Where Did My Toddler Go?

Every day I am presented new evidence that I am no longer the mother of a toddler but a little man. From the size of his clothes to the phrases that come out of his mouth, it is apparent that Tait is growing up before my eyes. I'm joyful that he is doing well at everything. That's no exaggeration. He's good at school, excels at sports, and has an uncanny ability to says things far beyond his years and make everyone laugh. He's an angel walking around in 4T clothes and God knew exactly what He was doing when He sent him down to me. At the same time, I'm sad that more and more each day, he does things on his own. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

So lets go over all the things that have forced me to classify Tait into the big boy category.

Toddler shoes only go up to size 10. He's wearing a 10 now. Soon (probably next month the way he's growing lately) we will be selecting shoes from the kid's wall at Foot Locker. That may not sound like a big deal to some because it's on the same wall as the toddler shoes.. Right next to it actually. It's a big step for me though. And if that isn't bad enough, I now have to pay about $15 more for the same damn shoes! The people at Nike will have made a pretty penny off of me by the time Tait graduates from high school.

Let's talk about his TV habits. Tait has moved on from Little Einsteins and other kiddie shows. His requests are now Animal Planet or SportsCenter. Besides sports his greatest love seems to be animals. He sleeps with at least 2 stuffed animals each night and gives them crazy names like Figaro and Shooko. He also absorbs lots of facts from these shows and apparently doesn't forget them. Talking about what your favorite and least favorite animals is a daily activity while in the car.

Tait: What's your favorite animal?
Marlie: I like hippos.
Tait: What? That's not even a predator!
Marlie: Wow. How do you know that?
Tait: Uh... b/c I think with my brain.

He's also taken an interest in what he wears each day and an even bigger interest in what we buy for him when we go shopping. On a recent trip, he was lobbying for the hat below. He may have a little too much Justin Beiber in his life. I should probably rethink the Justin Beiber singing toothbrush I've been eyeing for him.

Tait has no problem telling me that he doesn't want to wear this or that he doesn't think that matches. Are you kidding me?! So I've gotten into the habit of telling him to pick out his own clothes for the day. Problem is, he picks the same shirt every time. Long sleeved Superman shirt. It's 90 degrees outside! He can't wear that!

Now that football season has begun, Tait can regularly display his far beyond his years knowledge of the game and its players. He is always yelling for Tony Romo and Jason Witten. Last week, he popped all the foam letters out of his alphabet puzzle. He then sorted the colors and lined them up against each other to run plays.

He was always blue and Tony Romo always scored a touchdown. Then at dinner last night, sportscenter was on TV and they showed a few Cowboys game highlights. He puts his fist up in the air and announces "Way to go Romo!" to the restaurant. We eat at this particular restaurant probably once a week. We started talking to our waiter yesterday and he told us that he enlisted in the Marines. Tait immediately saluted him and said "Clear for Duty". Where did this kid come from?!

After 3 weeks of soccer games, Tait has scored 6 goals. Not too shabby for a first timer :) Check him out below.

Time

When raising a child, the concepts that are harder for them to grasp become very apparent. The english language is difficult and most don't realize it until you see it through a child's eyes. For Tait there are 2 things in particular that he struggles with: pronouns and time.

The pronoun thing may be because he sometimes has difficulty determining a person's sex. He told me that Jayden Smith on the Justin Beiber movie was a girl. I can understand his thinking. He had long hair and was wearing a red jacket, skinny jeans and a blinking heart pendent. A lot of people could make that mistake. I can only imagine how difficult it is to decide whether to use he, she, ma'am or sir when you can't figure out the male/female thing. I can't even count the times that he's told me "Yes sir!" At least he has manners :)

The concept of time is a-WHOLE-nother issue. 10 minutes may as well be 10 years in that child's eyes. Sitting in timeout for 3 minutes is a devastating blow to his day. When he's not ready to leave, his remark is always, "But Mom, I love it here. Can we just stay for like 3 more minutes?" To test how skewed his understanding of hours and minutes are I asked him last week how long he stays at school during the day. His response, "I stay at school for 6 or 8 minutes." Crazy kid. He's there from about 8am to 6:15pm. I guess time flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of school, he's mighty proud of his school work and likes to "help" mommy with her school work too. I'm shocked sometimes at things he does at school. It's a real slap in the face that my baby is no longer a baby :(

Back to the time issues... Tait also thinks that anything that has happened previously is either last night or yesterday. Last Christmas was yesterday. When we went to visit grandma last month it was last night. It makes it difficult when he brings something up and says "Remember, it was yesterday?!" In actuality, it was probably his birthday in February or when he was visiting his Mimi in the summer of 2010 and went to the waterpark. Sometimes I think he remembers everything.

