Tessa's Cookie Party
**So over the last year after I started and then without explanation stopped the whole Two and a Half Minutes with Tessa video series, I received quite a few emails and comments asking why? Why did I stop doing it? Well... the short answer is, that it felt too personal. With all the sharing that goes on around here, pointing that camera on her while she ate for those couple minutes just didn't feel right. It felt a little too Truman Show, ya know?! So I stopped doing it.
With that said, it's been awhile since I just let the camera roll on Tessa being Tessa and shared it around here. And today there is a couple 2 minutes of video of Tessa being her adorable 2 year old self, pouring over with imaginative play, and creating her own story line. I can't remember the last time I smiled so big, I think it must have been when LB sang us "What A Wonderful World."
Last week Cole and I ended up with a few days off together, and we decided we should finish the kids playroom. We got rid of a bunch of the noisy Christmas toys, and tried to think of play areas that would keep them entrenched in fantasy and imagination, and creating. So this is what we came up with, their finished room. Ta-dah!
At the end of the day, after dinner, after bath, and jammies were on, Tessa really broke this new playroom in properly, and put on quite a show. She threw a good old fashioned cookie party for her toys. Cole noticed her running into the room, and setting up her favorite dolls at the table, and then start setting out pots and pans in front of them, and then Cole yelled for me to get the camera. We sat and watched her play in this room for a good 30 minutes straight. It was amazing to see her go. What a payoff right? We had just finished the room, looked at one another, and thought, are the kids even going to play in here? And then Tessa answered with this performance.
I know this video is probably just way insanely cute to Cole and I, but I wanted to share anyway for the buddies that have been watching Tessa grow up from afar. This one is for you guys.
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55 comments:
What a gorgeous room! I love how the kitchen etc is simple and wooden - not only does it look stylish as hell but the simplicity surely allows for even more freedom of imagination because you're not constrained by any imposing design.
And I LOVE the carpet. Who doesn't want to play on grass all day?
That is absolutely adorable. I could listen to Tessa saying 'cookies' all day long..
She's a doll, and I'm glad you share her with us in the sweet little ways you do!
Good lord. How many laps around that table did she do in 30 minutes? No wonder they're so exhausted at the end of a day.
Thank you so much for posting this! You both must be so proud. She's awesome :-) I'm one of the many who've "known" Tessa since the belly series and it's lovely to watch her grow up.
This has been my favorite thing about having a 2 year old so far: watching her grow and start playing. And to hear her internal dialogue come out through her mouth. LOL!!! It's fun to see Tessa doing the same; what fun! Great job with the playroom; it's going to keep life enriched, simple, and full of creativity! My favorite book on the topic is "Simplicity Parenting." It's been my favorite inspiring "parenting" read.
How adorable!!
God, she wore me out just watching. Love the part where she gets tired of sticking her arm into the cookie tube and just dumps them out on the table. And the tiger pants are stylin'. Very cute kid.
As a gramma, I'm dying with all the "cooookies" and the "Mmm,Mmm,Mmm!" near the end, holy cuteness! Plus watching her play with all the toys just made me think of Toy Story and how happy Woody, Buzz, and Jessie are! "Wanna cooookie?" (oops, dropped one! Why not just dump these puppies all out and get this party started?) What a great little hostess!
Tessa is so funny. I love the way she knows that the tub falling over was a gasping 'oh no' moment then she proceeded to just tip it up and throw the cookies out all over the table and drop the tub on the floor anyway.
Also when the Jessie doll gets it and ends up on the floor for more important matters with her pots is too funny.
Love the way she drinks every bodies tea for them.
I'm not sure I'd want to be one of the guests at the party but it was pretty hilarious.
Love the video! Her little voice, so cute. "I'll be back" and I love that she has Buzz and Woody at her cookie party.
mm-mm-mmm! adorable. my boys play with choo-choo's and they spend their time fighting for them instead of making up stories like sweet Tessa.
how super cutie is she?!
such a fun space for the adorables to play!
My 2.5 year old daughter looked at the picture of your playroom and said, "I want to go to that room... I want to live there." :]
Adorable! Whoa. This just makes me more acutely aware of how very different little boys and girls are. I have three little boys and there's a striking contrast between how nurturing and hostess-like and how much of a little caretaker Tessa naturally is compared to the whole "seek and destroy" tactics my boys employ with their play. I even bought them a little play kitchen to encourage some domestic skills and you know what they use the pots and pans for? Projectiles.
Proof that boys and girls (men and women) are pretty darned hard-wired, no?
I have never heard anyone say cookies cuter than this.
She's just so cute!
Woody, Buzz, Jesse! OH MY! It's refreshing to see a child using her imagination to play and so adorably happy. Great job mom & dad and I love the wonderful colors in her play room.
Oh wow, this is too cute. Love the way she carries the pot completely differently AFTER she fills it with "water" at the faucet, she's much more careful, like she's trying not to spill it. And Buzz standing on the chair in his hero pose just kills me. Thanks for sharing!
