Month: April 2016

Recently, Tatum has been obsessed with her baby pictures. She loves to watch videos of herself saying “Lalala”, pictures of her “crabby” butt, and if ANY of her with a binky (nope). Now that she’s such a big “THREE!”, she feels she’s way older now. Darn…she is, and this is the problem. Tatum IS getting bigger and older and just cuter every day. But, did you catch that? O.L.D.E.R. (insert tears here)

She looks at me with those big beautiful blue eyes, and I just want to melt. What I do instead, often, is I grab her in my arms and hug her like mad.

Just this week, we went to Paradise Bakery for lunch. I wanted to treat her to a big girl meal with me. Truthfully, I want to create a habit of having “dates” with her so when she does get bigger, it’s part of our life.

 

These “dates” I call quality time. It’s what I try to make all of the time. Even when she’s playing “bathtub.” What makes it quality? Well, perhaps it is that she gets to sprinkle me..and  I stress sprinkle. Splash, and she’d be a sorry Tot!

 

Or maybe it’s when we are hanging out in the kitchen and she insists on cleaning the floors. What a handy skill for a Tot to have! (I wonder where she got this OCD-ish behavior…hmmmm!?)

 

Our quality time is all the time. The good, the bad, and the I want to tear out my hair time. What is it that the Bible says? “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1Thess 5:18)

Yep. Good thing to remember.

The afternoon promised to be just as exciting, with another grizzly guy! Doug, sporting his gorgeous grizzly (which means gray) hair which I love, offered to take Tot for more adventures as I worked.

He decided to take her to the Playtime Oasis which has more imagination toys than I could ever provide. Of course, she had to get her exercise in.
First a quick spin on the exer-bike..

Then a couple miles steps on the treadmill.

Finally, row row row your ….rowing machine?

and finally finally, who could forget the slide walker. It’s more like human scissors for your legs.
Doug being the builder that he is, engineered the perfect tower. Now, how long do you think it took for him to build this?  OK…NOW, how long do you think it took to topple it down!!!??? 

A quick crawl through the caterpillar to escape and …..

Oh, I’m caught. 

 

After the fun, Doug took her for a cone. A Mickey D cone!!

This is the face of a grateful and very pooped Tot. And a very grateful mommy awaited her at home.

Celebrate with the guy later. Thank you dearest Doug!

Going to the zoo for only a quick 20 minute movie is never quick and never 20 minutes. First, there’s the parking. Now, a Wednesday around 10am, who would possibly be at the zoo?? (besides the animals of course) Two words: Strollers and Students. Of course!!! When it’s pushing 75 degrees outside, it brings out the troops.

So, alas, we went to find out what time the Grizzly Bear 4D adventure was playing, and we had just missed it, so we had to wait another hour. Hmmmm…well, without traveling the zoo sans a stroller (I did not think to bring it), we ventured over to the pond and made some friends.

Tot was eating freeze dried peas, so we thought we would share with this little guy. He was not interested in peas. Apparently, the zoo patrons feed these ducks much better fare than we had. He also was not afraid of us at all. 
He even got this close to us!
Then who should start to swim up to us (and then got out to venture to the other duck) but his family! Zack, Mack, Pack and Quack, the little ducklings. Tatum went up to these four cuties (who we named accordingly) and again, no thanks to our peas. Tatum then asked me if she could pet these ducks, but I said it would not be safe. She then asked them if they bit. She told me they said, “I BITE!!”

Eventually, after much goofing around, it was time for our adventure!We put on our glasses and got ready for our movie. 4-D means that there are now bubbles, air and water squirting out at appropriate times in the movie. Just not appropriate for my girl. She would scream every time any of these effects occurred. But, to the story, these adorable little grizzlies leave their cubs and travel 2000 miles for the salmon run. They depend on these pacific salmon as do the eagles and many other animals. They are quite popular! It scared Tot silly, but I held her tight. I don’t think she’s ready to go visiting grizzlies anytime soon.

What a fun morning with my lil’ Tot. To be continued…..(the afternoon!)

Tot had a private lesson today with Missy and Diane. They played a matching game, and I peeped through the window. She focused and was on task the whole time. At one point, they asked her what was a whole note. Tot said, 1..2…3…4. Exactly! 
She also identified Mozart and all the keys. 
I’m pretty proud of my little musical Tot. They were too and even commented that she was very bright. She also has picked up everything she is learning. It’s paying off.

One of the great benefits of being a mom at home is the ability to meet with other moms for play dates. They can be a totally great success where the kiddos click and so do the mommies, OR the direct opposite. Yes, the kids can click, but an all around best case scenario is if you love the mom too!

Well, this is the case with Shannon and Vivian. Shannon is a dear friend from my mom’s group and my book club/bible study. Vivian is her sweet almost three little one.  The first thing they did when we came over was snuggle up on the chair in a warm Hello Kitty blankie.  Shannon and I could have talked for hours. Tatum and Vivie played dress up, karaoke, climb on the mommies, and jump on the mommies. I could have done with out the last two. All and all a great time.

Later that day, another play date with Melissa, Sophie and Gabby. Ethan showed up and teased Tot with a funny hat. Overall, a tremendous benefit to begin Tatum’s mommy!