Two Years of Tate

When I go back through pictures of my kids, my first thought is usually, "I can't believe how little Paige looks," or "I completely forgot that Curtis always did that."

Tate just hit the two-year mark. It seems like a good time to take a quick snapshot of our littlest guy.

Comfort stuff. If it's time for a nap or bed, there are a few necessities--his duck blanket (that he calls "baby"), his stuffed monkey ("Unkey"), and his bottle. Monkey gets more play than the others. Tate likes to push him around in a stroller, give him his own seat at the table, and let him sit on his little Thomas the Train chair. When Monkey is lost, Tate will settle for Sheep or Doggie. (Elephant is a distant third.)

TV. Tate likes to hang on us pretty much every second of every day. This makes it pretty tough to get anything done. Usually, the day's only free minutes come when Tate is watching TV. His favorite show is Blue's Clues but mostly just the the episodes with Joe (sorry, Steve). He calls Blue Bow-Bow and generally enjoys Salt and Pepper.

Black car. The vast majority of Tate's conversation revolves around "black car," our old Nissan Altima. I don't know why, but from the moment he wakes up ("Black car...garage"), to the time I go to work ("Dad...drive..black car...work"), to the time I come back home ("Dad...go work...drive it...black car"), he needs to tell us about the black car. When he's not talking about black car, or getting sooo excited to see it after we've been away ("There it is! BLACK CAR!!!"), he'll talk about "white van." But that's usually just as a way to remind us that it's not the black car.

Fashion. A few months ago, Tate made the decision that he was only wearing pajamas. Though we continue to try to get him to wear real clothes ("pockets," as we call them--telling him he needs to wear  pockets if he wants to carry his race cars is one of the only things that works), it's generally a losing battle. Most days, the best case scenario is getting him out of his nighttime jammies and into daytime jammies.

Siblings. Curtis is generally indifferent toward Tate, but Tate loves emulating everything Curtis does--and has thus learned all of the naughty boy stuff about bums and toots. Paige wants desperately to mother Tate. He responds by hitting her or pulling her hair. While he likes his siblings okay, he loves his grandpas.

Dad. Tate probably likes me best. This makes Traci sad when she doesn't have a kid to snuggle, but happy when she gets a break from him, since he's attached to me every second that I'm home.

Oh, Big Red. We're happy to have you.