Tatum is on the Nice List

Although she doesn't look thrilled to be sitting on Santa's lap, Tatum is still on Santa's Nice list.

Home for the Holidays

Snacks = Happy Traveler

Tatum enjoys her first Bojangles Biscut, welcome to the taste of the south!

The Shearers boarded another trans-continental flight to visit family and friends for an early holiday celebration in North Carolina. It has become a tradition to provide Tatum a photo album at the start of each new airplane journey. The album is loaded with pictures of loved ones for her to check out as we travel. This in addition to picture board books and TONS of snacks is what helps us survive long flights with an 18-month old.

We spent 10-days total in NC - three nights at the Harris Home (Andrew's sister) in Charlotte; three nights at the Shoemakers in Asheville; and three nights with the Littles (Meghan's sister) in Charlotte. It was a perfect bookend trip with family each weekend and friends in the middle.

The Harris Home started with the adventure of making gingerbread houses at a Christmas Party. Each child got the cook's ware and pre-made house. There were tons of candies for the kids to choose from to create their unique house. Tatum is still a bit young to really participate, but she ate her share of our golden graham shingles.

Nicolas (4 y.o) and Sophia (2.5 y.o) had a blast with their cousin Tatum. The kids spent their days following each other around, playing in the new tents, taking a bath, and dressing up for the panther's game. It was a great time because there was so much laughter and play between the kids.

Next we headed to Asheville, where we spent three nights with our friends Brian and Nicole. Tatum was the only kid in site, so she took advantage of the cold rain-less moments and played outside. Her favorite is playing in the car and pushing all the buttons. Mom treated herself to some new boots, and Tatum just had to try them on.

While in Asheville, we took a morning drive to Burnsville to visit my cousin Amy and her two sons James and Henry. We were treated to delicious bakery treats and homemade soup for lunch. Tatum shared some Spanish language with James and requested "aqua" at lunch. (Nicolas and Sophia too picked up "aqua").



Our last stop on the road was my sister Jen's house. Her twin boys Ethan and Drew enjoyed playing with Lala's rollers and putting them in Tatum's hair. During the rainy days we took the opportunity to visit Santa at the local mall.

Tatum picked up three new words on the trip: Choo-choo (we played train at Julie's house), ham (that's right, this kid loves ham; she's her father's daughter), and snacks (surprised? no).

On our return, we had time in the Charlotte airport before our flight. Charlotte has a great food/shopping/rest area in the center of the terminals where there is an open bar with a man playing piano. Tatum loves music, and loves to dance; so she was thrilled to be able to dance to the piano man during our wait. This delighted the musician as well as passer-byes. Tatum was given a dollar tip from a woman who's day was made by the little two foot dancer. We gave the tip to the piano man.

And thanks to Direct TV at our seats on the return flight, we made it home safely and sanely; Andrew was able to watch football and Tatum tuned in and out of the baby channel.

18 Months

Today is Tatum's 18 month birthday. She has a laundry list of accomplishments in the last six months, and as a proud momma I'll name a few:

walking up and down stairs without holding a hand

sliding down the slide without assistance

saying more and more words like dog, up, down, out, bye, orange, egg, eye (while sticking her finger in your eye), and ball

finding mom and dad's shoes and bringing them to us when she wants to go "out"

finding her own shoes when asked "where are your shoes"

discovering her belly button and other's belly buttons

putting puzzle pieces back in the right place

Her laughter remains vibrate and her health, so far, is solid. We are so blessed to have such a darling and sometimes demanding daughter. Happy 18 months baby.

New Photos on Flickr

Check them out using the link to the left (or upper corner of the blog).

Halloween Revisited

And by revisited I mean that we stuck to the same Scooby Doo crew costumes as last year. Hey, they fit, and since I hand-dyed, hand-sewed Tatum's costume last year, it's best she gets two years out of it. And you must admit, Thelma, Shaggy and Scooby are a pretty cute group. Our friend Sonja invited us to a family friendly party in Pasadena where Tatum had her first chance to walk the block and get candy for her parents. Yes, we are that family, having our 18 month old hold out her bag so her folks can enjoy candy later that night.