Two conversations from our trip to the Rangers game last week:
Tait (taking a drink of my soda): I've never had a coke before.
Me: Yes you have.
Tait: Well not yesterday. I was only 3 years old.
Josh: Are you 3 years old now?
Tait (with an "I can't believe you said that" look): No silly. I'm 4!

Conversation #2
Tait: Mom, why are you wearing a boy shirt?
Me: What do you mean? I'm wearing a Rangers shirt.
Tait: Yeah, but Rangers are boys. Why don't you have a pink Rangers shirt? They have a pink monster truck for girls. It's called Madusa.

Can't argue with that!

A Special Kind of Life

I've had so many people in my life tell me that my life must have been harder or that they were sorry that my parents were divorced. I have to say that I don't see it that way and they couldn't be more wrong. My life may have been a little more complicated at times but I was never lacking love. Because my parents separated when I was young, I have a group of parents who love me and all helped raise me. Tait will have the same experience growing up and I hope he chooses to see it the same way I do.

It will probably help you understand our stories if I introduce the rest of the parents in his life.

Leading off, playing centerfield is Larry, Tait's dad. There is no prouder father on earth nor have I seen anyone work so hard to provide for his child.

Batting second in our line up is Marlie, Larry's fiance and Tait's soon-to-be step-mommy. It's not an easy situation to parent a child that isn't yours but she does it with the utmost grace and kindness. We can attribute Tait's Rangers obsession to this lovely lady.

 

I couldn't ask for a better group to co-parent Tait with and I'm so thankful that we can all interact together. They say it takes a village to raise a kid... I think we have that covered.

On to our funny for the day. While having dinner with Marlie & Dad the other night, Tait handed out a scolding. What could a 4 year old scold you for? Texting at the table of course! His words to Marlie with his fist on the table, "Marlie, eat your dinner! Text tomorrow!"

A Star is Born

It was quite an exciting weekend for Tait and I. Saturday was his first soccer game :) His league has adopted a World Cup theme so he plays for Team England while Marlie and Daddy handle the coaching.

He proceeded to show off his athletic prowess in dribbling all the way down the field 3 times and finishing the game with his first career goal scored! He makes me one proud mommy!

After the game he looked at me and said "I can't believe it." I asked what he meant and he responded, "I can't believe I scored a goal. It was awesome." Crazy kid :) After the game we headed to lunch with Dad and Marlie at Schlotzky's. While Tait and I were in the bathroom stall, someone walked in and started washing their hands. (We all know that children have no idea how loud they are.) The following exchange ensued.

Tait: Is that Marlie? (Peeks through the stall crack) Nope, it's just an old grandma.
Me: (whispering) Tait, don't say that. It's not nice.
Tait: Why? It's true. She is an old grandma. Look mom.
Never a dull moment with this kid.

Tait's favorite meal is sushi. Any time you ask what he wants for dinner, the answer will undoubtedly be sushi. I know... A four year old asking for sushi seems a little far fetched, but he actually eats rice, edamame, and dumplings with as much soy sauce as I'll let him have. He posed for this little photo op at dinner.

And the greatest quote of the weekend came on the ride home from dinner. I think the sun must have been in Tait's eyes or something because out of nowhere from the backseat I hear, "I love hanging out with you guys but this is getting RIDICULOUS!"

Introductions

I'll start by saying that I've never blogged before. I'm just a twenty something mom with one incredibly entertaining and outspoken child. The main focus will be the stories I'd like to remeber forever about Tait.

He started out something like this... But time has flown by and he is now 4 years old and in pre-school.

What he lacks in size (most 3 year olds are bigger than him) he makes up in personality. His hobbies include watching the Rangers, Wii sports games, playing with mom's iPhone, taking pictures of himself (see below), and playing sports.

As a preview of some great Tait moments to come here are a few from the past week.
Me: Tait, do you feel ok today?
Tait: Well, I feel a little bit good and a lot not good.

On the 7 hour trip home from Corpus Christi:
Tait: Mom, if you don't let me play your phone right now, I'm not going to be your son anymore.

And one of his new favorite phrases: "Oh my goodness! Shut the front door!"

Until next time...