Tater Tot

*photo from 2 years ago. My how he has grown.

This post is for a very special person. Our Tatum. I wanted to write a bit about him and shared how special this boy is and how much he brightens our lives. Tate has always been very cheerful and happy. He loves to make people laugh. He will often ask us, "...does that make you happy?" He is very concerned if someone is sad. He is my cuddle-bug. He will let me hold and squeeze and kiss him to my heart's content. Which is a lot.

Tate adores his big sister, they are best buds. Tate will blow kisses to his sister as she leaves to school and say, 'here are lots of kisses to take with you. I love you!' He loves to pick her up from the bus stop. Tate doesn't like nicknames. The only one he is okay with is Tater, and only on good days. Don't call him handsome either, he will reply, 'I'm not handsome, I'm Tate'.

He loves strawberries, chocolate milk, his blue baby blanket, Sheer-Khan (his pet tiger), dinosaurs, anything orange, airplanes and his Daddy.

Tate is always making us laugh. Sometimes it is not what he says, so much how he says it and his mannerisms. Here are some recent ones:
At preschool: 'My dad is so mean, he beats me... but I beat him back' *note: beat means beat-down, or wrestling. We do not actually beat our kids.
To neighbor after she sent her daughter to time-out: 'It's okay Krista, I would have done the same thing'
When I asked him to clean up his toys: 'I can't, they are having a party'
Conversation with me:
Me- 'Tate, do you know how much I love you?'
Tate- 'a bunch'
Me- 'more than that'
Tate- 'to the planet Jupiter'
Me- 'more than that'
Tate- 'to twenty'
Me- 'even more than you could count'
Tate- 'Thirty?!'

Oh, how I love this kid! I am so blessed to be his mom. Since Teagan died, I have needed lots of cuddling and hugs from my kids and Tate is always willing to cuddle-up. He tells me we just need to go on the airplane to heaven and visit Teagan. My baby boy is growing up and I am so proud of him!