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.