The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess Monthly Summary: June 2017

This is Tess’s Summary from June!

Mrs. Charlotte really kicked off the poop training for us while we were in Mexico and we continued to work with it during this month. She started off really strong but then did start having some poop diapers during times of sleep. Tess is our first kid to really struggle with poop but we also know why: she doesn’t poop frequently. So when she does? They are MASSIVE and painful so I think it feeds into the whole “scared to go” thing. Even when she was younger she’d get easily constipated because she’d try to hold it in. We do a fun “potty dance” when she poops in the potty and celebrate like crazy and load her up with treats so we are just continuing to encourage her and let her do it at her own pace. As long as we’re not having poop panties I’m cool 😉

The Molluscum has been THE WORST with Tess. It’s all around her armpit area and her spots are darker red and larger too. We’ve been really hardcore this month about treating them. No baths at all, we only put her in tub to shower her off. Make sure she’s not sharing towels. And using the medicine on them twice a day. I read that the Zymaderm can make them worse before they get better and maybe that’s why they look SO BAD. But we did the whole treatment plan and haven’t really seen much change in hers. In fact, they have spread to her private areas (also common). She has her well visit a few weeks after her birthday so I’m going to be discussing all of this with her dr then and see! I had a blog friend reach out and suggest apple cider vinegar so I might give that a go as well!

Tess is HARDCORE about being independent. She likes to get dressed RIGHT when she wakes up and likes to pick out her clothes, her pjs, her shoes, her panties. It’s exhausting. One morning she got herself dressed in this nighty and I walked in and she said “Look at how beautiful I am!” 

Tess loves books and along with her independent spirit she also is perfectly content being alone. She likes her alone time (poor Britt, Tab better be an extrovert haha) and often prefers it to playing with her siblings. I will be getting ready and she will just bring some books in my bed and cuddle up and read!

Tess has been our best eater as far as she enjoys healthy foods. However, she’s our SLOWEST eater. Not in a way that she’s being bratty, just that she’s legit slow. She also doesn’t eat much. If you tell her she can be finished and she’s only had one bite, she will never complain that she’s hungry later. She is getting better and better about eating the portions we give her. The speed though is still a struggle and in the summer we often eat early lunch and swim after so I have to have her sit outside and finish her food while the big kids still get to swim!

Trying to get me with the puppy dog eyes 😉

Speaking of being adventurous…girl likes to drink ketchup. YUCK!

Tess LOVES the pool! She will stick to the steps a good bit but then once she starts swimming she’s ALL about it. We joke a lot about Miss Watermelon. For some reason the first time she wore this suit was the moment that her swimming really “clicked.” She had something similar last summer. At first she was hesitant to swim. We’d have to force her to practice etc but then one day it just “clicked” and she remembered that she loved it and was non-stop swimming after that. Same thing this summer! It took her awhile to remember that she loves to swim and now she’s a FISH!

Tess is SO PUMPED for her birthday. I can’t remember any of our kids ever being this excited about their party. I really think it has to do with her having a summer birthday. She celebrated her birthday at school in May so since then she’s just been REALLY excited. I took her into the dollar store to hunt for some stuff for her party and she kept pointing to everything and saying “I want that for my birthday” it was super cute. And super hilarious when she’d point to funny items like a box of douche bahahaha

Little People are Tess’s FAVORITE toys. She plays with them literally daily. If you have a toddler they are a wonderful gift. We’ve collected so many of them over the years and it’s great to still see them getting such great use. 


She likes to line up all of her toys (very common at this age) but is very imaginative with them too. She is always making them talk to each other and have story lines and we’ll often hear her saying “Mommy!” but she’s making her toys talk and isn’t actually calling for me. 

Helper with chores 😉 

Tess was ALL about some SUPER TESS after Cooper’s party 🙂 

The kids all like to play family/princess/doggie etc and they always make Tess a bed on our floor to sleep in 😉 

Tess is a low sleep needs child. She always has been. She just doesn’t require a lot of sleep to function at her best. However, she is a slower to wake kid too. I have learned to give her time and space when she first wakes up so she can ease into it (confession: I am this same way). She does best when she has that time and her worst moods seem to come at times when we’re in a rush to wake her and go somewhere. 

I think Tess’s personality is a good blend of Kye and Britt. She’s not as loud and outwardly silly as Britt but not as serious as Kye always was either. She will have her silly moments but she’s pretty calm and quiet about them so you have to be paying pretty close attention 😉 

Tess has always been an overall “easy” child and I feel like the age of 3 may be where we get tested with her. She’s def getting more stubborn and resistant to obey which is resulting in more discipline actions being needed with her. It’s always hard to discipline but I sure do love the snuggles after 🙂 

Love my sweet girl!

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