And Then There Were 2!!!: It's Beginning to Look a little Like Fall!

Finally! Some fall weather has come to Houston. Since yesterday :) We shall see how long this lasts. We've had quite a busy few days. So, I'll play a little catch up!

Thursday after work, Tate's godfather, Uncle Roland came by to hang out for a couple of hours. He was in town for business, so it was great to have him come over. He got here right after Tate finished dinner, so while the two of us chatted and caught up, Tate played around us regaling Roland with his trains and assortment of toys and books. I was really impressed with Tate's behavior. He was content to play with his trains et. al. truly allowing Roland and me some time to really talk for almost 30 minutes. Certainly, our conversation was interspersed with "Watch this!" or "Look at Thomas, Uncle Roland!", but otherwise he was happy as a clam, even simply climbing up to sit beside me on the couch. I was so impressed I let him watch a bit of his beloved steam trains on YouTube on my phone on a school night :) We headed up to get bathed and Roland came along, thus Tate was over the moon. After Tate was bathed and teeth brushed, Roland headed out to one more meeting that evening before heading back home on Friday. Hugs all around and promises for Tate and me to try to make it to Atlanta for a visit were made. Tate continued to talk about Roland for the rest of the weekend. Everything we did from swim lessons to birthday parties were certain to have Uncle Roland in attendance according to Tate. "Uncle Roland's going to be at swimming with me!" or "Uncle Roland's gonna be at Christian's birf-day party and Sammi too!" (oh yes Sammi is still mentioned and well thought of every single day).

Swim lessons on Friday per our usual, then I dropped Tate at school and I attended my office's annual summer party. I picked him up later that rainy afternoon, and we just hung out at home. Saturday we went to music class which I'm so surprised he still loves so very much. He's so very cute while we're there. He dances around, plays the instruments and insists I lay down with him on the floor during the singing of the lullaby each week (all parents are encouraged to really connect with their kids during the lullaby, by holding them close or laying down with them etc. It's really lovely.) We came home and napped together in the glider after lunch...well it took him almost an hour to finally go to sleep, but he finally did and I dozed of as well. It was a short nap, but definitely needed by both of us.

We then headed off in the still pouring rain (2 days of this!) for his friend from daycare, Christian's, 3rd birthday party. As soon as Tate saw his BFF at the party he was in heaven. The kids played like little mad people and much chaos ensued. Candles were blown out, cake was eaten (and Christian's parents went to the trouble of going to Whole Foods and purchasing a vegan slice of cake for Tate!!! Beyond thoughtful of them!) and presents were opened.

Home again! Home again! Jiggety Jig!

So said Tate as we drove back into the garage. So very cute. I've been saying that since he was born almost every time we arrived back home and were pulling into our garage. He's just started saying it the past few days.

Sunday morning we got up and dressed to sing at his school's church for Education Sunday. The kids were just precious and Tate sang up a storm. And it was still drizzling!

Tate and his BFF all dressed up and ready!

A quick trip to Whole Foods garnered us nourishment for the week. We ate some lunch and then skyped with Tate's Oma, Opa (it was his birthday), his Aunt Katha (Christian's sister), and Uncle Sebastian (Christian's brother-in-law). Baby Phillip was turning one on Monday, but he was asleep by the time we were able to skype. Tate was a bit shy at first, but quickly warmed up and was showing them all his tricks including somersaults and hide and go seek behind the love seat. It was great to see everyone, but hard as we speak no German and their English (especially his grandparents) is minimal, Sebastian and I did most of the talking. When Christian has been with them he will interpret for everyone, so everyone feels like part of the conversation, so this was a bit different, but I'm glad they were able to see Tate.

While we were talking though I happened to notice that Tate had some dried blood in his right ear. I tried to pin him down to get a good look with not much success. I didn't see any superficial scratches though. He has been rubbing that ear though for the past week quite regularly. I had chalked up the discomfort to the loosening of the tube in that ear...I thought it might be feeling 'ticklish.' But the dried blood was a bit worrisome, so I asked my parents to take him to the ped for me on Monday. He's been afebrile and nothing has changed at all in his behavior with the exception of him crying out around 330/4am every night for 4-5 minutes. I've never gone in to check on him, just let him sort himself out, but it was some good crying a couple of nights for a few minutes. It had been going on for a week. The crying stopped on Saturday night.

Skype seemed to wear Tate out, and as we drove down to my parents' for the afternoon he fell asleep as soon as I got out of our neighborhood and napped a good hour after refusing to at home. He hung out with Grandmommy and Papa while the Texans whooped up on the Titans! (Take that Bud Adams!) Puzzles, books and trains were played with.

Monday rolled around and the weather was FANTASTIC! The rain finally let up late Sunday afternoon and brought in some fabulous weather. It was so cool I sent Tate to school in a long sleeved shirt and jacket. (He's been wearing long pants to school all summer to prevent mosquito bites on his legs...been very effective. I felt bad when it was 110 degrees out, but the first few days of summer his legs were eaten alive and he would scratch them til they bled. The pants along with mosquito spray was our best defense).

My parents picked him up after naptime (of which he napped ZERO!) and took him to the pediatrician. The tube in his left ear is completely out of the canal and non-functional. I suppose we're just waiting for it to come out completely. The tube in the right ear is displaced but still in the canal and covered with wax. It's positioned such that the drum is difficult to see. My ped said she saw some blood in the canal, but no pus, so she thinks it's the dislodgment of the tube and its resulting position irritating the ear causing the blood. But she has us putting antibiotic drops in that ear for a few days to preclude any sort of infection from starting or worsening. Fingers crossed. Last night as I was rocking Tate he suddenly sat up, clutched his right ear and said "I need to see Dr. Ro-wand about my ear. It hurts. We need to go see Dr. Ro-wand." Then he laid his sweet little head back down on my shoulder when I said we would see if the medicine would help first.

And now it's Tuesday night and I need to go dry my hair! :) Tate napped really well at daycare today, almost too well because he fought going to sleep like noone's business. Oh and he had his first homework tonight. It was a worksheet and he had to count the objects and tell me how many and I wrote it down. I had him also color the little objects (puppy dogs). He was so excited he insisted upon sleeping with his paper which added to his going-to-sleep delay.

Homework. At 3y2m old! Wow!! I'm glad he was so excited. I'll remind him of this excitement when he's 15 and up at 2am finishing his English paper.

Yep! That's his homework! He wanted to sleep with it!

I gave away one of Tate's bouncy seats today. It was so difficult for me to part with it. It's so hard for me to give away Tate's babyhood. That's what it feels like to me. And I know, I know in my heart I don't need these things to remember his infancy, but it's just like giving up part of him. I don't know why. Anyway, my assistant has a 7 week old little boy, and she can ill afford all the 'extras' for her wee one that came so easily to me. So I'm very glad to know Tate's baby gear is going to someone who will truly appreciate them.

It's so funny though, it seems like Tate was reminiscing himself just a few weeks ago. All of a sudden I heard the sounds of a baby toy that I heard for months on end that had gone quiet about 2 years ago. And all of a sudden I could smell infant Tate, I could hear his coos and laughs. My baby was right back in the house with me....

Tate on September 3, 2012 (3 years 1 month 11days old )