Teresa has had a great day so far at 15 months of age. Shortly after she got up, her Aunt Andrea (A-day-day) came and joined her at breakfast!!! That was very weird, but soon was wonderful once Teresa realized Adayday spoke her language. They giggled up a storm and chased each other until the blue berry pancakes were ready to eat.

THEN Aunt Corita appeared!!

After a morning of play, Andrea and Corita left for Big Sur and Teresa took a well-earned nap!Teresa had her 15 month appt after awakening. She weighed in at 18 pounds 10 ozs, gaining over 2 pounds since her 1 year appt! Rumor has it she's back on the chart at the 3rd percentile! She measured 29-1/4" in length. Her head continues to track at 50% for age. Doc was pleased, no concerns, keep her happy. Two shots today. One more at 18 months andthen none until 5 years.

Today mom turned her back and found that Teresa has figured out how to get up on the piano bench by herself. Did she ask her to get down??? No... she grabbed the camera and called Dad! Note that this is suspiciously similar to Grandma's experience when Dad was about the same age... 

Teresa has decided she's a big girl... where being big mean using utensils and undressing herself. We hadn't been offering utensils, but recently handed her the sppon of yogurt/cereal at breakfast and she masterfully stuck it in her mouth and licked it clean! So at lunch I tried a fork with her meal and she again used it well. She seems to prefer her left hand for feeding, but that might be because I sit to her left and feed her more than Dad.



Her other great interest is undressing herself. I really don't know how much we should encourage this, but it is cute seeing her work her arms out of layers and try to find her knees and feet under pants.

Seth and Family 

Teresa and Dad... Eatin' Yogurt. 

This weekend we went to the snow with Seth and Riley and their parents.

On SUnday mornign Teresa awoke shiny at 6AM (yawn) so she was bright and eager when Seth finally staggered out over an hour later. She walked up to him and wrapped him in a big hug. When he didn't respond, he got another hug, and over they toppled. Then Seth was awake!

So yesterday when reading "Buckle My Shoe" to T (a book from GG for Christmas), I pointed out the sticks the bunny and mouse (in her illustrated book) were carrying for "Five, Six..." Today when wandering in the yard Teresa, very pleased with herself, picked up two sticks and I swear she looked just like the happy bunny and mouse carrying her sticks and skipping along! She'd never picked up sticks before, rocks are generally the interest.

We don't teach her these things.... Really... We Don't! 

Teresa and her panda from Gramp... 

The best use for Teresa's stool is to reach the piano! 

I'm not sure where grandma found this (I have a feeling it might have been something of Andrea or Dawn's?), but Teresa discovered it one day.... And was very tickled!

Then this morning we took Dad to work, we take him in 0-2 times a week so this is not an everyday activity. There are speedbumps on the Xilinx campus and I always say "bump" before we drive over them - seems courteous so she knows she'll be joustled. Well this morning we turned onto the campus and I said "teresa, what comes next?" and she says "bump" Her Daddy's jaw dropped! I must admit I too was pretty impressed. Who knew she recognized Xilinx's campus in reverse (she looks out the back window) and associated bumps with it? AND knew the answer to my question??!

Yesterday we went to Livermore with Aunt Teensy and the cousins to see the baby lambs at the Marina property. Teresa pointed at them but seemed more interested in practicing her walking up and down the incline. oh well. what do we know? Last night Teresa was having some cozy time with Dad reading books. She grabbed her "Colors" book and flipped the pages to the white and pointed to the sheep to tell Daddy about her day!!! and then skipped to the black page to point to the picture of the sheep's face. Ohmy. Who knew she knew all this?

One year milestones

I keep meaning to sit down and summarize all the little things that Teresa's been doing at around a year... Well, I finally got the chance tonight while mom's at pottery class. She's:

Walking... forward and backward.
Has a favorite song (The wheels on the bus), which she's played for many many months now.
Has a favorite book (Animal pop-up)
She says (mostly) 'light', 'hat', 'shoes', 'dada', 'doggy', 'cheese'
She signs 'more (often with our hands)', 'all done', 'milk' (although the meanings are somewhat fuzzy... milk is a catchall for food, milk, water, mama, etc. All done sometimes means 'want more'.
She responds to sentences like: 'Where's your hat?' 'Go put on your hat!' 'Where are your shoes?' 'Where's the flower?'
She dances... 'the twist', 'the shoulders' and 'the stomp'.
She claps when a song ends.
She expresses preferences (for food, for books, etc.)
She likes to read books: she turns the pages herself and often insists on returning to the 'good parts'.
She helps to get dressed by holding her arms and legs up for shirt arms and pant legs.
She responds to airplanes, cars, trucks, doggies, other kids.
She pretty consistently naps twice a day.
She sleeps in a big girl bed.
She likes to spin/be upside down/swing.
She's a sweetheart!

Feeding the Mamas

Teresa has decided that feeding others is at least as enjoyable as feeding herself. Any "fingerfood" is apt to be shared with Mama before or while feeding herself.

Teresa has taken to carrying things around... Just before our trip east, she decided to go into her bedroom one day and grab her snuggies out of her crib. She also received some 'purses' for her birthday, which are just perfect for carrying!

We ended up sitting behind a mom with her 15 month old on the flight home... He and Teresa were very interested in eachother!

What a fine set of ladies!

Holding Hands

Today Teresa decided that holding hands was something she likes! She's generally been very un-hand-holding friendly, retracting her hands with great speed if I try to hold her hand. But today she was lollygagging behind and I stopped to wait up. She stood there looking at me and held out her hand. I held out my hand too and said, "come along Teresa, let's walk." and waited for her, expecting that she'd want to be carried when she reached me. instead she grabbed ahold of my hand and took off walking. Zing, I'm dragged along, giddy with mommy-ness of being asked to hold hands!

Birthday girl with Birthday cake!