Tatum and I went to the LA Arboretum in the morning so mom could study trees. To our delight the Arboretum was sponsoring a Halloween event for kids. Tatum was a bit small, but we still took pictures and had fun playing with the balloon and seeing kids in costume.

Adventures in Self Feeding

Wow - this is what bibs were made for! There ended up being more squash soup in the bib than Tatum's belly.

The harvest season of fall has taken effect on Tatum - she now wants to conduct her own food harvest. As seen above, Tatum prefers to eat dinner herself, risking food loss to clothes stains. Her wrist turns need perfecting, as she tends to turn the whole spoon upside down as she inserts it into her mouth. But we've got plenty of time for that.

Her place is now set with two utensils, one for mom and one for Tatum.

The Only Pumpkin that Giggles

You may remember from last year, or not, that Tatum's daycare loves to play dress up. Yesterday while I was in a meeting I got an email titled "The Only Pumpkin That Giggles" and opened it up to find these:

Special Guests and Blessings

This past weekend Thrangu Rinpoche visited Eagle Rock to teach at the Shambhala Meditation Center. To make lunch easy and comfortable I was asked to host Rinpoche and his retinue of five on Saturday and Sunday. Below is a picture of the lunch. Chinese on Saturday and Pizza on Sunday.

Rinpoche gave Tatum a blessing in which he presented her with a protection cord.

Since this was their down time away from the teachings, I choose not to take too many pictures and allow them the space to enjoy their lunch.

Blankies and Belly Buttons

Tatum's two new favorite items: Belly Buttons and her Blankie. Well, her blanket has always been a fave item, but now it comes out of the crib with her in the morning and periodically throughout the day goes on the hunt for it.

And Belly Buttons - how hysterical it is for her to discover that both her mom and dad have them hiding under their shirts with almost matching freckles near by. She enjoys this discovery each night as we put her to bed. Immediately after getting dressed is her cue to look and find.

Now we can ask "Tatum, where is your belly button?" and she lifts up her shirt to show us. I love it.

New Camera - Tatum's Blog is Back

I imagine this is how you all have been feeling with the black out on the blog, "Why won't you just give it to me!" Well, we're happy to say that we bit the bullet and purchased a new camera during our monthly Costco run last weekend. It no longer made sense to us to wait to buy a camera. Tatum changes daily, and these moments need capturing. The faithful visitors of this blog deserve attention, and that I promise to give you, soon. For now, I'll keep you wondering...

Update from the front lines: Camera down

In case you thought perhaps the recent fires of LA burnt through our electrical connection leaving us without internet access to update the blog; no, the camera is bust. We traveled far and wide to North Carolina this summer and locally to the beaches and parks of LA, but have little to show other than our ticket stubs and gas receipts. We do have some movie footage, but expect that another time. In an effort to not disappoint by continuing to let the blog go untouched, I thought I'd take a little time from work to let you know we are still here. There's just no photos to show it.

Quickly, because I am at work, here are some recent fun Tatum times:

"Hi" - now think of a the highest, sweetest voice saying that word and you've just heard (in your head) Tatum saying "Hi". She now enjoys waking up and saying "Hi", walking into the room and saying "Hi" and meeting folks on the street and saying "Hi".

The kitchen sink as the new tasting room: the other day Tatum really wanted to be apart of dinner making, saying "up" as she held up her arms while standing at my feet. i lifted her up, and then into the kitchen sink where she played with tupperware and asked for food samples. She asked for the onion, and being a true believer of discovery, i gave her a thick slice. she bit in and said "mmm" - yeah, she's got crazy taste buds.

We installed a slide in the back yard. The slide is the last piece of play land. She loves to crawl up the slide (with adult help of course) and come, well of course, sliding down. I found the slide for $8 off of Craig's List, sawed off the legs, and installed it on the second terrace so she can slide down to the first. It's awesome.

ONE NAP - that's right. I should set aside an entire post on the sleep transitions, but most likely I won't.

