Fall in Summary

Poor Tate's Space! I've been quite negligent in getting updates posted here lately, haven't I? I blame it on trying to sell our house, trying to sell our house, and ... oh, trying to sell our house! Sigh.

Since I assume you all are here for the photos anyway, let's get to it!

Tatum was (of course) a race car driver for Halloween.

Wee-Twos class photo with his adorable cousin, "Pinkerbell" in the middle

One of the pathetically few photos taken with his PawPaw when Gran and PawPaw came to visit from Colorado--PawPaw is also holding Tate's cousin Josh, slightly more willing to sit for a photo than Tatum, it would appear!

Playing the piano at CeCe and Gramps' house with cousin Lillian, visiting from Virginia

Another Wee-Twos pic of Tatum and Paige, this time with Thanksgiving treats (a turkey made from an apple and gum drops, so cute!). Sadly, I'm the one taking the pic and not the cute pregnant belly sitting next to the T-man. I WISH!

Not the greatest of photos, but it's so rare that I'm able to capture a picture of big boy cousin Parker with the little ones that I thought I'd include it.

I'm guessing T is making some kind of "vrooom vroom" noise with his cars here, what a funny expression! Parker's grin is adorable, though.

Enjoying CeCe's turkey-pops at Thanksgiving with cousins (another poor phone pic, but since it includes all the "littles" I thought I'd post it)

Having fun on the train at the zoo

My little Mister Serious (or, as his daddy puts it, "Who is that International Man of Mystery?")

And taking various trips to the nearby construction site to admire the trucks

I'm a sucker for pics of little ones walking with their daddy. The contrast of a big guy with this little person trusting him completely just melts me every time!

And finally, perusing the ads for trucks and cars in this week's paper over lunch. As I said on FB, this photo makes it frighteningly easy to flash-forward 14 years! (The face paint is of the tomato soup variety, by the way.)

Whew! That was fall in a nutshell. I hope to do better this Christmas season. Tatum is enthusiastic about everything this year, from tree ornaments to Santa Claus. Makes it all so exciting and fun!

Hop on Pop and Current Obsessions

I constantly forget that Tatum isn't two yet. He sings the alphabet song, he counts the steps as we go downstairs each morning (up to 13!) and his language skills make me smile. (Ahem, brag much mommy?! I can't seem to help myself!) He's currently into asking "What are you doing?" and if he's across the room and I'm having a conversation with Sarah or Bruce, he'll run over and ask, "What are you saying?" His big catch phrase right now is "something else"--I'll be singing him a song and he'll interrupt and ask for "something else," or we'll be eating breakfast and mid-bowl-of-oatmeal, he'll start insisting on "something else!" I hope it's a passing phase.

He's absolutely OBSESSED with match box and hot wheel cars. He plays with them first thing in the morning and often falls asleep clutching one or two at night. I love hearing the names he comes up with for them: "flame truck, little delivery van, big kahuna, racer race car, shiny tires" etc. There's some construction happening near where we live (a retirement living community) and we walk over to watch the trucks at least once a day. He knows them all: dump truck, forklift, backhoe loader, excavator, bulldozer. Sometimes I hear him repeating the names of the trucks to himself as he falls asleep at night. I foresee a car- or truck-themed 2nd birthday in our future!

He recently got his first big shiner--a black eye that's been there for over a week now! I can't even say exactly how it happened. I think he may have walked into the corner of our table; I was cleaning out one of the cabinets in the kitchen at the time and didn't see him when it happened. :(

I tried to get a picture of it the next morning, but it's fainter than I thought in this one (I think it got darker over the next day or so, poor kiddo):

Isn't this how everyone watches football?

Helping mommy work.

(Notice there's a car clutched in his hand in every single picture! Seriously, if we go to the park, he tries to climb the playground equipment while holding a car. Music class? We take a car. Bathtime? Car. OBSESSED! At least it doesn't have to be one specific car or truck--his favorites seem to alternate.)

Fall Fun

We've had some big happenings this fall! For one, Tatum started SCHOOL! Okay, so it's a gathering of two-year-olds that takes place one day a week from 9:30 - 11 AM, and parents are included. So not exactly school...but he calls it "class" and he's so excited about it!

