Dear Tatum,
I am a week late with your 13 month update as we have been busy getting ready for the Christmas holiday. Our tree and ornaments have survived your curiosity for the past couple of weeks now. You only partially unwrapped two of the gifts that are nested around the base of the tree. Considering our tree stands in the same room you spend a large part of your day, I am happy you now only have interest in it when it is lit. If Mommy points and says the word "tree" you can now repeat it.
Aunt Chel spread some Christmas spirit by emailing us an adorable link of her, Uncle Dave and Brody after they had been "Elfed." Mommy thought it looked like fun and wanted to see how we would look as elves as well. I plan on placing a link to the friends and family members that share their elfamorphosis with us, under "Tatum's Friends" in the right hand column of your blog. It is so much fun to watch them.
Since your first birthday, you have become more of a chatterbox than ever. You are becoming increasingly confident in speaking and Daddy and I are amazed that you seem to know German. It sounds as if you have a German accent when you get on a roll. You talk all day long at home. Sometimes if Mommy is on the phone, the person on the other end of the line will ask, "Who's talking? Is that Tatum?" You were definitely born with the gift to gab.
In the past few days your language has changed to two words... "Ohhh, noooo!" Daddy and I realize now that we may have made a mistake in teaching you "No." It seems that we have not sounded stern enough when telling you "no" and you now think it is a positive word. For example, you reached your little hand to the top of the kitchen table, grabbed Mommy's address labels, tossed them to the floor, looked up at me and said, "Ohhh, noooo!" It is near impossible to not find it funny. You cruise the house chanting, "nooo" as you pick and poke at any object within reach. We can ask if you would like to play, need something to drink or eat and you respond... "noooo." You are napping at the moment and I am sure of it that when you wake, "no" will be the first word formed from your mouth. You make us laugh and feel so incompetent as teachers.
You are a pro at surfing the furniture and walls now and have left hand prints to prove it. You haven't attempted taking any steps without the help of Mommy or Daddy just yet, but I am sure that is right around the corner. You can walk around the coffee table and cross over to the couch now without having to drop to your knees and you are able to sit from a standing position. You have also mastered climbing up and down stairs. Mommy and Daddy support your efforts and provide you with plenty of encouragement and praise. There is no rush so you can take as much time as you need to figure it out.
Eating is somewhat of a challenge for us as are an extremely picky eater. You have your favorites and often reject the more nutritional vegetables that Mommy repetitively tries to feed you. You absolutely love your waffles in the morning. Mommy spreads a small amount of butter on them and you eat every last piece. No syrup needed, you have no idea what you are missing and I would like to keep it that way for a while. You also love bananas, black olives, honeydew melon, strawberries, Cherrios, cheddar cheese, PB&J on whole wheat, sometimes broccoli and you love yogurt. Mommy is unable to feed you the yogurt fast enough and you will often give me a scream and tap my hand when you are ready for more. You are also big on cottage cheese as long as you can feed yourself. You refuse to eat it when I try to spoon feed it to you. This can be quite messy, but again I am encouraging you to feed yourself and it works. Meals including cottage cheese require a bath immediately after. You will always try whatever it is Mommy is eating, even though it may be something you just rejected from your own plate.
We are now a bottle and formula free household. It is sippy cups of whole milk all the way. We learned that this transition is something that is just done and is more difficult on the parents than the child. You babies are just amazing to be able to learn what is put in front of you and just move on. During meals you are in charge of your own sippy cup and require very little assistance. A little extra tip of the cup is all you need once in a while.
Coloring is becoming more fun. You are staying on the paper more and more each time and only attempted to eat the crayons once or twice. Last night, Daddy joined in the fun and learned to not get to attached to his artistic creations as artist Tatum will need to put her mark on it. I save our drawings and made Daddy sign and date his as well.
The past couple of weeks you have begun expressing both excitement and anger in a couple of unique ways. Sometimes you make fists and tighten your arms and give a quick anger scream and other times you flip your hands open palms up and let out a quick high pitched sound. I believe these gestures are meant to express your feelings. It is charming in a very cute monster kind of way. Mommy gets quite a kick out of it and is working on getting it on video.
Well I hear your voice calling from upstairs. Nap time is over and it is time to prepare lunch. Keep growing my little beauty.
I love you.
Love,
Mommy
Dear Tatum,
Lately, the weather has been perfect for Santa and his reindeer. Over the weekend we received a large amount of snow. Mommy and Daddy are sure to keep you warm and bundle you up each time we leave the house. You have a plethora of coats, hats, gloves, scarves and mittens thanks to your Grandmothers. Grandma Rhonda even hand knit a little white sweater for you. Mommy is hoping that more snow is on its way for Christmas and promises to keep you warm. You truly enjoy looking at the snow falling from the sky, however, you can't seem to master breathing while faced with the cold wind.
