The Latest With Tate

It has been so long since I’ve written an update on Tate. He’s now 21 months old and is a busy, busy boy. It’s funny because I’m realizing now that he has always been busy. Even from the early months of kicking his legs non-stop, and now he’s a little boy on the move.


You can barely tell that he’s been walking less than 2 months except for when he gets ahead of himself and thinks he can run like a 5 year old. That usually ends with a face plant onto the ground. But I have to give him credit; he usually just pops right up and keeps going. I absolutely LOVE seeing him walk/run all over the place (non-stop). It makes my heart so grateful for all of the help we’ve had and the hard work he’s put into the physical therapy. It has paid off.

The downside of his constant motion is, well, it’s constant. Seriously, he doesn’t stop moving. I guess he’s making up for some lost time. We are also having a hard time teaching him that he has to hold someone’s hand at certain places (like parking lots!!!). He wants to just go. And if you try to hold his hand and he doesn’t want to, he’ll just go limp and fall on the ground (sometimes while laughing). Needless to say, he quickly loses his walking privileges at that point.



He had a good ‘ol time with cousin Mallory’s baby stroller when they were in town awhile ago. He did about 100 laps pushing it through my parent’s house.

Also with the mobility has come the new skill of climbing. He loves to climb up in chairs and on the couch. He doesn’t do it as much now, but there was a period of about 2 weeks that he would climb on and stand up on his train table. I just about wore a path in the carpet for time outs for that. He seems to have gotten the message, though, and doesn’t do it much anymore. The train table has now actually turned into a car table. The wooden tracks don’t stay together well and seem to be a little too frustrating for him right now. Maybe we'll try again in a few months. But this kid is CRAZY for cars. He can play with them forever and “drives” them on any open path he can find.

And poor Macy. The good thing is that she has a friend for life. Tate loves Macy. The bad news is that Tate loves her so much, he is in her business all of the time. And Macy is such the sweet dog, that she just sits there and lets him harass her. It’s pretty sweet and kind of sad at the same time. We’re working really hard on what it means to be “gentle” and that it's not OK to stick your finger up her nose. :)

Food is a little bit better. He’s added a few items to his repertoire, but meals can still be a challenge. And the fork/spoon feeding makes them still very messy.

As far as his treatment goes, he gets to cut back to physical therapy once a week instead of twice. But now, we are going to add one occupational and one speech therapy session a week. Everyone seems to think there isn’t a huge concern and it will be short term, but it will help him get caught up on a few skills. The therapists say it’s pretty common for kids with low muscle tone, because they’ve spent so much time on the big physical therapy skills.

Although it’s been the most challenging so far in the area of discipline, this has been the most fun stage as far as interaction goes. I love watching him discover new things and try to communicate. I know it will only get more fun. Here's his play phone that he talks to Mimi on.

He is a bundle of energy and absolutely loves to say Hi and Bye to anyone and everyone that is in his line of vision. He gives the cutest hugs and kisses. He is the sweetest little cuddle bug right before he goes to bed and likes me to sing Jesus Loves Me to him in the rocking chair. He LOVES all 4 of his grandparents and gets upset if we are anywhere near their houses and don’t go see them. Here’s a video of his favorite cuckoo clock at MoMere’s house.

He is truly our delight making our days so much fun, and we are thankful for him every single minute.