3 years & 9 months

One day late this month! We were just too busy yesterday!

So we captured a few pictures before school this morning. Here are the best of the bunch...

John loves Keillor's ears!

Three years?! Nine months?! Holy cow!

Yes, it was birthday yesterday. That's all well and good, but what it really meant was that I got to eat breakfast at home (which I absolutely love for some reason) and we got to go out for supper last night! I ate breakfast at home because I had my 3-year checkup with the doctor in the morning and for supper I decided on Culver's! When Dad asked me my favorite part about supper, it was a tie between the frozen custard and the french fries. We had time for a few presents before bed last night, but the rest will be opened tonight.

I am learning a lot of new things now that I'm in the older kid room at school. I'm the youngest in the room and I'm soaking up everything. My latest phrase over the last week is shouting "never!" when I'm asked to do anything. Mom finally asked me the other day if someone says that at school. Yep!

John finished up his first set of swim lessons on Tuesday. He's pretty good at kicking, floating on his back, and putting his face in the water. He even tolerates getting dunked underwater, but isn't a huge fan of it. As a bonus, he's also started to enjoy showers after class. Mom and Dad hope that trend continues! I start my next set of swim lessons in two weeks. I'll be in the 3-5 year old class and it'll be the first time that Dad isn't in the pool with me.

Halloween is on Saturday and I'll hopefully be dressing up as a dinosaur. It's actually a dragon costume, but I don't need to hear about it. I say "hopefully" because Mom and Dad have never ever seen me enjoy getting dressed up in anything close to a costume. Dad keeps reminding me that costumes = candy so we'll see. Johnny is going to be a chicken and he doesn't have a say as to if he's dressing up or not. He is.

John is eating a lot of "regular" food lately. He's been enjoying small bites of some of the food that the rest of us eat and less of his blended baby food. He's also at the stage where he'll grab any food set in front of him and stuff it into his mouth. Our issue at this point is that he tries to put way too much food in before chewing. We've also reached the point where Keillor refuses to leave John's side while he's in his high chair. So yes, Keillor has also been eating well.

The big excitement in the coming month is all of our visitors over Thanksgiving. Uncle Brian, Aunt Allison, Emmy, Ben, Great-grandma Doris, Grandma Candy and Grandpa Rick are all coming!

Monthly questions from Dad:

Favorite color: Blue
Favorite sport: Joe Mauer
John's favorite sport (according to me): Torii Hunter "and also Joe Mauer, too."
Favorite nickname: Tessy Wessy
Favorite nickname for John: JJ
John's favorite animal (according to me): Elephant
Favorite animal: Giraffe
Favorite dog: Keillor!
John's favorite food (according to me): Squash and broccoli and cheese
Keillor's favorite food: Dog food!
Favorite song: Happy Birthday
John's favorite song (according to me): Bucky Badger! (I Want to Be a Badger)
Keillor costume: He didn't choose a costume yet
Favorite part about being three: My birthday

More birthday

Two more pictures from the birthday brunch on Sunday:

Dad appreciates my literal following of directions. 

He asked me to smile. No mention of where to look.

Uncle Jeff and Cousin Zoë entertaining Baby John.

Happy birthday

True. My birthday isn't officially until Thursday, but we hosted a birthday brunch on Sunday!

The singing of 'Happy Birthday' as it unfolded:

Before...

During...

After...

Afterwards, I told Mom and Dad that the singing was "just too loud."

New chair

Our new couch and chair were on order for months and they finally arrived last week. The chair fits two kids perfectly!

Johnny, play it cool and Dad won't know we're trying to watch TV while he's taking pictures.

Johnny! Too obvious!

That's better.

Porch salon

I don't really enjoy when Mom or Dad brushes my hair, but I sure love to brush Johnny's hair!

Buds

Just relaxing on the porch.

We need to write these things down

Right after we get in the car each morning, Dad hollers, "Ok, is everyone here?!" I usually answer for both John and myself and then ask, "Are you here, Dad?" Just part of our routine. However, I must have been a little tired the other day because it went like this:

Dad: Is everyone here?!
[Silence from the backseat]
Dad: Ok...Johnny! Are you here?
Tess: Yes, he is here.
Dad: Tess, are you here?
Tess: I am grumpy.

We baked cookies in class last week and I got to take one home. Getting in the car at school:
Tess: I want to hold my cookie [it was in a ziploc bag]
Dad: That's fine, but you know there's no eating in the car, right?
Tess: Yes, I know. There's eating in Mom's car, though. [This was news to Dad.]

I found a pine cone on campus the other day and Dad told me to throw it and we could watch Keillor try to catch it. I thought about it and then sadly proclaimed, "But Keillor doesn't have hands."

A few minutes later we saw some students on their way to baseball practice. Dad saw their bats and asked me what I thought they were going to do. I said, "Baseball! Like Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter!"

I was playing with Keillor while Dad was making dinner the other night and for whatever reason I was cracking myself up. At one point I wondered out loud, "I bet Keillor liked to play this game when he was a kid!"

I'm the teacher

Over the past few days I've enjoyed announcing, "I'm the teacher!" Then I like to grab a book and read to Johnny.

Costco

Dad said we needed to get out of the house for a bit on Sunday, so we went to one of my favorite destinations: Costco. Unfortunately, we arrived before all of the sample stations were set-up!

It was John's first visit so he wasn't quite convinced yet.

Money

I found money while digging around in the sand table on Sunday!

Thanks for the fun idea, Grandpa John!

Art

I don't see what you're talking about, Dad. 

My hands look clean to me.

We need to write these things down

We're low on pictures this week so it's a perfect time to add a new feature to the blog. Funny things leave my lips several times a day and Dad says it's time to start recording some of them.


Car time is a relatively quiet time where there's not much else to do other than chat with Dad and John.

John often likes to glance over at me while we're both in our car seats. I almost always yell to Dad, "Johnny's looking at me for what?!"

On Sunday morning we were getting ready for church. Dad asked me who I was most looking forward to seeing at Sunday School. In order of preference:

1. Dennis
2. Dennis' guitar
3. Nancy

Yesterday on the way to school, Dad played one of my CDs that features Wheels on the Bus. As it started to play, I exclaimed, "Johnny! Do you like this song?! It's awesome!"

Last night Dad and I were in the car on the way to Petsmart. Dad was wondering about the new pet our classroom will be receiving sometime soon...

Dad: Hey, has the new guinea pig arrived yet?
Tess: The guinea pig is not arriving until Tyler stops crawling around.
Dad: Oh, it sounds as if Tyler was maybe not listening very well? You're being a good listener at school, right?
Tess: Tyler needs to walk using his feet. Yes, I am.

Life lesson

During our evening walk on Sunday I kept insisting that I was the fastest runner in the family. I kept exclaiming, "I'm even faster than Keillor!"

Dad asked if I wanted to race Keillor. I agreed.

I received a large head start, but Keillor quickly passed me. I was so shocked that I collapsed. Dad told me it's a good lesson in how to be a gracious loser. Keillor jogged back over and kissed me.

Second place is still pretty good, right?

Buddies

John waiting for his breakfast last weekend and Keillor taking advantage of a fleece blanket on the floor!