14 Month Report Card

So here is a summary of Tessa’s “tricks”:

Words (not very clear, but she knows them and can say them!)

Dog	Banana	Mommy
Cow (e-i-e-i-0)	Cheerios	Daddy
Kitty	Cheese	Baby
Ducky	Juice	Tower
Fishy	Uh-oh	Book
Tummy	Yes	Ball
Toes	No	Toy
Nose	Shoes	Bath
Outside	Hat

Signs:

Dog	More	Plane	Shoes
Kitty	Milk	Car	Blanket
Bird	Food	Baby	Sleep
Fish	Finished	Flower

Other fun stuff:

She gives kisses – on the mouth - and if she gives one to daddy, she has to find mommy and give her one too.

When she wants to go somewhere, she will take your hand and pull you to where she wants you to go or make your hands do what she can’t do (like if she wants a lid off a bottle she’ll put your hands on the lid).

She loves to play on the bed.  She pull us into the bedroom right up to the bed and then stick up her hands for us to pick her up.

She can point to nose, toes, tummy, mouth, and hair (or the little hair she has).

She loves to wear sunglasses, necklaces, and hats, but will not wear a headband.

Her favorite activities are eating, building towers, “reading” books, and climbing on and in things, especially little “chairs” of any sort.

Crazy Girl

This is a regular occurrence.  She’s a jabber box and a nut.  I love my baby girl.

Tessa–14 months

For the record, I am not making faces or doing anything to provoke her.  Love it.

Summer Vacation

Tommy and I had the privilege of chaperoning our church youth group for the United Reformed Church Convention, which just happened to be held at our Alma Matter, good ol’ Dordt College.  At first we were a little bummed that it wasn’t someplace more exciting, but it worked out well since we go back to Iowa every summer anyways and my parents could watch Tessa while we were there. It was fun to go back and rehash college memories (would have been way more fun with all my roomies there though=)).  I don’t think Tessa even noticed we were gone because I went to my parents home twice to visit and she barely noticed I walked in the door. It was definitely a good feeling to not have to leave a crying child when I left again. 

After Convention was over, we headed for Okoboji for a few days.  It was pretty hot and humid, but we had fun swimming, boating, golfing, and relaxing.

Tessa really started taking off walking before we left and got in the habit of grabbing our hands and “leading” us to where she wants to go.  She did a lot of that on the trip.

Tommy left after a few days and I stayed another week and a half.  I got to go to my 10 year class reunion, see a lot of extended family, visit friends, and enjoy having on call babysitters.

A lot of my extend family was around for vacation as well, so it was fun to catch up with some cousins I hadn’t seen in a few years.  We even got a picture of all of the great-grandchildren.

The Four Bylsma Generations:

Tessa and I also went to visit my sister in Minneapolis a couple of days.  Dawn has two stairs that lead from her kitchen area to her living room, and Tessa had a wonderful time scaring her mommy while she climbed them.  I was too busy watching her almost fall off them all the time to take a picture.  We also went to the Como Park Zoo (Tessa’s first zoo experience).  The picture below explains the whole trip…Tessa running around after people and oblivious to any animals.  It was still fun.

We had a great trip and are looking forward to the next one!

1 Year Pictures

 

Late is better than never, right?

 

Thank you again, Tiffani and Show Me Love Photography!