready to go," Eric told me.
"Daddy, you have to look at my book," Tess said, holding her book open to a picture of Mark Twain, "it will tell us where to go. We have to go this way, or," she flipped to a new page, "this way Daddy."
Eric didn't really hear her as he was still talking to me about the day, "I packed some books, but she didn't want to bring any toys."
"Oh! Daddy, I showed you the magnets," Tess said.
"You want to bring the magnets?" Eric replied in surprise. "There are too many, Tess. You have to pick just a few special magnets."
Eric was leaving the room now, and Tess followed him out looking intently at her book. In a very matter of fact voice, she told him, "Daddy, it says right here that you have to take a few and a lot. I have to take a lot, Daddy, look at my book!"

****
Tess did great at her first cleaning. She's been watching Eric and me get fillings for a long time, and she was thrilled to finally get her turn. She insisted on going first, climbed right into the chair, followed instructions, and was great the whole time.

The hygienist counted her teeth, and she asked her, "Tess, when do you brush your teeth?"
Tess replied, "um, Monday and Friday."

Then she had to choose a flavor for the polish. "Bubble gum, cotton candy, or grape?"
"I want pink," Tess told her.
Then again when it was time for a fluoride treatment, she could have orange or cherry, and she chose pink.

****
No cavities this time, though there's a little concern about some developing in the molars. More brushing and more fluoride.

Human Suffering

We were at Eric's Aunt Bette's for Passover this weekend. She has a wooden statue of a weeping Buddha. Tess couldn't figure out what she was looking at when she first encountered it. She asked me several questions, and I finally demonstrated the pose to help her see the head in his hands. Then she got it.

"Oh," she said gravely, "does he miss his Mommy?"

Her Play

Tess's play right now involves all kinds of tiny props that are chosen with care. Often the play is as much about choosing the toys and loading them into buckets or purses as it is about doing something with those objects. Lately she will load up a couple of buckets or bags with toys, put them on her scooter handlebars, and then scoot around the apartment pretending to go visit someone. Eric and I hear her saying things like, "Bye, Sarah. I like your house. I will come back later." or "Do you want to see my horses, Sarah."

I decided to photograph the after-effects of her play one day while she was at school. This is what was I found. (It had been a really tidy day. Usually I find much bigger messes.):

She has a set of animal cards and insects cards from my Mom. She likes to lay them all out and ask me which animals I've seen and which animals she's seen. She had been looking at the insect cards in her room, and was super excited when she found a monarch caterpillar, because she had seen those at Nana's house last month.

Some of her precious objects left in the foyer. She loves little books, even ones without a story inside. She likes to sit with them and make up something. The other objects are just ones that she has decided are special that day for reasons that aren't clear to me.

She loves painting and coloring with markers right now. Often I'll set her up with water paints while I shower in the morning. This is what she finished that day.

This is her "Lasso Rope" aka "Blasto Rope." Alicia (from Diego) has a magic rope that she uses to lasso all kinds of objects. It's her equivalent of Diego's magic rescue pack. So, Tess decided long ago that my tape measure was her blasto rope. (She thought Alicia was saying, "blasto.") She walks around "blastoing" things like Eric and me or anything else in her path.

Tess packed this purse for a trip we took into Manhattan to go to my doctor. This is an example of what she considered important. (She never took anything out of her bag during the trip.) It's like an I Spy game. :) Can you find the lone cufflink? What about the shell?