2 1/2

Tess is now two-and-a-half, something she can tell people. She's talking fluently now, though still with a squeaky toddler pronunciation that makes it hard for strangers to sometimes understand her. I have been marveling lately at her growth and thought I'd record some of our "right now" moments.

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Nana sent animal and bug flash cards. Tess loves them, especially the bugs. She likes for me to hand them to her one-by-one, telling her the name of each bug. I will sometimes ask her, "Do you remember this one?" And other times I'll mention something I know about a bug. (Not often, because my bug knowledge is pretty weak.)

So the other night I walk into the room and Eric is laying on the couch while Tess hands him bug cards. This is the conversation I transcribed.

Tess is saying, "this is a mosquito. Mama don't like this one. This is a fly. We see these in our back garden." She gets to one she doesn't know, so she asks Eric, "Do you remember this?"

Eric reads the card, "Scorpion. They bite."
Tess, "No, they sting. And they have pinchers, too."
Tess takes a new card, "And this is...I don't know this is."
Eric, "an aphid."
Tess, "Yah, aphid. Ladybugs eat aphids."
New card. Tess, "and this is a grasshopper."
New card, Tess, "and this is a roly-poly bug."
Eric, "no, it's a pill bug."
Tess, "NO! It's a roly-poly bug." (emphasizing each word to correct him.)
Eric, "it says pill bug."
Tess, "No! It's a..."
I jumped in, "I tell her it's a roly-poly bug, because that's what we used to call it before we got the cards."
Eric, "oh. It's a roly-poly bug."
Tess, "Yes." and she takes a new card.

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Tess continues to attach to various toys, just as she's been doing since she could first pick up toys and scoot around two years ago. Every few days it seems to change, but she'll settle on one or two small toys and they must go with her everywhere, be present when she's falling asleep, and in general hold all kind of special imaginative powers for a while.

Lately she really likes a small little book. It's one of those 3 inch books that they sell at the cash register of bookstores. This one is a pop-up book that says Congratulation in about 5 different ways. Tess has kept this book close for almost two weeks now. She reads it to herself all throughout the day, and I love to listen in to what she is supposedly reading.

Often I catch snippets of others books she knows. I'll hear passages or dialogue from a book I recognize. Other times she is thinking through something.

One day she would say, "I love Lenny." Then turn the page and say, "Lenny loves Tess." Another night she read it to herself in the dark in her crib saying, "Mama said NO hit Nika." (She had hit a friend that day.) And she continued to talk through what I had told her. Other times she will make up dialogue, often forceful or angry dialogue. "NO do that." etc.

I always have to keep track of these beloved objects, trying to remember where they have been left, because without fail I need to be able to find them when it's time for bed.