Tessa's Three Year Portraits

People ask me why I take my kids to a studio, when I am a photographer. I enjoy taking photos of my kids, and have more than a few shots that I totaly love of them, but they are usually "lucky" shots, or moments where I was just having fun and so were they. There is something about MOM telling you to do something that is different from a photograher giving direction and it just invites defiance. My brain works chronologically, and it is important to me to have an annual photo of my kids as they are growing. I don't like to leave this event to chance. If possible, I plan the photo sessions for when my mom is visiting so that she can help entertain, or wrangle, the child in question. Even with two or more adults the sessions are typically comical to those around us. Out of 30 shots taken of Tessa here are 5 that I thought were decent (to no fault of the photographer).

And on a different day (it would have been ludicrous to think we could handle two photo sessions in one day) we tried to take photos of the girls together. I finally jumped in to try and keep Tessa in one spot and that ended up being the best one of the girls, unfortunately. When I decided to use this shot for our Cmas cards Tim was worried that people would wonder why he's not in the photo. I told him they would just have to be in suspense until next year's photo. :)

And the winner is....

(Notice the treat in Tessa's hand - I am not above bribes!)

A week of Firsts and Lasts

Firsts:
Slept (willingly) without a binky
Went to preschool (loves it...asks every day to go again)
Rode the big bus (loves it and I'm so glad, but what a difference of opinion from when Phoebe was three! Different kids = different decisions)
Shopped for Cmas presents for her family (at preschool)
Told me to say something in Spanish
Asked me what a sign says (other than STOP signs I didn't know she knew signs "said" things)
Counted to 20 on her own (no prompting)
Sang Twinkle Twinkle and ABCD on her own (no prompting)
Attended ballet class (with lots of prompting)
Left the house early one morning and rang the next door neighbor's bell without my knowing she was even gone (mother of the year award!)

Lasts:
Escape; we have the alarm back on the door (took it off when we moved)
Ballet class?...since she didn't really get into it and I have to decide next week if I want to buy a costume for the spring recital. At least I already had practice clothes, so no expense there.
Suck....on the way to get ice cream, I told her to enjoy it. She has done surprisingly well without it and hasn't even tried to hijack a binky from the one year old I tend.
Tantrum. Hahaha, just kidding. She does seem to have shorter ones though. I think there is a light at the end of the very dark, loud, tunnel.

Eating her birthday/binky sunday.

Riding the big bus for the first time. Having friends by your side makes anything better. Lina and Elsa made sure she stayed in her seat. (They didn't have a harness ready yet)

Observing the ballet class. She did better than I expected, but not as good as I hoped. She watched from the sidelines for quite a while, but at least she was watching. She eventually saw me and became clingy. She still wanted to be there, but with me attached to her at every moment. Not possible in a small, crowded dance studio, with a one year old on my hip. (Phoebe was at home with nanny Sally).

I took a few shots with my phone (not bad, actually) but there was another mom who had her camera and I begged her to take a couple of photos for me. If she did, and emails them to me as requested, I'll trade these out later. After I got home and unloaded the diaper bag I realized I did have my camera with me after all. Arghhhh! Two of the new photos below...

Ms. Lisa, her teacher, helping her follow the steps she demonstrated.

Holding her nutcracker.

Tessa Goes to School

Tessa started preschool today, which made Mommy, Daddy and Tessa very happy. We drove her there so that we could take a few pictures and deliver some paperwork to the teacher. She didn't mind at all when we left. She is in the same class as Lina, a neighborhood friend and she got to wave to Madeleine, Lina's sister, on our way in. A few weeks ago we visited the class and stayed for an hour, so she wasn't completely new to it.

Knocking on the door...(our mornings are quite cold these days)

She was acting shy when I asked to take her picture with Mrs. Lichtsinn.

Her classroom and classmates.

Her class is a mixed program that has some typical children and some with special needs. This program offers transportation to all the students. She was thrilled when I told her she could ride the bus to and from school, just like Phoebe does. The one bringing her home is a smaller bus. On Friday, she will take the big bus to school with all of the big kids. We'll see how she handles that trip, but there aren't many things in life that intimidate Tessa. She seemed like such a big girl today but she looked so small climbing off the bus!

And taking advantage of her new "big girl" status, we had a binky farewell ceremony this evening. She napped without it after she got home from school, because I told her that only big kids go to school and big kids don't need binkies. I told her if she could sleep without it we would get a "big girl" treat after dinner. She cried for it briefly, but not as bad as I imagined. We went to Cold Stone Creamery and she handed the server her binky and her free birthday coupon in exchange for her ice cream sunday (strawberry with MandMs). She asked for the binky back a few times after she got her ice cream, but she never cried for it. We high-fived her several times and complimented her on how big she was. Then we said "goodbye!" to the binky as we left. She asked for it again at bedtime, but seemed content with just her blanky. A baby no more....

Thanksgiving 2008

Taking advantage of gramma's visit to try and get a decent portrait. This was the only one.

Making....Decorating...

And then eating the gingerbread cookies.

I have no idea what we're all looking at.

The kids smiled better with gramma and papa.

Phoebe was so determined to go walking. She only held one hand.

Having fun in Madera Canyon, except for when we stopped to take pictures, apparently.

Thrilled to be Three

Happy Birthday to Tessa! We had a Princess Tea Party for her on Saturday. She was thrilled, mostly. She only ran to her room crying twice. When I let her see her new tea set that morning and told her what was going to happen, she was anxious for the next several hours. She talked about saying "surprise!" so we decided to say it to her, even though it was obviously not a surprise party. That was her first tantrum... I guess she was overwhelmed by the attention. She recovered quickly and came out to join her guests for tea. It was the perfect day for Tessa, with a tea party with all of her favorite friends, dressing up like princesses (and one prince, or cowboy which Tessa thinks is the same thing), presents, dancing, cake and candles.

Cousin James, the cowboy.

Opening all the fun presents...singing Sleeping Beauty doll and more dress up clothes from Auntie and cousins, singing card and train set from gramma Jo and papa Jim, fishing for jewels game from Meyer family, Cinderella polly pocket set from Hankins family, fuzzy bathrobe and new clothes from mom and dad, tons of princess movies from gramma Pat and papa Bob.

Madeleine, Elsa and Elizabeth fishing for jewels.

Musical chairs. Tessa didn't get the game, but had a blast running around in circles with everyone. After this, they had a dance-off. Everyone was pretty spent at the end of the party. Props to Else for coming up with the outfit for Cinderella, pre-fairy godmother. So creative!

Blowing out candles with Daddy again that night. The candles seemed to be her favorite part, so she was thrilled to do it one more time. Not to mention, one more round of cupcakes...