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.