Tatum Trauma to Momma - Tatum likes to fall. Know when I say fall this is a typical Tatum dance at night time where she likes to stand up, or sit up on the bed, and fall over backwards. She thinks it's hilarious and it started around 8 months. We too think its hilarious, as does any witness to the performance, but if you don't move fast enough, she may land on your face, which is what happened to me. Last Thursday when putting Tatum down she fell onto my face and busted my bottom lip a bit. On Friday night she fell again on my face and busted my nose. So, yes, I've learned my lesson, or position rather, so I think.

Okay, back to work.

Tatter Tantrums

Tatter Tantrums - n. used to define the display of emotions Tatum Bell feels when she does not get what she wants when she wants it, most often brought on during times of teething pain, hunger, and/or sleepiness.

Tatter Tantrums happen like this: Tatum walks to the pantry and pulls out a treat. Mom takes the treat out of her hand and puts it back in the pantry. Tatum begins to cry, lays belly-down on the floor, cries more, then soothes herself with her thumb. Or they could happen like this: we are walking around the neighborhood hand in hand, Tatum approaches the grouchy neighbor's yard and pulls to walk up his sidewalk and front steps, mom pulls her back for fear of a shotgun (not really but still) explaining that we don't live there and can't play on the steps, Tatum wails, and falls belly-down on the ground.

We are certain this has to do with teething, and not my parenting! We noticed an increased fussiness in Tatum last week and sure enough four more buds are coming through to compliment her two top and two bottom teeth. It's extremely helpful to see the teeth piercing through and point to the reason for all the fuss; but it makes my heart crawl knowing she's experiencing pain and there's little I can do to alleve it.

Summer Shots

We have a new summer routine, I ride as fast and safely as I can to pick up Tatum from day care on the bike. As expected, I always have cool "aqua" (yes, she is saying aqua now) and snacks. The first day I went to pick her up on the bike I quickly realized that we needed to add a front basket to the bike to carry my work things and her day care things. So off we road to our local bike shop to add the trusty well-used front basket. It took a while for the installation to happen, so Tatum roamed (ran) the open rows of the bike store. At first the service guys were a little apprehensive about her frolicking near bikes, but she soon won them over with her crack up laughs and giggles. Because really, now that she walks there's no way to keep her in place let alone in my arms. One bike guy engaged her by playing peek-a-boo throughout the store. It won't be long before she's on her own two wheels (with training wheels of course).

Oh yes, Tatum's new found love. She opens her drawers, rummages through her clothes, selects a garment, and puts it on her head. She may play peek-a-boo with the shirt/pants/cover-up or she just may sling it over her shoulder and continue playing around the house. She finds it hilarious, and frankly, so do we.

MMMMM - Watermelon. Tatam may only have four teeth in her little head, but two front top teeth and two front bottom teeth are all you need to enjoy the pleasures of cold watermelon on a hot summer day. MMMMM!

Walk This Way

Our little girl is now on her own two feet, taking on the world one laugh and step at a time.

Andrew compiled this quick video showing Tatum's first trans-house walk. It happened Thursday morning after I left for work. Andrew was so excited and proud that he immediately posted the video and sent me the link. It made an otherwise cruddy day at work shine. I promise this clip will bring a smile to your face.

Summer Fun

With the temperatures in the 90s, summer has finally hit Southern California. Tatum wakes up from her heat induced marthon 2-3 hour afternoon naps with her head wet from sweat. We've created a ritual of water fun to keep us cool - sink baths, spray bottles and the kiddie pool out back. And yes, we bought an AC unit for the bedroom to keep the babe from having heat stroke.

There's been plenty of parties to keep us busy on the social scene, a scene Tatum loves. Above is a picture from a friend's one-year old party where Tatum and Mauve are both chatting and texting each other.

Eagle Rock, our LA neighborhood, offers a summer concert series. We joined the Cohens on Sara's birthday to celebrate with live music, a picnic dinner, and fun. At the end of the concert Tatum performed a headstand, a new move. She revelled in delight at the world upside down. And for us, we revelled in witnessing Tatum figure out something new and different with her body.