We start each class with some play time downstairs at the church. The kids pick between riding in cars, climbing on equipment, playing at the train table, and so on.

(The age range is actually something like 18 months to 3+, in case you're wondering about the size variation of some of these kiddos! The other little boy in this picture attends with his little brother, and I think he's closer to 4.)

Then the class lines up and heads upstairs for snack and story time. They wash their hands and sit around a table. It's so sweet and grown-up!

In addition to "school", we've visited a local farm for hayrides, apple picking, and lots of climbing, jumping and exploring.

There were even "corn boxes" filled with corn instead of sand! So cool.

It's hard to beat a beautiful fall day on the farm--especially when it's spent with good friends (Stephanie and the beautiful Miss Lucy).

And you can't beat a giant slide that goes from the top of the hill all the way down to the orchard below!



Later, pardners.

Shaggy vs Trim

When Tate recently told me that he had "bugs" on his neck and swiped at the hair tickling his collar, I realized it was time for another hair cut. It must be the UVA girl in me; I'll admit, I love that shaggy, preppy overgrown look his hair gets when it's a bit longer. But I hate for him to be uncomfortable (bugs!) so off we went for another hair cut.

Fortunately I have some "before trim" shots to hold me over until it grows out again. :)

And of course, Tatum is adorable no matter what! Here he is after bath, the night he got his hair cut.

Night time chats and morning reads

We've been really entertained by Tate at night lately. He falls asleep after spending quite some time chatting with himself about his day. He'll count: "One, two, three, four, ten, twelve..." and chat about his family members: "Aunt Lauren. Uncle Mike. Gramps!  CeCe...."  or some of his other favorite things: "Music class!  Trucks. White truck. Red truck. Vrrrrrrooooom!"

Last night he was still rolling around his crib around 9 PM or so, and I was watching him on our monitor just because...well, I can't get enough of him!  I turned up the volume to hear what he was saying, and it was this: "I like to talk!  I like to talk. Talk talk talk."  I'm sure he picked up the line from "Hop on Pop" (we like to talk, we like to walk) but in this case it couldn't be more true!

In addition to his increasingly grown-up vocabulary, T-man has taken up some other habits that remind me eerily of his dad. For instance, reading at the breakfast table:

I'm not condoning reading at the table (and in fact get on Bruce from time to time to turn off the Blackberry or put down the paper!), but this was pretty darned cute.

It's just a matter of time before he makes the leap from the Babies R Us insert to front page news. I need to savor these innocent pre-news days while I can!

PS--I just noticed the resemblance between that top photo of Tate reading and the photo from when he was just a little guy with our dog, Liam, at the very top of the blog. The furrowed brow, the little dimpled chin--so similar! It made me smile.

Heeeeeeeyyyyyy, GOAT!

We've been having lots of fun with cousins this summer! A few weeks ago we went to the Medina County Fair, an animal-filled adventure that included dozens of baby pigs (less than a week old, sooooo cute!), more rabbits than you can count, chickens, ducks, cows, horses and ponies big and HUGE, and our favorites--the goats!

Gramps was ready to adopt a goat, they were so darn cute and endearing. They look a bit like creatures from a Star Wars movie (remember Jar Jar Binks?) and they are NIBBLY. Pretty much every goat we passed wanted a little taste of Tatum's stroller. I'm sure it's picked up some tasty flavors over the past 20 months: gold fish crackers, milk, and raisins, to name a few favorites! I'm not sure how Tate felt about the goats nibbling on his ride, but I had to snap a few pictures it was so cute.

At the fair Tatum also experienced his first amusement park ride! A spin on the merry-go-round with CeCe, Cami, Paige and Parker.

Last weekend, we attended our second "Touch-A-Truck" event. The blaring loud fire engine horns made T-man extra snuggly. He spent a lot of time on Mommy and Daddy's shoulders, not wanting to be set down.

When his cousins arrived on the scene, though, he perked right up and did some exploring!

We're so lucky to have our cousins close by.

(That last picture was totally unprompted, by the way! Cami is just the sweetest girl and wanted to share her ice cream with her cousin. Did I mention that we're lucky to be so close? :) )