Tate says things that aren't always quite right, but I've started figuring them out.
For instance:
"Old Lady" = Old Navy
"Old McDonald's" = McDonald's
"Vader" = Star Wars
"Frosty the Snowman, was a very hungry tale" = the first line of the song, "Frosty the Snowman"
There are many more, but these are just a few examples from tonight. Also, here's a conversation Tate and I had tonight....
Me: Tate, it looks like you need to go potty.
(Tate hops around with his legs crossed)
Tate: No, I don't wanna go potty.
(This conversation repeats itself several times. Exasperated, I pick up the phone and hold it to my ear.)
Me: Hello, Santa Claus? Yes, you see Tate won't go to the potty. Uh huh. Um. Yes, well, ok, I'll tell him. (hang up phone) Tate, Santa Claus says if you keep telling your mom no, you won't get a present.
(Tate thinks for a minute and picks up phone.)
Tate: Santa Claus? Yes. Uh huh. No, I don't wanna go potty. Oh thank you Santa Claus!!
(Tate hangs up the phone and turns to me, smiling.)
Gotta get things caught up before the holidays are upon us, so here are the updates in sped-up style like the recaps of Glee each week:
So here's what you missed in the Robertson family...
Tate turned three and had his three-year-old doctor appointment. The doctor chewed out Jenny because she said "bedtime is a battle" and told her she was headed for an appearance on "Super Nanny." But that's all OK because Tate got a clean bill of health and has a height of 36.5" and a weight of 30.5 pounds, which means he's a little small for his age, but that's all OK because Rob was small until high school and then had a growth spurt.
Two days after the same pediatrician told me to stop worrying about Tate not being potty-trained and that it would happen when Tate was ready, Tate decided he was ready. And he was. And it was done. Just like that.
Then Halloween was upon us and Tate was a spider because he really, really wanted to be one. Even though Jenny bought a really cute dinosaur costume. I mean really cute. But he insisted on being a spider. So Jenny bought a spider costume and put the dinosaur costume on ebay. And then Jenny put the spider costume on Tate and he said "I want to be a dinosaur." Jenny told him he was three and that she would not reason with him anymore and that he was going to be a spider and he was going to love it. (And Jenny is sure that if she mentions all of this to the pediatrician, he will not only invoke the Super Nanny name again, but he will dial up the producers on the spot.) But Tate did love it.
He also loved passing out the candy more than collecting it, and even though I posted this video on Facebook several weeks ago, it's just so awesome that I'm posting it again.
We also went to a pumpkin patch and Tate rearranged the pumpkins and drove some tractors.
Now that Tate is three, we feel the need to list a few things he does, in threes.
Tate loves cars, trucks and dinosaurs.
His favorite books, which he can recite from memory, are "The Monster at the End of This Book," "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" and "Pete the Cat."
His favorite songs are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Five Little Monkeys Sitting in the Tree," and "Sugarfoot" by Black Joe Lewis.
His favorite things to say, or -- more accurately -- OUR favorite things he says, are "Nooooo thank you!," "Something's missing!" and "I'll be right back. Don't move."
Oh, and in the middle of all that, Jenny announced she was pregnant and expecting a baby on May 8.
And that's what you missed in the life of the Robertsons....
Tate had fun with his uncles and Poppy who were in town from San Fran, DC and Jackson for approximately 24 hours for the World Series in Arlington. Go Rangers!
Tate's 3rd birthday was golf-themed, and my friend Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper created an adorable invitation to set the scene for the "Birthday InviTATEtional"
We planned to set everything up outside because October is supposed to be the driest month in Texas, and the temps are supposed to be nice and comfortable. Supposed to be.
It poured all day the day of his party.
So we called a mulligan and set the golf party up indoors. We declared the backyard a Water Hazard:
And set up the first hole in our entry way.
And holes two and three were down our hallway....
We moved furniture out of the living room and set up a kid-size table inside. I made the banner using scrapbook papers, and I found the "golf ball" poofs at Party City for $1 each.
My sister Nancy made "cake balls" which we put in green pails on the table to look like golf ball buckets. I used turf purchased at Home Depot as a table runner, and the cake was supposed to look like a 3-shaped golf hole.
As the invitation suggested, the kids were playing golf for the coveted "Sippy Cup." So each child got a sippy cup...
....which they were able to personalize and decorate themselves.
The cake and cake balls were a hit with the kids...
As was playing golf....
Each kid took home a set of plastic golf clubs, a personalized "Sippy Cup" trophy, and a sticker that said "I played a round at Tate's 3rd Birthday!"
The rain didn't stop us from having fun with all of Tate's friends!
The next morning was Tate's actual birthday, so we got out the special birthday tablecloth, plate and hat for breakfast with Nanny-sippi who came in for the birthday weekend.
Before leaving for preschool, I found Tate sitting on the couch like this. I asked him what he was doing and, without looking up, he replied "just reading the newspaper."
He was clearly catching up on important current events...
He also has been busting out with some new words and phrases...today he said "something smells scrumptious," and when we were leaving my parents' house he said very properly "Goodbye Mia, I had a great time." ???
Tate has been obsessed with golf since he could walk, but now baseball is coming in a close second. At my parents' house a couple weeks ago, he started swinging a vacuum attachment at balls tossed to him...and hitting them! We soon found a plastic bat and used the vacuum attachment as a tee (because we were growing tired of tossing the ball) and then it was all over. We couldn't get him to stop, and now all he wants to do is "play ball." Here is some video from the first night...
As in, what they had to do to me when I picked up Tate and saw him dressed like this:
I dropped him off at school today in a nice red/navy striped Polo shirt with khaki shorts and Nike sneakers. And THIS is what he looked like when I picked him up. Apparently potty training did not go so well today and I forgot to bring an extra change of clothes. (Outfit courtesy of Tate's teachers. Finger in nose courtesy of Tate.)
While on the train, we encountered a sleeping longhorn. Tate kept shushing us every time we'd try to talk because the cow was "sweeping." I got a little bit of the interaction on video. And it kind of makes you wonder who is the adult and who is the toddler....
Then we went to see Nick Jr's Storytime Live show at Verizon Theater with friends Valerie and Hank. The highlight for Tate, though, was wrestling with Hank in the lobby after the show. All the way home he said "Where's Frank?" and when I would say, "you mean HANK?" and he would say "NO, I mean FRANK!!!"
And not pictured from the past weekend are playing miniature golf at Mountasia (I got beat fair and square by Tate!) and hitting home runs over Mia and Big Guy's fence into the wee hours.
It's all enough to make you fall asleep on your feet:
We had a Robertson family reunion in Jackson in honor of Poppy's 70th birthday. It had been over a year since all of the Robertson brothers and cousins had been together and it was a...
