Loves music, loves to dance

It's a pretty normal thing for my family to randomly bust out in song and do a little impromtu dance. Ryan will surprise me with a slow dance in the kitchen. Tessa and my mom are the most energetic dancers and it makes me smile to see them waltz around the living room together dipping and twirling. Anabelle participates in the exciting potty dance whether she wants to or not. But, this week it was Granny kicking up her heels with Tessa while I made dinner. When I was little, I used to love when Granny would dance with me. I'm so thankful she's still able to do it with my daughter.

After the dancing, these two girls settled down to read about princesses. Sweet.

A Broken Wing

My sweet angel had her first trip to the emergency room this week-end. Tessa's official diagnosis was Nursemaid's Elbow, a subluxation of the head of her right radius (dislocated elbow). She is FINE now but we learned that it is apparently very easy to dislocate a three year old's elbow. I had never even heard of this condition before it happened to my friend a couple of weeks ago. And then, lo and behold, it happens to us too.

The injury occurred while we were getting Tessa dressed for church. She cried and told us her arm hurt but then seemed to get over it. But she refused to use her right arm at all which, I now know, is a classic sign. I wondered if her shoulder was out of joint so I gave her Motrin and decided to watch it. This is what happens when your mom is a nurse, you don't always get much sympathy. So we went to church and about our usual Sunday activities but Tessa's arm didn't get any better. By the time we arrived at G&G's house that afternoon my poor baby was walking with her arm clutched at her side like a little birdie with a broken wing. Pitiful.

It's at this point that we call the pediatrician and head to the ER. Tessa is an awesome patient, happily sitting and coloring (with her left hand) while we wait. After an exam, four x-rays and a hefty dose of Motrin she is cleared to go home. She had popped her elbow back in place all on her own. Now, two days later, it's like it never happened. I am amazed at her resiliency.

Furman University

A big thank you to our friends who gave us great tickets to the Furman game! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we couldn't have asked for a better day to take Tessa to her very first football game. She was adorable cheering and clapping and dancing to the band music. She kept singing "take me out to the ball game" which cracked me up. (She also sings this when I read about Cinderella going to the ball.) You can tell Daddy's favorite sport is baseball.

We made it to the third quarter before Tessa got too restless to stay in the stands. We wished the Paladins luck and went for a walk around the gorgeous campus.

Tessa climbed the spiral staircase in the tower which is not at all child friendly, liked to give me a heart attack. Then she fed her goldfish to one of the swans. Those birds are huge up close! My favorite part was the romantic rose garden. Furman ended up winning the game and we had a pretty perfect fall day.

Trick or Treat

Halloween fell on a Sunday this year and Sunday is when we usually visit my grandma. We thought the retirment village would enjoy a visit from our Minnie Mouse. So, my mom made cute little boxes of candy and we went reverse trick or treating to Granny's friends. Tessa handed out candy and hugs. It was very sweet and Granny enjoyed showing off Tessa in her costume.

Anabelle had her very own Minnie Mouse outfit for trick or treating in our neighborhood. She really is the best dog, so patient to let me do things like this to her.
My parents stayed to enjoy the Halloween fun. I love that they get to trick or treat with us. We just leave a basket of candy on the porch so we can all go together.

And our friends joined us later for even more trick or treating fun.

I just love little girls! They were adorable posing and smiling for the camera. Happy Halloween!

Boo in the Zoo

We took our little Minnie Mouse to the local zoo for some trick-or-treating fun last week-end. She loves all things Disney and has a closet full of dress up clothes. But our official Halloween costume is this pink Minnie.
Of course, we all had matching ears. I love that Ryan humors me and wears them too.
We had a few treats at the house before heading downtown. Here Tessa is contemplating a Minnie Mouse lollipop. Rather than eat it, she gave it a kiss and set it down.
Waiting in line proved a little traumatic thanks to a boy in a bloody skeleton mask. Tessa isn't at all a scaredy cat but it was pretty gruesome. We concentrated on pointing out Tessa's favorite characters who were also in line. Thank you local families for providing so many princesses and Buzz Lightyears to help distract her. Once inside the zoo she was happy again, although several times she asked about the skeleton.

Aren't the grandparents just adorable in their matching ears too?

Old Friends

Granny's lifetime friend Alice Jane came to Greenville for a visit last week. Even though their lives have taken very different paths, these girls have been friends for over 80 years. I find that amazing and so sweet. We joined them for lunch where Tessa behaved like an angel, thank goodness. Alice Jane is so funny and straightforward. When I showed her this picture she said "Well Nancy Lee, we look like what we are - a couple of old ladies." May I look this good when I am 85!

Pumpkin Patch Playgroup

Pretty sure this heat wave we are having qualifies us for an Indian Summer. Nonetheless we had a super fun, if super hot, playdate at the pumpkin patch.

Fall for Greenville

Fall for Greenville is one of my favorite downtown events. Sampling different foods and wandering down main street is a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
It was an eclectic mix - Nutella crepes, shrimp & scallops, curried chicken, crab cakes, fried green tomatoes, nachos, funnel cakes and more. It's fun to all get different things and share.


We went with my parents and I was expecially glad to have extra eyes on Tessa since it was so crowded. Ryan heard on the news that the city expected 150,000 visitors downtown this week-end. I think they were all there with us on Saturday!


Taking a break with Gampa.

My beautiful baby.

Near Liberty Bridge they had a large children's area with rides and bouncy fun. Tessa, of course, rode the carousel. She also climbed the huge inflatable slide all by herself. The crowds were getting pretty crazy by this point so we started making our way back to the car. Fun day.

Bye-Bye Binkie

Yes, my child is over three. Yes, my dad is a dentist. Yes, my daughter still had binkies. For quite a while now Tessa's binkie time has been limited to when she is in bed or in the car. I haven't inhibited her speech or caused her mouth to be deformed (maxillofacial plates don't fuse until about the age of 4) or done any other harm that some binkie-phobes worry about. It's just been an object of comfort for all of us.

But today we made the transition. We said bye-bye to the binkies. I rounded up all our binkies from the house, the car, even G&G's house. I told Tessa that we would mail them to the the Binkie Fairy. The Binkie Fairy would then give the binkies to babies that needed them.

Tessa was great with the concept, until it came time to put the last binkie in the package. Then came the tears. She pitifully tried to open the package and retrieve a binkie but my tape job held. In to the post office we went and before either of us could really believe it, the binkies were gone. I cried when she whispered "bye-bye binkies." Quick Momma, get those sunglasses on before Tessa notices the tears.

When I explained the plan to my mom (who coincidentally has the same adress as the Binkie Fairy) she said "Oh, that's so much nicer than what I did to you. I made you watch while I cut your binkies up with scissors like some kind of Binkie Massacre!" She made me laugh so hard calling it a massacre. I'm not traumatized and Tessa won't be either. I'll keep telling myself that tonight when she's crying for her binkie.

Oktoberfest

Last week-end was the Greer Oktoberfest complete with an oompa band and folk dancers. These ladies not only performed, but gave dance lessons too. Tessa had a great time learning to polka.

Here's Tessa showing off her new dance steps with her daddy.


Momma and Daddy had dance lessons too. When the teacher said something about the young couple if front, I looked around thinking "who?" But she was talking to us. Ha! Made my day to be referred to as the young couple. Of course the reason she wanted our attention was to tell me to reign it in a bit on the turns. Apparently my flamboyant turns are more shag than polka. Oops!

After all that dancing, we were hungry. Tessa dove right in to Ryan's brat, complete with sauerkraut and mustard. I was shocked that she liked the sauerkraut but she kept coming back for more. What a fun family day, I love our little downtown.