written by Monica Barrett Evans
When Tatum was born on April 23, 2003, the nurse took her to clean her up and said, “wow, she is so mad. I’ve never seen such a mad baby…she didn’t like that.” It wasn’t that pleasant for me either, but I knew then that Tatum would be a little firecracker.
Tatum has always been the silliest kid I have ever known. When Ariel and Ian were babies, we all used to say they were so crazy….which they were, but Tatum takes the cake. She has always been so happy and silly. She says the most off the wall things, or will just start breaking out dancing. She calls her grampa “Bobby.”
I believe Tatum holds the record for most apple juice drank in her short 5 years. About three years ago we started adding about ½ water to her juice (to save her teeth and money). She loves “apple” which she says is a girl. I don’t know how many times she will wake up from a nap and say “Mom…..I want some apple.” Actually lately she will just say, “Apple.” I get the point. She is so tall and skinny I tell her I need to go on the apple juice diet.
Tatum has always been in love with her blanket, which she calls “Bank” or sometimes “Manky.” This blanket actually started out as Ariel’s when she was a baby, and Tatum inherited it. Excuse me, inherited ‘him.’ Bank is a boy. He started out as a bright yellow and orange blanket with tied strings all over. Because of Tatum, he is now a barely yellow, worn out thing with a transplanted back from another blanket sewed on. Tatum still loves Bank and sucks on his strings anytime she is relaxing or sleeping. There are only certain strings she will suck on. She will say “mmm, these strings are so good.” She is so used to doing it, she will be falling asleep with her eyes closed and her little hands will feel around until she finds the right string.
When Tatum was three, we went miniature golfing. Like any three year old, she was walking around exploring the place when she suddenly tripped and fell face first into a rock the size of her. I picked her up and saw her lip was split open and bleeding. We rushed to urgent care and she had to get 3 stitches in her lip. She had also hit her poor baby tooth and eventually had to have that one pulled. So she is a cute girl with one front tooth missing.
About a month ago, the whole family got the flu. It was so bad I think Tatum slept for two straight days. Even now, she will tell me “I don’t have the flu anymore huh?” I think it scared her a little.
Tatum is a good dancer and loves to sing. She loves to write letters and numbers and play with the dogs (one of which is a lot bigger than she is). She also loves baby dolls and barbies.
She has pretty blonde curly hair that always looks a little wild, but I think that is how she should look. She also likes to wear two different socks. I had a mom of one of her classmates tell me that her daughter put on different socks one day and said “it’s okay, Tatum does it all the time.”
Tatum is in preschool right now at Blue Kangaroo in the Curious Critters classroom. She is so funny all the kids love her. This one little boy named Riley comes up to see her as soon as she gets there everyday. He gave her a balloon for Valentine’s Day and loves to draw pictures for her.
Now that Tatum is 5 she will be starting kindergarten in July. She is excited that she will be going to the same school as her sister. She had her birthday party at Jump Man Jump. I think she ran about 100 miles an hour the whole time, going down slides and on obstacle courses. On our way home, she started to plan her next party. I wonder if Bank will be around for that one…