Pure awesomeness!
oh my god shes so awesome!
going to the sink for milk...MMM MM MMM! brilliant!
thanks ryan, this cheered me up and i was able to really laugh today.
nope, it's pretty much insanely cute to me, also. little girls' tea parties are always so fun to watch. i adore a child's imagination.
Love this! My husband and I just decided to have a designated "playroom" and moved all the toys out of my girls' bedroom and noticed a huge difference in the amount of imaginative play they do. I cook dinner as quietly as I can now so I listen in on all the silly things they're doing in there!
She is adorable. I love how she knocked over the cookies, looked up at you and then dumped them all out like, "hey that was my plan all along."
I could totally hear the very end credits from Toy Story 3 in the background. What, me have a 2.5 year old, nah. ;)
Very cute. Wish my little guy could talk as much as she does, though he says milk, up, and okay the same way she does. Also, her jams are adorbs.
Who is the orange guest on the chair to the left? I can't figure that one out. I know I say "I'll be right back!" to my 17 month old daughter all the time, so it was adorable to hear Tessa say it at the end. Thanks for sharing.
thank you! I missed the 2minutes movies.
"i'll be back", like she said!
i love her filling up at the sink...!
I love seeing the problem solving skills of children that age. Or just the way they do things that make most sense. Like knocking over the cookies got an "oh no" so she just dumped them all out. Or that Jesse didn't sit nicely next to Woody, so she walked all around the table to put her in the chair she had been standing next to. And that "mmm mmm" at the end! So cute.
would spend my days looking at those lovely videos of her :)
and i want that room for myself!
She just makes my heart smile.
Very cute play room! You need some of these for the walls! They remind me of your family's design sensibilities :)
http://kowallaa.myshopify.com/collections/all
Tessa's room is super adorable!!! first thing my daughter said "can we go over to Tessa's room!?"
I don't know...my 9 month old daughter loved watching Tessa play! And I loved watching her imagination!
My favorite part is at the end when she says mmm mmmm mmmm .... Love it!
Thanks for the video, I was one the people who wondered why the 2minds thing is gone, and I was quite sad about it. This video is so great, love seeing her running around!!
She is perfection!
Thanks for sharing, I missed Tessa's 2 1/2 minutes of cuteness.
Where did you get that adorable hot air balloon? So cute!! You guys did a great job on the room!
Hi Erin. I found it on Amazon. I just did a search for hot air balloons. and found this http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Light-Balloon-Model-Yellow/dp/B0023SFF5W/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1317218100&sr=1-2
all kinds of colors :) enjoy.
Oh my God! I can't believe no one said it before me but she's BONNIE, from Toy Story 3, the insanely adorable little girl who becomes parent to Woody, Buzz and all the others when Andy goes off to college. Tessa even looks just like her. This is beyond adorable, obviously, and has inspired me to get out the camera and tape my children at play.
Here's a link to Bonnie and her tea party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-PWzNjT_pM
Cookies! Mmmm mmm mmm! I's be back....can she can't anymore more adorable!!!
Thanks for sharing that with us! It made me miss my girls being little.
"Mo mo coo-kie!" so freakin cute!!!!
and buzz lightyear needs a booster seat....
thanks for putting a smile on my face today, Ryan..
mmmm, mmmm, mmmm... and i'll be back! near the end were my fave's, although i smiled and laughed at her chatter & playing away. thanks for sharing; it's nice to see her as she is now - a little girl!
all the best!
I love it... She sat down and said "mmm mmm mmm". Clearly that was one delicious cookie!
What a fantastic room! Great job you two!
The playroom is awesome!!
I came across your blog googling maternity photo's when I was pregnant with my son..I ended up having him on June 29, 2010 It's been pretty cool watching Tessa grow up knowing that these are the type of things I have to look forward to.
Anyway, Keep it up!
http://obsessing-daily.blogspot.com/
your playroom and our playroom could be buddies! we have many of the same elements and ikea staples. i just need to find a sweet fridge...
good stuff. love those curls!
I needed that today. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I have moments like that too, where we watch our kid and are just filled with wonder... watching his little mind grow, getting wrapped up in his play, and just soaking up him being so cute and happy and awesome.
Hey, do you mind sharing where you guys found the nice wooden kitchen set? Its such a challenge for me to find non-plastic, non-Disney character stuff for my son, who is a couple months younger than Tessa. I am just not plugged in to the right places locally....
Thanks! Tessa is such a cutie.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- your posts are missed.
So awesome. Thank you for sharing. Takes me back. Mine are 6 and 10 now. She is precious!!
what a chatterbox..tessa is a real cutie and it only seems like yesterday that my girls were running around in hostess like fashion in tea party mode:)
That was just to precious, your daughter is adorable.
So adorable!
Omgosh...i want to play in there! :D
What a lovely playroom! You guys were CRAZY to think that they wouldn't enjoy time in there - it's beautiful and like others have said, very inspiring for the imagination! Tessa is a doll - I've been reading your blog for a long while and it's such a joy to watch your family grow :)
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