Tessa has a fan base

I've noticed that small children are especially fascinated by babies.  Picking up the girls from school one day over maternity leave, I happened upon a class of kindergartners and they all wanted to see Tessa.  One little boy said, "I like your baby."  They were very curious about the stork bite mark on the back of her head.  And one little boy even reached up and patted her on the back in passing.

Another time, I took the girls (my nieces) for a walk around the little lake near my house.  We were passing the park and this little girl came running up to the stroller and grabbed ahold for dear life.  She was barely tall enough to see Tessa.  I let her look for awhile but after a few minutes of her clinging to the stroller, I was at a loss about how to get her off.  Luckily, I think her sister noticed and came to retrieve her.

Well, today beat all.  We were both having a bad morning.  I tripped and fell at the post office and the bottom of Tessa's carseat clunked on the floor which scared her really bad.  We met Valerie at IHOP for breakfast where the morning started to get more fun.  Out of nowhere, this toddler comes running up to Tessa's carseat to look at the baby with her Dad in tow.  He had to keep telling her not to touch the baby.  It was so adorable.  Tessa gave her a great big smile.  Then the tiny little girl made oinking sounds at my daughter.  She was talking, not to Tessa, but to the pink piggy toy on her carseat.  As we were leaving, she tried to follow us out...still oinking.  SO CUTE!!!

What a difference a day makes!

Sorry for changing the person of reference here but I'll probably easily go back and forth between creating new posts for Tessa, using 'you' and new posts about Tessa.  Not an English major. lol. 

So between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, I noticed that Tessa is babbling differently.  I can't even determine what is different about it.  Maybe her babbling is clearer or more purposeful--or just louder.  And, get ready for this one, she's reaching out for objects that pique her interest.  I fed her a couple of bites of cereal last night (it doesn't help her sleep longer but she kind of likes chewing on the spoon) and she reached out and tried to grab the spoon!  So I gave Tessa the spoon and watched to make sure she didn't bonk herself in the eye with it.

We will be playing with spoons more tonight.