It's OK. He's Got It.

So I know I'm always lamenting the Terrible Twos and how there are so many days where Tate wants to make me gauge my ears out with a banana just to not have to listen to him whine anymore, but this morning I had a "they grow up so fast" moment and it kinda made me sad. Tate was sitting at the laptop where I had my friend Gina's blog up on the screen and he saw a picture of her baby. He's all about babies at the moment so was saying "Baby, Mama! Baby!" He tried to scroll down the page to see more pictures but couldn't quite figure it out, so he graciously allowed me to come over and move the arrow to the scroll bar so he could just click it down the page. Once I did that, he kind of moved me away from the chair and said "Ok Mama, go away. I got it."

After I laughed for a minute I got a little teary. I mean, yes, Tate is a handful (and is currently standing next to me trying to chew on Carmex), but he still lets me hug him and snuggle him and kiss his boo-boos. He actually gets quite agitated when I DON'T kiss his boo-boos quickly enough. But I know this will not always be so. There will come a time when he won't want me offering to help or offering up a hug. Or to, you know, talk to him, look at him or breathe the same air as him. Thinking about it breaks my heart a little. I wonder when that day will come. When he won't lay on the couch with me for an hour watching Project Runway or take my face in his little hands and plant a smacker on my lips. We all go through stages of hating our parents as kids and teens and I have a feeling that with Tate having the fiery disposition he does, he's gonna hate us with the power of a thousand burning suns. Should be a good time. Maybe I should start stocking up on wine now.

On a lighter note, Tate's been really growing in leaps and bounds, and his vocabulary continues to astound me. Yesterday we were driving to a playdate and he says "We'll see Jamison? Let's go to HuHot first with Jamison. I'll have noodles with Jamison. HuHot, please?" The kid's got great taste. HuHot does indeed rock. Funnily enough, he just came scampering in here saying "HuHot first? When Dada gets home, we go to HuHot first?". Well, hey...it gives me an excuse to go to HuHot. How can I turn down such a sweet request?

And here's the conversation we just had about 30 minutes ago:

Me: "Tate. do you want cereal or toast for breakfast"
Tate: "Ummm...want FUCK"
Me: "Come again?"
Tate: "Fuck, Mama! Want Fuck!"
Me, as I'm trying to shield Nora's virgin ears: "Honey, you'll have to show Mama where the fuck is, cause last I looked, we were clean out." (Just ask Eric. Har har har).

Apparently, Tate's juce container with an alien on the top is also known as a fuck. Who knew? Hopefully he had enough this morning so he won't be yelling "FUCK!" at the top of his lungs out in public today.
And no, I don't think he was actually saying fuck...it sounded like a cross between fork and...I don't know. I got nothin'. I'm just trying to make myself feel better here.

Nora has become addicted to Orajel. Is there a 12-step program for that? As soon as I get the bottle, she opens her mouth and tries to grab my finger to cram it in her mouth faster. I swear her eyes glaze over just a little bit as she gets a hit of the good stuff. Poor thing is getting 4 teeth in at one time. She's a trooper, though...still as smiley and sweet as ever. Her new favorite thing is when Tate blows on her head. She'll laugh for like an hour. I keep expecting her to wipe the tears out of her eyes and say "Ohhh, man, that was a good one! I tell ya!".

Finally, here are my rules for taking an aerobics class with me at the Y. Specifially, the abs/glute class.

-When there are only four people in the class, do not put your mat down 2 inches away from my mat when there's like 70 square feet of open space
-Do not grunt loudly each time you come up from a crunch
-Do not softly count along with the instructor.
-Do not go "ahhhhhh!!! I'm totally feeling the burn! Man! Oh yeah!" or any varient of such comment
-Do not smell like dirty feet dipped in armpit sweat rubbed in garlic with a little bit of asparagus thrown in.

Thanks.