June in Review

Wow - what a month. So busy in fact that there was little time for blogging. We had a ton of visitors: Mimi and Boo (Andrew's folks), Aunt Bobby and Uncle Dick (Andrew's aunt and uncle), Michelle and Lindsay (Andrew's cousins), Rhonda (Meg's friend), and Thomas (former MiniVoid bandmate) and his girlfriend Lisa. Not to mention we took a camping trip, attended two weddings, celebrated Father's Day, and had lots of happy hour Fridays at our favorite local burger joint the Oinkster.

Tatum started walking, still not so much on her own, but she's up and around with two handy assistants (mom and dad). This past weekend we walked all the way up to the Tasty Freeze to enjoy a soft serve cone on a hot June day. Tatum walked the entire way there; making three stops to rest. How cute is that - she rests. She'll plop down for a few moments and then raise her hands to helped along again. The walker toy came in the mail; but she is yet to become a huge fan.

Tatum Talks! Since our girl in being raised in Southern California, we are taking bets on what her first language will be: English or Spanish. So far, it seems like Spanish is taking the lead. The other day we picked Tatum up from day care to find out that she now says "Gracias." And sure enough, she does. Thank you is in her vocabulary too, along with mama (FINALLY!).

She's beginning to repeat words at random moments as well. The other day we gave her an Obama button (with the pin removed) to play with. She enjoys taking the button along with beer bottle caps and putting them into and taking them out of a jar. Andrew showed her the button, read it out loud, and Tatum repeated "Obama." Gracias Obama - what more does a girl need to say!

Tatum's temperate is changing too. Can the terrible twos start at thirteen months? I know all moms go through this, but now is our time in witnessing our precious, curious child throw fits. And i do mean throw - she'll throw sippy cups, food, books, even herself (in full splay on the floor) - when the mood is right, or wrong for that matter. A child's emotions are so raw and real; and when she feels upset, you know it, you see it. The fits don't last long, and aren't out of the ordinary for the stage of life, but it's definitely a different stage.

At the same time, her interactions are more intended. Toys that have sat untouched in the corner waiting for her development to ripen are now in full play: the stacking stars, the what's inside box, the singing bear. She is mastering motor skills and learning to dance along the way.

So thus, our June in Review.

Shearer Fun Camping

Oh it's a bit cold - but we're content as seals in San Simeon.

Ah - another Shearer camping adventure! We packed up momma's new car with the new family tent and our camping supplies and headed up the coast to San Simeon State Park, just north of Morro Bay. For those not familiar with the California Coast, San Simeon is considered "Central Coast" and features rolling hills and pine bluffs that drop into the blue Pacific. It's awesome.

After a 4.5 hour drive we reached the campground and set out to out site#65, which ended up being in the middle of a group of 40-something men obviously having a guys weekend. No thanks. We asked for a different site and set out again through the winding roads of the campground to find ourselves at site #111, featuring a tiny sloped site where our giant tent could only fit on the parking spot. A few sites down were a bunch of 20-somethings bumping the dance music out of the back of a pick up and throwing horseshoes, fun, but not for us. So again we asked for another site and given #11 on the upper loop, PERFECT:

Tatum loved that we had two parking curbs on site to walk up and over, up and over. I've written about it before, this girl is obsessed with stepping.

We enjoyed ourselves, especially after 7pm when Tatum went down for the night and we relaxed into our happy hour reading books, sipping cocktails, and watching the night come in. Tatum had a bit of a hard time sleeping since she was fighting a constant cough that would awake her. It seems that each time we're camping, she's suffering from a cold/runny nose/cough. But the camping must go on, so her immunity is challenged (or perhaps strengthened).

On Saturday we checked out the elephant seals that nest about 12 miles up the coast from San Simeon. The seals didn't move fast enough for Tatum, or perhaps it was the absence of legs and fur that just didn't appeal to her, but she didn't care for them. Andrew and I were entralled observing the seals as pairs of males battled, others laid asleep, and others slowly came in and out of the ocean. When she'd scream in frustration after we viewed the seals for too long, we'd hand her a few rocks or hit the ground for a walk around the area. Tatum can pass loads of time by sitting, collecting rocks, trying to fit as many as possible in one hand, passing the rocks over to us then asking for them back, stacking the rocks, placing the rocks on other rocks, and so on. Thankfully there were lots of rocks around to rely on.

