Tate will soon be 4...

In less than a month, Tate will be 4.
I have been told that 4 is an age when children change and "grow up" a lot!
This makes me happy and sad at the same time.
I thought I would dedicate a post completely to Tate and what he's been up to at his current age.

Tate is full of energy!
He loves Wipe Out these days...I mean, he is obsessed! He doesn't say "Watch this wipe out!" less than 50 times a day and this is not an exaggeration! He sets up "Wipe Out Zones" for his "guys" and walks them through the course wiping them out. Then he'll set up courses for himself and do a crazy fall and say, "wow, did you see my wipe out mommy?!!!!"
He loves jumping off anything and jumping on his bed, the couch, whatever.
And he sweats...a lot.
After running around for a few minutes, he'll look like he just got a bucket of water dumped on his head...seriously.

Tate knows how to work both Sean and I. It's really not good. He's good at it. He has us wrapped around his finger big time.
He isn't a cuddler at all unless he's really tired or not feeling well.
He asks LOTS of questions.
He is recently into correcting us about everything. For example, if I say, "Tate, take your clothes off." and he is wearing his pj's, he'll say, "no, these are jammies, mommy." Or if I say, "it's time to turn off your show." He might say, "no, mommy this is a movie, not a show!" Or I'll say, "Tate, go put your shoes on." He'll say, "those aren't my shoes, they're my Crocs."

He is constantly on the move. He can hardly hold still.

He is a home body. He doesn't like change at all!
Sometimes I'll say, "do you want to go to so and so's house?!" and he'll say "YAY!" really excited like. Then, we may get there and he'll say after a few minutes, "I want to go home mommy." Then he warms up after a while and gets comfortable and does fine and when it's time to go, he gets distraught and doesn't want to go home. He'll do this even when we're out running errands. Today we were at Von Maur and he didn't want to be there, but after a few minutes when I said we were going to go home, he didn't want to leave! Once he's comfortable with something, he doesn't want to change.

He's not super social initially with people. Even people he knows and sees regularly, he doesn't warm up quickly. He is super sensitive to bold people (aside from me...I would say I'm bold!) or people that come on really strong.
He is super sensitive in the areas on sound, touch and sight...more on this another day.

He loves Team Umizoomi, Dora, Diego and Spongebob.
He loves anything Super Heroes like Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, Iron Man, etc.
He loves playing with his "guys". Especially the little tiny ones. For some reason, he prefers small figurines. He also loves playing with the green army guys from Toy Story.
He still loves all things Toy Story!
He's recently into art and crafting too. He loves when we do projects!
He is the messiest eater ever. It's kind of ridiculous!

But most times he is a really good eater.
He LOVES fish sticks, mac and cheese, ham and cheese sandwiches, pb and jelly, spaghetti, quesadillas, broccoli, grilled cheese, tomato soup, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, green beans, corn (especially on the cob), pickles, melon, chips and salsa, pizza, hot dogs, coleslaw, popcorn, ranch, ketchup and mustard (he LOVES mustard!) and pretty much any dessert with chocolate...especially chocolate chip cookies!
And he LOVES white milk! We go through a lot of milk in our house!

He's super independent right now wanting to do EVERYTHING himself.
This can get frustrating for mommy as I am very impatient and it usually takes him about 5 times longer to get things done himself than if I just did them. :) I know he needs to do things himself though, so I let him.
He is potty trained...FINALLY! And he's a total pro...you'd think he'd been potty trained for a year! And he has the biggest bladder ever. He can wake up in the morning having not gone potty since 7:30 the night before and we will have to MAKE him go pee at 11am! It's crazy! He never has had an accident peeing though since the first time he went on the potty. He pooped in his pants a couple of days after he got potty trained, but hasn't done that since. He pees standing up (too much info????) all the time now too.
He loves to help me do anything I ask him. He especially loves cooking/baking. He even watches the Food Network with me and especially likes Rachael Ray. He says, "mommy, she's showing me the ingredients!" He loves saying the word "ingredients". It's so funny.

He's unbelievably smart with his letters and numbers like he has been for a while. He still plays with his fridge letters and numbers every single day. He has a great memory when it comes to lines in his favorite movies and shows.
He's super ticklish and loves being tickled!
He also loves his toes and fingers being cracked. He asks me to do it several times a day. Not sure this is good for him though. Thanks Brenda for teaching him that! :)
He would still let me rock him every night if I would.
He loves sleeping with Sean and I in our bed.
He sleeps with 8 million blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, etc.
However, if we go someplace, he HAS to have his puppy, taggie and Mickey blanket, those are his most important sleeping items.
He won't go to sleep unless his door is open or cracked and there is some sort of night light.
When he gives hugs and kisses, they must be in that order...hug THEN kiss and the kiss is only on the lips...he doesn't "get" kisses anywhere else. A kiss on the cheek??? What's that?!
He loves his cousins and friends and whichever cousin/friend he's playing with at the time (it could even be a stranger he just met 1 minute ago at the park) is his "best friend".
He still loves his baths, but hates getting his hair washed.
He hates bedtime.
He hasn't napped in about a year and doesn't require much sleep.
He doesn't like hair cuts...hence the new "shaggy" look we're trying out...which by the way, we LOVE the new shaggy look! :)
He prefers to wear clothes that he knows were once Bode, Tyler or Brigg's.
He's quite the stinker and pushes his luck a lot. :)
When he realizes something he has done has gotten a laugh out of someone, he'll do it over and over and over again giggling the whole time.

I could go on and on all about Tate.
Being his Mommy is my greatest joy.
I cannot even put into words the love I have for him and how much it grows each and every day.
I am so proud of him and so proud to call him my son.
I cannot believe he's almost 4!!!