Tess Monthly Recap: January 2017

This is all about Tess from January!

We started potty training Tess (very casually) in Dec of 2015. Since then we haven’t put any pressure on pooping in the potty OR staying dry and clean during naps/nights. She’s been going poop in her diaper during sleep times and it’s worked out fine. The past several months she’s been bothered by the diaper and especially by the poop in it. She started stripping off PJS in order to remove the diaper (not a good situation!) and always comments about not wanting to wear the diaper when she goes down to sleep AND it’s the first thing she talks about when she wakes up. So I know our end of diaper days are nearing but she’s gotta go POOP in the POTTY before that can happen! I’ve really kept it light with her, no pressure or anything about it and this month she called out to me during nap time that she needed to go potty. I took her and sure enough, she pooped in the potty! Very proud of her! She’s also started to wake from some sleep times dry and clean! And she is so independent that she is starting to want to take herself potty. As in drag a stool over to the toilet, pull down her own pants, get on the potty, use the potty, wipe, pull up her pants, and flush the toilet. Whew. The “I do it! I do it” can be exhausting for Mama!

We aren’t without the occasional accident though…especially when it’s Wednesday night and Mommy is running crazy. Oops. I didn’t have ANY panties or pants so the child had to go to Bible Study class in a shirt and pull up haha

Tess loves to sit quietly and color and draw. She and Kye are just so similar from infants to even now at the toddler stage. Britt was just my wild one 😉 Tess is, overall, very very chill.

She does awesome circles as well as lots of little scribbles!

She still very much loves to carry things around and especially items that can be put into larger containers to carry!

My little book worm 🙂

We went through and gave Tess all of Britt’s too small play clothes and she’s LOVING it!

She also loves playdoh and does so well not making a mess as well as following our rule of one container at a time. She’ll completely clean up the container on her own before opening another one!

When Kye was this age he was ALL about some Mighty Machines and Tess is ALL about some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! I heard they stopped making new episodes of the actual tv show so I’m hoping that will mean DVDs will be cheaper. We only have a few DVDs and it’s the only thing she wants to watch during video time!

Tess has adjusted super well to going to school three days a week rather than 2. It’s already (just in a month!) made a HUGE impact on her in the classroom. Her teacher says she’s more involved in daily activities and is really opening up a lot more. I can tell she’s loving it because she finally comes home singing little songs she learns at school (“circle like a ball” is on repeat around here). Someone even sent me this pic of her DANCING during chapel! How cute is that?!?!

Tess is also starting to have preferences about songs in the car…she LOVES “Shiny” and “Your Welcome” from Moana. She even sings along in the cutest littlest high pitch voice 🙂

One big thing I stress SO MUCH less about is FOOD. With Kye I stressed it but as we’ve added more kids to our mix, it’s something I’ve worried less about. If Tess says she’s done eating…then she can be done. But she is old enough now to understand incentives. Kye and Britt often want a little something extra (fig newtons and graham crackers are the usual “treat” around here #lamemom) and know they never HAVE to clean their plates UNLESS they do want something else then they must eat everything they are offered first. This has been a good thing for Tess and she’s starting to really enjoy a larger variety of foods. Of my three she’s always been my best eater. (I think it’s b/c I have stressed the least about it!). But with the incentive of finishing her plate like her siblings (which is more of a motivator than the treat I think) she’s really started to grub out!

I know that 2 can be a rough, wild age and I’m so thankful for my easy-going girl. We can run errands. Go to dr appointments. Drive or walk or pretty much anything and she’s very easy going about it majority of the time. She’s very well behaved and I love all the compliments from strangers about how straight up ADORABLE she is!

Britt’s hair is SUPER straight and therefore is a struggle bc it just wants to lay straight no matter what I do to it. Tess can rock a cute pony like no other but, whew, when the child gets home from school it’s hot mess city!

Tess truly ENJOYS being with me which makes my heart so happy. She will come up to me now and grab my hand and say “play with me!” and want me to come sit and play together with her. She’s always been my most independent child and it’s great for when I need to get stuff done around the house but I love that she’s more interested in interacting with me now! She is still very cuddly and will always want me to hold her and sing to her before bed. She’s not a “hip baby” by any means but does still let me carry her around when we go and do and will give such a great snuggles!

I LOVE those baby hands!

It’s not always all roses with a toddler at home though 😉 Tess struggles with first time obedience and gets upset easily when not given her way. She’s got quite the stubborn streak and mixed with her independent nature it can create issues pretty often! Luckily I’m the parent and I can easily put her to bed early when needed 😉