Tateisms

I've been collecting a few Tateisms lately to document this quite entertaining stage of his life at 4 1/2. Some are funny. Some are smart. Some are random. Some are actually thought-provoking. They are definitely all Tate.

How do you get to heaven if you don't have wings?

How did I get in your tummy?

Why do you have a hole in your ear?

We were discussing the navy people that live in submarines. Tate replied, "So do The Beatles. They live in a yellow submarine."

Can we just talk about crazy robots?

I walked by the living room and heard him singing to himself the song from my Haiti friends, "I am not forgotten. God knows my name." I told him how happy that made me. He said, "I was singing loud so the boys & girls in Haiti could hear me."

Do fish like it when sharks eat them?

Oh yeah, Baby! (a la Austin Powers)

(prayer before bed tonight)

Dear God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for Hide & Seek. Thank you for Will, Mama, and Crazy Daddy. Thank you for Mallory at Kindergarten. Please be with the people in Haiti and help them get houses. Be with Fransos and Baby Moses so they can have lots of food, and a Mommy & Daddy, and toys. Thank you for Mimi, Grandpa, MoMere, & Poppy. Most of all thank you for Jesus. Amen. A short pause. Mommy, Can you play soccer in the sand?

Oh my, this boy. One minute I can be in tears wondering how in the world I'm supposed to parent him. And then he turns around with a prayer like tonight's. More tears with the reminder of his sweet heart.

One of my biggest challenges. One of my biggest blessings.

Tateisms

Another installment of Tateisms for the memory bank. And there really are so many more that I will refrain from sharing for the world to read. Just know that 5-year-old boys and body parts often make for hysterical conversations. Some other recent favorites:

• While watching Little Einsteins with Will, the featured art that episode was the Mona Lisa. Tate said, "Look Mom, that is the picture from Costco!"

• "What day is my lipstick class?"  I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Could not figure it out. Finally realized he was referring to a make-up swim class from when it rained. Hilarious.

• A random question to Wade. "When will you have a party with cake and never go back to work again?" Upon more prodding, we figured out he was referring to my Dad's retirement party last year. Guess Tate thinks 36 is not too early for Wade to retire. :)

• After being told he looked just like his Daddy when he was younger, Tate replied, "I'm just like him...but louder." 

• "Mom, I know a candy that is really, really good for you to eat...Smarties!"

• So Tate has inherited Wade's skill of being able to easily recite back lines from movies. What is funny is that he usually doesn't use them in the right context or really understand what they mean. One is from a promo video of Cars Land where kids are in a car race. Tate walks around saying like the announcer, "Now Johnny has got the crazy eyes!" The other one that cracks us up every time is when Tate will randomly say "Awwwwwkward."

• While watching the double amputee Olympic racer, "When I marry Annie, maybe she will already have a baby with no legs and we can teach him how to race."

Love this boy and the laughter he brings to us all!

Tateisms

Another post in the series of Tateisms.  This kid cracks me up and seriously keeps us on our toes.

• During a bedtime prayer, "Be with me at school and help me to be like Luke Skywalker. Not Darth Vader."

• All of a sudden, Tate had a very concerned look on his face and said to me, "You have a triangle on your face."  I asked if he meant my nose was in the shape of a triangle.  "No, there is a triangle on top of your nose." Once I glanced in the mirror, I realized this triangle he saw was in fact three lovely wrinkle lines.  Thank you, son.

• After telling him that he was about to make bad choices.  His reply was, "It's because God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are with someone else right now."

• In a conversation with me, Wade, and Tate, Wade was saying that I was like a princess.  Tate's matter-of-fact response, "No she's just a mom."

• "Pillows are funny because they make people's hair crazy at night."

• I was telling Tate that the marker was getting all over his shirt.  His response, "But Clorox 2 can make it clean again."

• "Wow, Mom, you are impressive.  Wait, I don't really know what that word means."

• And there are countless quotes that can not be put on the world wide web that have to do with body parts.  Oh my word...these conversations test my humor and maturity levels.

Tateisms

My memory is horrible. Like really, really bad. My kids are lucky I remember to feed them most days. :)  This is such a fun and funny stage that I don't want to forget, so I've kept a running list to write some of the little jewels Tate says.

• When explaining that Tate would sleep on the floor in our room since overnights guests were in his room, he said: "But wait, does Daddy snore?"
• "I have three enemies: germs all over my hands, cavity bugs in my mouth, and sharks that can bite my arm off."
• "Will is funny. Daddy is really funny. I'm really, really funny. And Mommy is hilarious."
• "There's no homework in heaven, right?"
• "No really, how did I come out of your tummy?" (For this one, I used a distraction method my talking about Star Wars.)
• "There is a Lego toy that costs 80 whole dollars, so can I go to the Dollar Store and get 80 dollars from there?
• "Dear God, Help me be nice to everyone tomorrow, even (name of a mean kid at school)."

Tateisms

I try to keep a running list going to document the funnys that come out of his mouth. Knowing full well that just a few years from now, we'll be lucky if he talks to us at all.

• One night Tate should have been asleep. I heard some weird sounds coming from his room and thought maybe he was sick or crying. As I walked in, I heard "Who is this? Ian? Where are you? London?" Commence his hysterical laughter and then I realized he was quoting lines from The Cosby Show. 
• Tate - "Well you sure are quiet." Me - "Oh, am I too quiet for you?" Tate - "Actually not anymore."
• After explaining how on Memorial Day we were having a family outing to see a ton of wild animals at the Fossil Rim Reserve, Tate said, "Well that doesn't have anything to do with Memorial Day."
• "Speaking of..." (He uses this phrase all of the time now.)
• "What a relief! Actually, I don't even know what that means."
• "What is Hooters?"
• I was explaining to Tate that I was trying to get a local children's musician to come perform at a school PTA event. Tate asked "Why don't you get those guys U2 to come sing, also?"
• When seeing the movie poster for the soon-to-be-released Planes, "Wow, I've been waiting for that to come out my entire life!"

Will-isms

Over the years, I've tried to use this blog to record and keep up with those little things your kids say that you want to remember...and know if you don't write it down you'll forget two hours later. I've shared many, many Tateisms in the past. I love looking back and remembering. In fact, Wade & I even realized we're so sad that he doens't say "zerdirt" anymore for dessert.

For so many reasons, it absolutely thrills me to finally get to share the first installment of Willisms. His speech is improving so much! It is really fun to watch. We are incredibly thankful for the collective work of speech therapists, occupational therapists, music therapists, teachers, babysitters, shadow buddys at church, and lots of family & friends who have all have helped us and Will so much. It takes a village.

So I now present some pretty adorable Willisms:

• "Dat so fummy!" (translation = That's so funny.) This one is already slowly going away. Great progress for speech therapy, but for awhile everything was so "fummy," and it was pretty cute. 

• Me = Who is in our family?  Will = Mommy, Daddy, Tate, Will, and Pi Pad (iPad).  

• "Momma, I huv uh ba bum" (translation = Momma, I have a problem.)

• And this one cracks me up. I hear at least 2-3 times a day. "Wow, dat so cool!"

• "Hey Mom. Ssskay what?" (translation = Hey mom. Guess what?)

• A big area we are constantly working on with Will is the meltdown. Using words instead of screaming. He has made some progress here and we hear a lot of "I mad!" or "I sad!" One day he was in full meltdown and was really upset. He screamed that he wanted something "NOW!" I corrected him that is not how he should talk to me. So he looks up sheepishly and whispers quietly, "now!"  :)

Love this boy and love hearing him explore and discover the world in all kinds of new ways.