The Chronicles...loooooong overdue...

Wow! Things have been really nuts around here since I returned to work after Chase was born, and I just haven't been able to keep up with this blog. So I'm going to post a ton of pictures, November through April.

Random Photos:

Yum!

Tate insisted on eating out of this Halloween bowl for weeks!

My Littlest

Proud Big Brother

Nana!!

Tate's creation: very proud!

He's such a cheese-monster. He loves to take these self-portraits.

Lounging...except for Tate, he never slows down

Tate is ready to head out to the Falcon's game with Daddy and Kevin

The game totally wiped him out!

Christmas 2009

My little helper!

Ornaments are for playing. He didn't want to give some up to put on the tree!

The casualties of Tate helping :-)

Tate and Wyatt had a great time together over Christmas!

Santa Grumps...

My boys!

More Random Photos

Another Tater creation, both for the intricate track and the very long train!

Our little engineer. Thanks for the great hat, Grumps!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the Tummy Tub!

Easter 2010

Decorating Easter eggs was a big hit!

Tate visited his BFF Aidan Easter morning for an egg hunt. They are so funny!

Hee hee!

And More Random Photos!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Tate!

More trains...

Trains at Gringa and Beeba Ogre's house, too. Trains everywhere!

Note Chase-zilla coming in for destruction...

The face of destruction...

They were both splashing like crazy. Ha-lar-ee-us!

"Rain rain go away..."

Chronicles: Tate enters the Terrible Twos

Tate had been practicing being a Terrible Two for about 4 months before the big birthday, so the trantrums and independence of the last few months haven't been a total shock. I didn't say it has been easy, only that he has allowed us to ease into this stage of life, the frequency, and the intensity. We are just so lucky.

The best part about the current form of his trantrums is that he *gently* gets down on his knees, then assesses the need to lay all the way down. Usually, by the time he gest all the way down there, he's forgotten what he was upset about and just lays there, staring up at me.
The toughest manifestation is the diaper change. He simply doesn't want it and will roll off the cahnging table. if you try to do it with him standing up, he'll run away from you. Sometimes with the diaper in his hand.

The most common manifestation is the appearance of Captain Destructo, where toys are beamed at walls and people, the play mat it totally dismantled, and all the cusions are removed from every piece of furniture. This is accompanied by squealing and peals of laughter. It's hard to be mad when he finds such joy in it. Until, that is, you become the target and then "rules" must be followed.

Newest catchphrases:
- Airplane! (this is screamed at the top of his lungs every time)
- Choo choo, mommy, CHOO CHOO
- Lighting McQueen (this is tough to make out - it sounds like Yightning McKeen)
- Light....
- "Get on the rope, Tate" (I guess he often wanders away at school)
- Where? (this is accompanied by the ASL sign for "where" and a concerned furrow of the brow)
- WHAT!? Oh, right-right-right. Okay. Bye.
- Jelly bean?

Some recent pics of the little guy:

Tate with Nana playing with the new tracks and new freight cars that he got for his birthday. Thank you Nana, Grandma, and Grandpa!

LIke his Grandma, Tate likes the licorice flavored jellly beans.

Luckily, they don't stain (for long).

Tate's birthday party at school...

Nana and Mommy made these very cool cupcakes

Tate and his buddies Aidan, Maddie and Andrew...

Tate's other classmates enjoying their cupcakes. Actually, after they all exclaimed "Lion!", they all just looked at it, like "what do I do with this?". So we had to break them apart so they knew how to eat them! We also had Jungle Juice (orange and cranberry juices mixed) that they thought was really cool.

Easter morning

Discovering what the Easter Bunny left for him...

Oh, man! There's a Lightning McQueen in there!

It must be played with immediately!

It was a long day of eating and entertaining...Tate is wiped out!