Tate Lately || 2 1/2 Years Old

My sweet, silly Tatie Tot!  I absolutely LOVE being your mommy and watching you grow!  You are so silly - you love being tickled and beg me to do it!  Under your arms, the bottom of your feet, the chubby above your knees, tickle tickle tickle!  You have the most contagious giggle, which always turns to a shriek of laughter when you are really having a fun time.

People talk about the 'terrible twos' all the time but I don't know what is so terrible about them!  Yes, you are trying to show me that you are ready to be independent, and that can cause a battle here and there but really you are just growing and learning and figuring new things out!  I love being here with you for all of this.  It is so neat to see you being YOU.

You love to read books.  You will gather up a pile of books and sit down to flip through them.  You 'read' them in a language I have yet to understand but you definitely know what you are saying.  Every now and then a real word will pop in so I know that you are making up a story about the pictures in the book and that is so rewarding for this momma who loves to read herself!  Books with pictures of animals will bring forth animal names and sounds. For instance, you will say 'Mesh mah nish tee sheep (or "heep" in your case) nee mash baa'.  Lately you pick out letters on the page to show me, all excited to point at one.  You have no idea what that letter is, what it sounds like or means but for some reason you are excited about it so I am excited, too!

You speak clearer and clearer every week.  Lately you answer a question with "sure!"  It cracks me up!  Do you want a snack? "Sure!"  Should we take the boys to school? "Sure!"  So cute!  You get excited when you see tractors, combines, fire trucks, police cars and 'beep beeps' (construction equipment).  You now call animals by their names, mostly, and I miss the days of you calling them by the sounds they make.

I said "smile, Tatie Tot!"  You said "I am!" :)

Singing is something you love to do!  In the car you will belt out some song that you make up in your head and oh my goodness do I love that!  Sometimes I will ask you to sing the 'Mommy Song'.  You will take off blasting out 'Mommy mommy MOMMYYYYY' and so on. :)  Once in a while you sing what I'll call 'The Family Song'.  This one is where you sing out everyone's names that you know.  'Mommy Daddy Nowa Papa Judgey Bwennan Aynan Daddy Tenwee Woo' and so on.  That one melts my heart!

You like to count!  "One two free four FIVE!!"  And sometimes "one two free five seven eight TEN!"

You are quite the eater!  You can out-eat Brennan, easily!  But your latest and greatest thing is "I don't wike it!"  You scrunch that adorable little face of yours up and say it in the most believable way.  Problem is, Buddy, I know that you DO like it!  Yesterday you tried telling me you don't "wike" apples -- since when?? You snarf those down like they are going out of style!  You will ask me on the way home from dropping the boys off at school for a snack, even though you just ate breakfast an hour before.  When it's almost lunch time you will ask for supper.  I tell you no, it's not suppertime, it's lunchtime.  You then say "I don't wike wunch".  Sigh.  We are working on teaching you the names of mealtimes and when they are during the course of a day. :)

As you can tell, you use the 'w' sound in place of "l's".  Tenley is Tenwey Woo to you.  I never get tired of hearing you call her that, either!  And lately, sometimes, you'll pull out "Tenwey Wouise".  Gah, my  heart!  You beyond adore her, you try to care for her and watch out for her which sometimes means you take things away from her and she screams at you about it.  Then you'll pat her back or her butt like you are consoling her but telling her still that it wasn't safe for her to have what she had - which was probably the remote. :)  You still want to hold her a lot but she doesn't allow it like she did when she was a little lump.  You give her kisses, you take her toys, you get mad at her when she's in the way of what you are playing with, but mostly you just love her.

You think the moon rises and sets over your big brothers!  You love telling them goodbye when we drop them off at school in the mornings.  You want to wrestle with them constantly and really want to play downstairs in their rooms with their Legos.  Where they are you want to be.  I would say that you and Aiden (Aynan) are best friends and that you and Brennan (Bwenna) are brothers.  You and Brennan tend to fight a lot more than you and Aiden do.

Daddy is your bestest buddy, you love sitting with him in the chair at night.  Wrestling with Daddy is in your Top 5 list of favorite things to do.  If Daddy is outside that's where you want to be.

Speaking of being outside, it's your number 1 favorite place to be!  You still love digging in your sandbox and could spend hours in there.  You like riding your 3 wheeler bike around in the driveway or digging in the garden (or any dirt you can find).  You absolutely LOVE that there are fresh berries on the berry bushes just ripe for picking.  I often find you bellied up to the berry bar. :)  It doesn't seem to matter how hot it is outside, you would spend all day out there if I let you.

You can definitely be sassy.  You are stubborn.  You like helping Mommy.  You are a big fan of Papa's, you ask about him daily.  You really love going to Auntie's house to play with your 'fwends'.  You go there once a week for 2 hours and it's never easy talking you into leaving.  You'd prefer everything to be your way.  You argue about taking naps or going to bed but always fall right to sleep.  You love fruit snacks, apples, milk, pizza, chicken, steak, any and all meat really, green beans, peaches, bananas, Goldfish crackers.  You still love your Snuggle and won't sleep without it.

You take a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon still and I hope that never ends - you are such a ball of energy that Mommy always need that afternoon quiet time to re-energize!  You go to bed at 8:00 most nights and then like to come snuggle in bed with me every morning around 6:00.  You don't give kisses freely but usually when I ask you for one you will comply.  You give awesome squeezes around the neck and the best hugs!  You like crawling up on my lap, and I love it right back!  I still call you my 'Quishy quish' but you are not nearly as squishy as you used to be.  You do still have the baby squish in your hands, though and, you probably have no idea I do this, but when I hold your hands I always squish that baby squish a few times because it is fleeting.  You ask me to hold your hand whenever you are tired, sad, upset and every time we walk down the hall together.  Be still my heart. :)

I love you so much, Tater!  Gosh am I happy you are my little boy and that I don't have to share you with any other mommy EVER!  You keep on being you and you'll go far!