Sweetness and Vanity

A sweet story from the weekend: 

Tonight I told Tate it was "nite-nite" time. He wiggled out of my lap and started walking toward his room. He stopped halfway down the hall and turned around. I rolled my eyes and turned around also, thinking he was going to give me trouble about going to sleep. 

Instead he walked straight to Rob, who was on the computer, and reached up. Rob picked him up and Tate gave him a hug around the neck. I was still thinking this was Tate trying to get out of going to sleep. But no. After giving Rob a hug, he immediately wiggled to be put back down, turned around, waved "bye bye" to Rob and walked  himself straight back to his crib. I kissed him goodnight, put him in the crib, and he went straight to sleep. 

He had just wanted to tell his Dad goodnight. It was the sweetest thing, and the first time Tate has consciously done something like that. He's growing up. 

And a not-so-sweet story from the weekend: 

At Nancy Beth's house on Saturday, Tate decided to do some redecorating. He was intent on removing all knick knacks off the shelves in her living room and carefully placing them in other locations or handing them to me. He then came to the last item: a picture of himself. He stopped in his tracks, looked at it, lovingly patted it, and then placed it right back where it was, now the only item left on the shelf. His redecorating complete, he clapped for himself and walked into the kitchen to join the rest of us. He's so vain...he probably thinks this blog is about him. 

Tate is very lucky

When Rob and I were dating, we took our pictures in a photo booth, and it morphed our images to show what our offspring might look like. I came across that picture today.

World, meet our love child:


It was excellent birth control for a while. Tate is very lucky he didn't end up looking like the computer predicted. We should probably quit while we are ahead.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tate wants to give you all a kiss. 

Tate's Love Notes

Some recent comments from Tate's daily reports at daycare: 

"He had a wonderful day today and did like to get into trouble. He did have a fascination with his friend's hair today and wanted to pull on it if it was sticking up. So, I put a little clip in his hair for a bit in the morning so it would stick up so he would play with his own hair instead of his friends." 

"He learned how to play on the sensory table today with water and had lots of fun with it. So much fun that he wanted to climb on the table and sit in the water with his clothes on." 

"He might start doing Tarzan noises at home." 

15 Months

At Tate's 15-month appointment last week, his stats were:

Height: 32 inches (50%)
Weight: 24 lbs 3 oz (50%)
Head: 19 inches (90%)

He still has the big head. Luckily he has a new boy cousin on his way which should help keep his head from getting too much bigger....he won't be the only game in town anymore!

Other milestones:

• He runs. And runs. And runs.
  
• Says da-da, duck, uh oh, thank you and "uh uhn uh uhn" (which is the sound you make when you are wagging a finger at him and telling him to stop doing something. He now just mimics it back. I have such authority with him.)
  
• Still no "mama." I am starting to take it personally.
  
• He can sign for "more" and "finished"
  
• Loves balloons, pull toys and other babies
  
• He also is learning to use a spoon:

It's a work in progress. (Click on the picture to enlarge it at your own risk. It's not a pretty sight.)

Boot Camp at Mia's

While I was away for a week in Hawaii (and Rob joined me for half the trip), Tate got to spend some quality time with Mama Mia and Big Guy. They whipped that boy into shape.

They taught him manners. He now says "thank you." (and uh oh and buh bye)

They taught him to get to sleep on his own. For the last two months, bedtime has been a test of wills involving much chasing and cajoling. Now, all I have to say is "It's nite nite time" and the kid actually walks to his crib and acts like he's trying to climb in. Unbelievable.

Finally, they taught him to work for a living. Observe him mopping the floors in Wal-Mart.



Who needs Super Nanny when you have Mama Mia?

Work Trip

I am on a business trip to Hawaii (believe me, I am doing a lot of work...it's actually exhausting).

This is the view from my hotel room.

I still miss Tate.

Down with Horatio

I have a confession. I just sent an email to Sesame Street complaining about Horatio the Elephant. It started with a long, well-written message about how much I love Sesame Street, how I watched it as a kid, and how I feel ridiculous even bringing it up, but that the Horatio character just doesn't seem like he is up to the usual Sesame Street standards. His voice and his antics encourage children to be loud and obnoxious. I clicked on "submit" and got an error message. My carefully worded missive disappeared into cyberspace. Frustrated, I went back to the "Contact Us" page and tried again. And I got another error message. So I had to start over AGAIN. Finally, I just quickly typed:

"Horatio the elephant is shrill and obnoxious and must go."

Submit.

This time it went through.

Yep. I just used my English major and professional skills to flame a Sesame Street character.

This blog post brought to you by the letters P and O.

Rock Band Family

We had some fun with Rock Band at Nancy's recently...

Tate was very into the drums. (t-shirt was a Christmas gift from his Aunt Nancy...so nice of her to recognize his Aunt Brooke in such a way.) 

For those about to rock, we salute you

The guys playing a song. But wait! Who's singing????

Our own Rockstar! 

New cousin

Tate has a new cousin, Cecilia Rosemary Robertson! She is the first child of Rob's youngest brother, Chris and his wife Sarah. Check out www.erinbeach.com/thebaby. She is absolutely beautiful! We can't wait to head out to San Francisco to meet the newest member of the Robertson family.