Category: Totally Tatum

Today, I decided to lay on Tatum’s daybed and read a bit while she rested. It was “quiet time” and the last few minutes, I figured I’d visit her bedroom to be quiet with her. She spotted me reading on her bed and asked me why I was staring at the book.

Upon laughing , it was then I realized that she thinks that all reading is done aloud. She asked me if I was going to ever turn the page. I would if you’d stop interrupting my reading. It was hard to concentrate as she kept asking me why she couldn’t hear me.

I told her I was reading with my eyes.

She decided to visit me on the bed and read with me.

She told me she was reading with her eyes, and I asked her how it was working. She told me to be quiet so she could read with her eyes.

Only this morning, I heard her in her bedroom reading her books. Usually, she gets up quite early and comes into me. I told her to go back into her room and play. This is what I saw:

She had read all of these books with her eyes and her voice. She has pictures to enjoy in her books, and it makes it much more fun to read with her eyes, truly!

Meanwhile, I’ll keep reading with my eyes and encourage her to just keep reading with that sing songy voice of hers. Love it.

Actually buying them.

Sometimes I wonder where all my money goes. Well, I admit it. I frequent Amazon, used book stores and eBay often; really often!

The fruit of these purchases has been monumental, however, She can always be found in her bedroom with a pile of books around her. I would even say her strong vocabulary comes from this. From these books, she’s learned lessons, silly stories,  ideas, manners, facts, and so much more. They give her more of an imagination as well.

Some of my favorite authors have arisen from this habit: Leo Leonni, Mo Willems, Keith Baker, Sergio Ruzzier and Eve Bunting, Doreen Cronin and so many more. I can always count on books about dogs, Paw Patrol, Spiderman, Dora, Clifford, Froggy and Marley.

I have no problem admitting my addiction, and I have no problem that she loves it. Actually, there is a new term coined by psychologists called “bibliotherapy.” This is the use of the content of some books to help cancer patients, and also for students to learn valuable skills.

She is growing to love reading as much as I do!

We had no real structured plans today. I know….hard to believe. The only thing on the agenda was to  go to the gym so I could get in a quick swim. Then, free to be just her and me!

Well, tend to be a Pinterest fanatic, and one of the posts was about a great game to try with Pre-K. After downloading, printing (in color (after troubleshooting the printer for an hour *sheesh*), laminating, cutting, and finding game pieces, we were ready to go! No real set up involved as the picture looked. I love Pinterest for the fact that they make it all look so easy and pretty. (NOT!) (this is the picture)

So, we sat down and she rolled the dice (which did not turn out in the perfect little cube like picture)

HIPPO!

She put the purple cube on the hippo line on the game board. (it’s covered because the sheet was not flat (thank you, laminator!). Tot had not clue, and that made it fun for me.

We had so much fun with this little animal game and all that work I put into making it was worth  the laughter and frivolity!

 

Because, today was just UP and DOWN.

It started with Tatum coming into my room on this little contraption that, thanks to Doug, talks now. (yes, thank you, Doug for fixing it!! *&%*&)It decided to say “3-2-1 blast off” to me bright and early this lovely Sunday morning. So, I was up. We wore our red white and blue to church since tomorrow is July 4th, Independence Day.

Speaking of Independence, Tatum told me this morning, she did not want to be held during worship since she was bigger. She sang three songs with her arms held high, worshipping to high heaven. Man, it was a sight to see and behold! I couldn’t help but tear up with her inspiring singing.

Once church was over, we headed home to get ready for Doug to pick us up to take us to the Diamondback game. I had bought cheap seats with my teacher’s discount, and although way up high, it was a fun idea! Doug had the honor of carrying her down five flights of stairs.

We finally got to our aerial view seats and she was instantly hungry!

After a some pictures, and a few oohs and ahhs at the game, she dove in for some corn snacks.

It was then time for a hot dog since the corn did not last in her tummy long. 

Oh the joy of a real hot dog. I had been feeding her vegan soy dogs all this time. My cat is out of the bag now. Will she ever go back?

She did continually need some food out of either true hunger or being a wiggle worm. Not sure which or maybe both.

I’m not sure if I remember much of the game, but we did stay long enough to watch Goldschmidt (the guy on her shirt) bat a homer! Worth watching!

We had so much fun with Doug, that when she got home she had energy to burn. This is when the roller coaster ride came a bit crashing down.

She was playing with Coti in the living room, when I heard a huge REAL cry. Blood was all over her hands and her baby.

She fell and hurt her lip on her tooth. Her tooth went back behind her other teeth! I rushed to the emergency room where nothing was done for her except them telling me this. The whole time, I tried to reach her dentist, and FINALLY I got a hold of Dr. Libby. She said to pull Tatum’s tooth back into place. I’d hear a click-click, and I sure did! I clicked it back into place, but it was still a little loose.

So, Tot is on the soft food diet for a while and NO FINGERS IN HER MOUTH. She is struggling with that one, but maybe it will break the habit. We are heading to the dentist on Tuesday since tomorrow (Monday) is the 4th.

This meant a smoothie for dinner and some Paw Patrol shows, and OH…LOTS of TLC which for me is the best part.

Finally the evening ended with her waking up crying to the 9pm-9:15pm fireworks show next door at the railroad park. She was way too scared (but not as bad as Coti!). I got to hold her for this stint, and that was more fun for me.

The ups and downs of today maybe were circumstantially scary and fun, but all in all, it was about togetherness, love, and growth for all of us.

What a tremendous day.

 

When you’ve just been beaten up by a periodontist for 95 minutes, you struggle with smiling. Yes, it was another surgery for my poor gums, but luckily Tatum let me hold THIS

for the surgery while she spent the morning at PFT. Boy did it help! So , what did I think about while under the knife? I thought of my little Tot.

After my surgery, I headed to Walgreen’s for my scripts, and while there, I bought her a Paw Patrol racket and ball bouncy thing. Well, after presenting it to her, the ball and elastic annoyed both of us, so we disassembled it, and decided to play “flip the pancake.” Much more fun.

I wowed her with my skills in between my laying down. She then was persistent to make sure the pancake flipped and stayed on the racket.

It sure made the smile appear on my pain-filled mouth. It’s not hard around this little gal.

It was not the “usuals” today. We left the house quite early so I could get a blood test. Since I had to be fasting, I was starving and ready to eat an elephant. Tatum had to come with me since I did not want to take her to summer school so early. We arrived at Walgreens, and JUST TODAY, they have canceled their contract with Theranos, the clinic inside of the store. Great timing. So, what will I do with this extra hour before school?
Across the street, there was BrakeMasters, and I was way overdue for an oil change. Perfect! We can have a little fun doing our waiting game.

No wait when we arrived, which is unusual for a Monday morning, so we plopped down and did our waiting. I have a  Master’s Degree in waiting. No problem. I pulled out my handy dandy Kinder brain game and we got to work.

Meticulously, she counted the triangles and circles to see what should happen next. She has mastered patterns.We got distracted taking a selfie…Next, we played run around the table (Yes, we were alone in the waiting room). As we were running, I realized I was running out of waiting games!! An HOUR later, he finished us up. It was the first day she was late to Pre-K, and they reminded me they do not give detentions for tardiness in Pre-K. Phew!