It’s her height!
Hopefully this correspondence does not stay consistent with time, or when she’s ten, she’ll be quite tall!
To be her Mommy
“Happy Mother’s Day,” the sign read as we walked into her pre-school class. Miss Kristin and Miss Hailey had prepared a wonderful spread for us to celebrate. Tatum immediately ran up to Miss Kristin to hug her and Robert followed suit. 
Then, I got to meet Olivia’s mommy. She sat down and commented on how much she adores Tatum. I thanked her and told her we hang out a lot because she’s my “only.” Uli (Olivia’s mom) said Olivia was her only too. I then said, “Oh, but I’m sure I’m older than you.” She bet me and I lost! She was three years my senior. INSTANTLY we were friends as we looked around at all the young 30 something moms. Awesome.
Ok…then the best ever song occurred. “I love you mommy.” 
“You make me happy!!!!”
Lunch, friends, celebration….
She then handed me my gift. She painted this for me and a picture of her blowing me a kiss.
Then…seriously…hilarious and well…hilarious. This is what she says about me. Me, the 8-year old mom, and sometimes I just am. (She knows me so well!) Pretty low standards if we were to go anywhere in the world. I think I can handle that!
My heart bubbles over. I love you PFT (Paradise for Tots), Miss Kristin, and Miss Hailey!!!!
Sacrifice?
Today, we were at gymnastics class, and one of the mommas waiting with me struck up a conversation. She shared that her son went to Tesseract. So of course, I had to share that I taught there a few years ago. Many changes have occurred since I left, and it may even shut down next year. She then wanted to know why I left, and I told her because I wanted to be with Tatum full time, and I couldn’t just leave her every day with someone else; it tore me up inside!
As we were leaving, she said, “You know, many moms just drop off their kid every morning. You can tell she really benefits from having you around.”
Sometimes I forget that she is right. I could just leave her and go on with my day every day, but I choose to be with her (at least most of the time). Some would say it’s a sacrifice. I say it’s a gift.
Taina let her announce her love of climbing and jumping. 
Then, she showed her rope skills. 
Be still my heart, Tot. Never are you a sacrifice. You’re my blessing from UP HIGH!
Tired!
Snuggling with my snuggle bug. 
We were sooooo tired on Sunday after a busy day. All I wanted to do was just cozy up to this sweet little bunny.
Skills
She’s got a few! Cutting a banana is actually a celebration because she usually wants to stuff the whole darn thing in her mouth. Not only is this exciting because of the cutting skills, but because she ate it in pieces.
Skill? Letting me bond with Coti? Truly a learned one because every time I sit down to give Coti some loving’ she squeezes her way in between us. This moment had to be cherished.
Then off to gymnastics….
She performed well at her class, and we decided to stay for open gym to meet Jennie for her birthday. This meant time with Robert and Weston! Hooray!
She wanted to show off to Robert her new jungle swing skill
Robert wanted to try so Tot helped him
And then performed the skill of pummeling on top of him. 
I think this may be her favorite skill!
Then it was time to hold the baby. She loves to perform this love act, yet she doesn’t realize he’s a real baby! 
Ok, maybe she just better stick with practicing her modeling skill of tummy time with Robert and Weston. 
Skills…her’s just keep growing. Of course her best skill is being my kind sweet little Tot.
Quality time is all the time
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.
Craig and Terry’s
Just this weekend, we had the pleasure of going to Doug’s family’s house. The cuteness factor was beyond her normal cuteness which is hard to obtain.
We first started out with the usual let me put anything on my head game. She could not be camouflaged even if she tried!
Then of course she had to try out the built into the ground trampoline (brilliant!). She bounced herself silly and I had to join. I was shy about it, so I waited until nobody was around to be my silly self with Tot. 
Then she had to charm the crowd with her alligator arms. 
Scott, Doug’s brother, couldn’t get enough of her as he played along with her. 
Then it was fist pumping to the uncles
Bethany, Doug’s niece, gave her lots of love too.
We were very blessed by being invited to Craig and Terry’s. Thank you for such a lovely time, and especially for making Tatum feel so special.