Dear Tessa,

You love school and are learning so much.  Swimming, P.E., music and recess are your favorite school subjects.  When I pick you up after school you come out the door and your face is just beaming smiles. 

You told me that you play your own version of Hide-and-Go-Seek called "Hide-and-Go-Poop" with Cordelia at school.  Remind me not to invite Cordelia over to the house any time soon. 

(Thanks for the non-stop potty humor Kindergarten!)

(Also for the never ending cold-flu-ear-infection-pneumonia-Bubonic-plague.)

I see this face all too often these days.  Sometimes, especially in the morning, there is no pleasing you.  I'm thinking you are maybe a "night owl" rather than a "morning person".

You torment Emma endlessly, and then wonder why she doesn't want to come give you a hug.  I've tried explaining that if you were nice to Emma, she would be nice to you.  This concept has not sunk in yet.

We call you TessieBear, Big Girl, Lovely, and Sweetheart.

My favorite time of day with you is reading time right before bed.  You pick out a few books and we snuggle up on the couch.  I have a feeling in a very short time you are going to be reading the books to me, instead of me reading them to you. 

You've been setting the table all by yourself for quite a while now.  You are just like me, you want the table to look pretty so you put out place mats and candles.   

You can be persuaded to pick up your toys, and even the toys in Emma's room.  Sometimes this involves bribes, but it is always worth it.

Your things are strewn from one end of the house to another.  Daddy told me that he found one of your sticky earring stickers on his chair at work, which means it rode around on the seat of his pants for a while first.  AWESOME! 

We were getting ready last Sunday for your play date with your friend Sadie.  Since we went to a party on Saturday night, our house was destroyed less than clean.  We had a lot to do, and only a little time to do it.  We worked for an hour or two, and then you went in a flopped down on our bed and said, "So do you think we should work to get ready for the play date or should we just lay down and talk so we can forget about it?"  Ah, dear girl, you are so much like your dad and me it is amazing.

Tessa, I love you and thank God for you every day.

Love,

Mama

Note to self:  Check Tessa's pants pockets for pet rocks, crayons, and lip gloss BEFORE putting them in the wash.

**I'm six months behind on these newsletters but will be catching up soon. Hopefully.**