Happy Birthday Tater!

 February 11th was Tate's 3rd birthday.  It's hard to believe it's already been three years!  He is such a wonderful little boy and adds so much fun and happiness to our family.  Scroll to the bottom of this post for some little known facts about Tate.

 We decided that for odd number birthday years we will just have a family party and even years the boys can have a bigger party with friends.  We decorated the living room with some streamers and balloons (just to see the boys' cute reaction when they came down) and Tate got the cake he had been requesting for months: "a George cake".

 Compared to Grant's cake last year, I'd have to say I did a better job on this one.  It looks a little more professional, a little less "this cake is falling apart but somehow I kind of threw it together", like Grant's did.

 Tucking into some cake.

 When I was growing up, my dad would always make a treasure hunt for us to find our presents.  It got progressively harder the older we got.  One of my last years at home, I had to solve some kind of difficult mathematical equation to figure out the clue.  These treasure hunts were always the hit of the party so we're going to keep them up with the boys.

 Finding clues in random places.

 Another clue!

 To prove I was there!

 After running up and down the stairs several times, following clues, the boys found the presents!

One of the little known facts about Tater: he loves footie PJs, especially 2 pairs he owns of size 2T footie PJs that are much too small for him.  We found a new pair with monkey's on them (his favorite), but they only had size 4T.  We figured he'd like them and wear them, even though they would be a little too big for him.  However, since the party, Tate has not worn his new PJs once (but has worn his too small 2T size almost every night), and Grant has squeezed himself into the 4T PJ's we got for Tate for several nights.  Well, at least they are getting worn.

Other Tate Facts:

*He is still one of the happiest kids we know.  He smiles and waves to strangers in the stores.  He knows when to flash a huge squinty-eyed grin to deflect a punishment.  He continues to wake up around 6am every morning, but is so dang happy it's hard to be grumpy while getting up with him.

*He has been really into word play and changing normal words.  For instance, he'll say a sentence where he'll switch the first letter of every word to a "p".  ("PI pant pa pogurt" is "I want a yogurt").

*His new favorite word is one I do not know how he made up.  "Goggish Mogish" is now used in about every other sentence and is often used interchangeably as an adjective, noun , verb, or exclamation.

*He is starting to develop a little defiant side.  For example yesterday morning he asked Ryan for a second Pop Tart which Ryan declined, saying he needed to eat something healthy first.  Tate replied "Daddy, get me another Pop Tart or I'm gonna punch you in the face!"  Ryan just wearily shook his head and kept brushing his teeth.  Needless to say, Tate didn't get another Pop Tart.

*Even with his increased rebellion, he is still sweet and sensitive.  The other day he turned off the computer just as I was about to place an order on Amazon.  I was a littler perturbed and yelled at him and sent him out of the room.  He was very sad and I felt bad that I had over reacted.  We made amends and all was fine.  Then over the next two days, he randomly came to me and said "I'm sorry I turned off the computer".  Poor little guy still felt bad about it, (and I felt really bad for overreacting!)!

*His favorite outfits are either: his swim suit and swim shirt or his Superman T shirt and Superman boxer-briefs (which he wears as shorts).  He wears one of these outfits every day (I'm not kidding).  I usually make him wear normal clothes when we are out in the morning, but once we get home he disappears for a couple minutes and comes down in one of those outfits. 
*Several times per week, Grant and Tate will pull everything off their beds, make a pile of it all, and pretend it's a boat or car, etc.  At the end of the day, Grant is very willing to pick up the mess but Tate is not as enthusiastic about the clean-up process.  But if there's anything that needs to be swept up, wiped down with a wet rag, or dusted, Tate is all over that.  He even has his own small spray bottle that he will fill with water and "clean" the floor or windows by spraying them then wiping them dry with a rag. 

*He is just a sweet boy who loves to have fun, loves to play and ride his bike, loves his family, is quick to share and quick to forgive, and loves to "help" with anything mom and dad are doing.  We feel so blessed to have him in our family!