Tatey is almost 21 months

Hi all! Just took some cute pictures of Tate and thought I'd give an update on him. He will be 21 months on November 3rd and he is still quite the character!! Tate is currently obsessed with trucks and cars and Thomas the train. He is talking quite a bit, and runs around the house saying "cowas" (Thomas), "cuck" (truck), "gow" (ball), "compkie" (pumpkin) and "ha ha ha (ha ha ha, from a book). He spoke his first sentence the other day, "Where did the ginky (binky) go?" and he has expanded it to include other things as well, "Where did T (Tylar) go?" We are trying to teach him to say please and he says it about 1 in 50 times, so it is kind of interesting. :) Other fun words include "ca ca" (grandpa), "grawa" (grandma). He also says the names of two of his uncles, Cole and Cyler, and despite all our urgings, he won't say Uncle Cody just yet. He has figured out how to say Casey, Cael's assistant coach, though, goofy kid.

I took Tate to Target to have fall and Halloween pictures taken and it was miserable!! Grandma Debbie was there with me to witness it. Tate walked into the studio and pretty much started throwing a tantrum. He would not stay in one place and was obviously a tad overwhelmed by the situation. Many times he tried to run out the open door that I had prayed they would close. He would not smile and spent most of the time laying on the ground pouting. He snapped out of it for a few pictures but really melted down when we put his Halloween costume on him--a monkey suit (he says "ee ee ahh ahh" so cute!). He literally laid on the ground and bawled. They took one photo of him crying and then we stopped trying to take pics.

We finally got him out of the studio and suddenly, he turned into angel child! He was smiling and laughing, talking out loud, cuddling me and playing peek a boo with my hair. I could have cried. And of course, all my anger and frustration melted away when he turned happy. Smart and manipulative at 20 months!! He knows how to charm his mommy!!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, pardon the few where his head is cut off, sometimes I have to look directly at him and make a face or screech with him to get him to smile and I end up missing half of his face. :)

Later all!

E'town visit

Howdy all! I went to visit my mom and my sisters a few weekends ago in Estherville. Ann and Isabelle came back from San Antonio, and Christy and I are only a few hours away from E'town, which made it easy.

The kiddos are sure growing up fast!! Caitlyn, Maddie and Izzy are all crawling and are all over the place. Tater has graduated from running to climbing on furniture and whatever else he can find. All the kids were great and so cute! I have to admit, sometimes I think I have it rough with the terrible two's starting a little early, but after being with 9 and 10 month babies, I realize that there are definitely some advantages to Tate's age--he can play very independently, pretty much feed himself, and I don't have to carry him everywhere. Not that the babies aren't wonderful too, they are just a little bit more hands on work. :)

I posted some pics of the visit and noticed that we didn't even bother to do a group picture with my mom, sisters and our kids, or even just mommy and baby pics! We need to get it together!!
Anyway, it was a fun visit and it was awesome to be with everyone. :)

Later all!