Later we headed down to the beach. The weather was too cool to go swimming, in fact we didn't bring our suits because the forecast was for 55 degree weather. But it seemed to warm up to about 70 and other folks took the sunshine as the cue to go swimming. We rolled up our pants and took to the waves. Tatum was enthralled with the ocean. She took off directly for the ocean and was thrilled to have waves crash on her feet. We walked in and out of waves for a long time as she demanded (yes, and I mean demanded) for the waves to crash and run up over her toes and feet. She would fuss at the ocean if the wave did not reach far enough up shore to touch her. When a large wave would crash I'd sweep Tatum up and run back as to not drench ourselves. She laughed in excitement at the thrill. Soaked, we returned to camp for a warm dinner and our warm pajamas.

We hit the road early on Sunday to return to LA and unload. As we went to bed that night both Andrew and I noticed the absence of the crashing waves of the ocean that lulled us to sleep over the weekend. Tatum slept like a baby should and her coughing improved. For more photos of the trip, check out our Flickr pictures.

She's Walking!

Tatum took her first solo steps last week as we were playing on the floor. She stood up from her play table, looked at me, grinned her silly smile, and took three steps before diving into my arms in laughter. She's as proud of herself as we are.

She prefers to walk hand in hand, using both hands for support. If you offer her one hand, she stands with the other extended, moving her fingers asking for the other. With that assistance she'll walk just about anywhere, but definitely prefers walking up and down (and up and down and up and down) steps. Maybe it's because we lack stairs in our house that she becomes so enamored with them in the outside world. Who knows, but its really quite funny, and can be scary. When no steps are around, she entertains herself on the curb. With traffic looming by, this is not our favorite place to play.

So the journey continues. Two weeks have passed since her first steps, and her cautious nature has kept her from taking any more steps alone. So we practice each evening with Tatum walking her few steps between Andrew and I. She gets so excited with the play that she ends up falling down in laughter after each step.

In an attempt to help build her strength and confidence, we've ordered a push toy that will arrive in the mail next week. Let's hope she digs it.

One Year Check Up

Tatum on her first birthday in a sweater knitted by her Great Grandmother Long in England.

This morning Tatum and I went in for her one year check up. And the results are:
22 lbs., 29" long, head circumference of 18 3/4 inches, and a total champ for taking four shots in the leg. Blueberries were our cure for the pain, that and a little Tylenol.

Video Post

I finally posted video from Mother's Day - scroll down to the Mother's Day Post to see it. Enjoy!

Tatum's Birthday Sand Celebration

Yahoo! TATUM IS ONE! To celebrate her first year of life we invited friends over to play in the sand box, eat yummy "kid friendly" snacks, and enjoy the spring day. We decorated the back yard using First Birthday lanterns that I scored for free at a yard sale (actually the same yard sale is where I got the top I'm wearing at the party). I got sand crazy and purchased sand pails and shovels and decorated them with the kids' names.

We baked a banana birthday cake and presented it to Tatum - who had no idea what to do with it. We helped feed her, and she yummed her way through a bite or too. Next year we'll try carrot cake.



Tatum was presented with lots of generous gifts including a swing for the backyard, a pool, books, a baby doll, puzzles, a puppet, an activity station, building blocks, clothes and lots more. Tatum was so pooped by 3:30 that she crashed out before our last guests arrived. So Tatum missed out on the pinata, but the other tykes sure enjoyed it.

We are so thankful to have such great friends to celebrate with, and only wished that our family could be there as well! A special thanks to Sara for her decorating help and princess bedazzling of the crown; to Rhonda for helping prep all the food and providing an extra set of eyes and hands on Tatum; and finally to my dear husband who put on his bbq best and did a bang up job on the grill.

For more pictures of the party, visit Tatum's Flickr Photos and click on the set First Birthday - or view other sets too.