The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess Summary of Month 16

When I write my kids’ monthly posts I refer to notes I’ve taken in my phone.

Throughout the month I try to put things in the notes so I won’t forget them: things they say, milestones they make, just whatever.

That way when it’s time to write these posts (no matter how far behind I am in “real life”) I can remember everything!

It’d really pretty surprising for ALL the months I’ve done for each of my kids that this hasn’t ever happened sooner but…I accidentally deleted all of the Month 16 notes for Tess. Oops.

Of course this was also a very busy month where I didn’t take as many random pictures so I don’t have a whole lot for her for this post.

summary of Tess at 15 months old

Sorry Tess! I know that it’s not a big deal so I’m not stressing it (at least not too much)!

Tess was 15 months old (her 16th month) from Oct 31 – Nov 30th

Eating: Tess at this point out eats Britt who is 2 years 9 months older than her 🙂 Girl can GRUB! She also fully realizes when we have things that are different than her. When we just had Kye it was SO EASY to make sure he ate the healthiest foods because he didn’t really have anyone to compare to. I noticed with Britt it was much harder. She had treats and such younger than Kye did b/c she could see that he was eating them! Same goes for Tess. She knows when we have yummier things than her and she will let you know it!

First chocolate chip muffin!

We have entered the take-off-my-bib stage. Oh joy!

Thankfully she isn’t a very messy eater (she may out eat Britt but Britt beats her for messiness!) so it’s not too big of a deal.

I just leave it when she takes it off rather than have it become a game of her ripping it off and me putting it back on and her ripping it off again.

The beauty of a third child is the ability to recognize when somethings are just phases. This is one of them!

I’ve heard before that the 2nd child tends to do things sooner than the first b/c they want to be a big kid like the older sibling but that the third kid tends to be behind b/c they get babied by everyone.

Totally true! I keep thinking Tess is SO LITTLE and keep not having her move forward in certain areas. She’s a baby right? 😉

I realized I should have been hardcore offering her utensils way sooner so I’ve gotten more hardcore about making sure she has them at every meal.

The way to know I should have offered them sooner? Child instantly knew how to properly use them haha

I drink a lot of smoothies (as part of my Advocare lifestyle!) and for my lunch smoothie I add in frozen spinach and a spoonful of peanut butter.

Tess LOVES both!

I always give her my spoon when I’m done with it and she chows down.

It reminds me of my mom as she always said when I was a baby I cried a lot so she’d give me peanut butter to quiet me down and keep me busy and that’s why I’m such a peanut butter lover today. 🙂

I’ve never had a child do this and it’s SO STRANGE but I’ve caught Tess putting food in her ears.

Yes. That’s mac and cheese in there! EW! I’m not sure if it’s part of the teething ear pain she’s been having or whhhhhat but I’m hoping it’s a phase that passes quickly! Yikes!

Sleep: No photos for sleep this month! I don’t remember any specific issues other than Tess being sick (more on that in a second) and just realizing yet again how different she is from Britt.

When Britt is sick she CRAVES sleep. Tess is the opposite.

If she’s teething or not feeling well then she doesn’t sleep as well as she does when she’s perfectly healthy.

Since both girls were sick together it would have been nice if they were the same in their needs but instead I had a good bit of solo time with Tess while Britt was sleeping the sickness away 🙂

Schedule:

645-715: Up for day. Still doing 3-5 oz of breastmilk mixed with whole milk in her breakfast sippy.

9-11: Clinging to that morning nap!

12-1230: Lunch

1-3: Nap

After nap: Small snack

5:30: Dinner

6-645: Bath

After bath: Story, prayers

7:00: Bed for night

Sick: Britt was MUCH more sick than Tess but Tess did have the crud too.

She had a higher temp than normal which worried me and I was thankful she tested negative for strep and flu.

I believe they both just had a virus but the dr did think it could be sinus infections so they had a round of antibiotics.

We are in a WHOLE new world with Tess truly being so mobile! She was ALL OVER THE PLACE in the walk in clinic office!

It was perfectly timed that a company had sent me some of these cool forehead things to apply to help make kids comfortable and reduce fever.

I figured it was a great test run of them with the girls having temps.

I always say that I’m hardcore about being honest.

I’m not going to give something some stellar review just because it was given to me for free and that’s the case with these.

I feel bad so I don’t want to down the company as I think it’s a wonderful concept…but it was a PAIN and it didn’t even help.

I couldn’t tell any difference in her comfortability and it just kept sticking to her hair and then she’d pull it off and it’d be a pain to reapply then it’d lose it’s stickiness.

GREAT concept and idea, just not so great in reality!

This age is hard when they don’t feel well b/c they can’t communicate with you and it’s hard to make them comfortable and they can’t understand what’s happening.

Tess cried a lot. She was miserable a lot. And it was just a tough time for me!

She also cut her remaining two molars this month (giving her a total of 12 teeth!) which only added to her discomfort and irritability.

She pulled on her ear a good bit and had pain there as well and I was thankful it wasn’t an ear infection.

I got some drops from the dr to put in it to help numb the pain for her. Bless her, she had a rough go!

At 15 months old I feel like this is a LOT of hair!!!

Tess is my most copycat child. She has ALWAYS just naturally shadowed everything everyone does around her.

It’s a reminder that she’s really looking up to us all and it’s so important to lead her in the right direction!

I know if this is a trait she continues to have as she gets older that it’ll be important to make sure she’s surrounded by positive, God-loving people.

I have had a close friend who is a natural “chameleon” and I’ve seen how much damage can happen to personalities like that when they follow the wrong people.

For now though it’s really fun b/c we do something and she immediately copies 🙂

We have a  lot of fun making faces in the mirror together and her wide open mouth face is totally my new favorite! (Kye got me my cat pjs for my bday, don’t be jealous!)

I don’t have any notes for the “more about Tess” section but I still have the videos from this month:

Sibling Comparisons: Gosh Britt’s post for this month is SUPER long which makes me feel bad about poor Tess!

It’s crazy to think Britt was potty trained already at this point. Whoa! You can read all about her 16th month here! You can see Kye’s here…and it makes me SO thankful we are settled in our home and not planning on moving again 😉

Emily Parker
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