Kid Update

Thomas:
He has been such a happy baby.  Always smiling and a joy!  By far our "best" baby.  He finally learned how to crawl in the last week so our days of just letting him sit in one room content for long periods of time are now over.  He is our golden boy.  His nicknames include little Thomasino, Pascually,  and tommy boy.  He resembles Tai when she was a baby with the big mouth, blue eyes and round face.  He learned to snap at 8 months and to fight back at 3 months.  Truman is very good to Thomas 5% of the time and the other 95% loves to smother, wrestle, poke, squeeze and hit.  I can't wait to watch those two grow up together.  I have a feeling it will be like our cousins Tyler and Spencer.  Recently Thomas and his high chair fell forward (it wasn't strapped on) and landed smack on his face and got a bloody swollen lip.  He likes to play with small pieces of games and balls and trucks.

Truman:
He has moved into another stage and doesn't throw as many tantrums.  He loves to play with his monster trucks and tow truck and cars so much so that he insists on sleeping with them.  He can ride on his battery powered 4 wheeler in the back yard.  He is a very good whiner.  He and Tatum will play nicely sometimes together now.  He loves playing outside and especially in the car.  He is interested in how everything works.  He takes his time observing the ins and outs of motorized vehicles just like his dad.  When Mark was 4 years old he walked around a sky blue and white 1957 Ford Edsel for an hour running his hand around it.  He then proceeded to sit down and draw it complete with grill, bumper guards, white wheel tires.  I wish we had that picture.  His mom says it was an amazing drawing (of course).  Anyway, Truman is afraid of flying insects, including flies.  But is not afraid of spiders.  Yesterday he climbed up to the "G" without any help.  And it was a pretty difficult hike for me (although I am out of shape).  Here is an interesting thing about Truman, I think he might be ambidextrous.  I have been observing since he was an infant what hand he prefers to do things with...sometimes the left (like his dad) and sometimes the right.  I thought recently he started to lean towards the right but today at church I observed he was using his left to write on the magnidoodle.  He is a loving boy and gives hugs often.

Tatum:
She is our most fun loving child.  She is very quick in mind and has from a young age been able to manipulate situations for her benefit.  She is very happy and forgiving.  She is silly and witty and enjoys life.  She is fond of Thomas, gets along with Truman, her best friend is Tag and just recently started to spend more time with Tai.  She is the "Memory" game queen and dominates.  She enjoys, jumping on the tramp, board games, spelling games.  Food is not a motivator for her as she could go several meals if she had to just to prove a point.  Tatum says funny things to be funny.

Tag:
Is doing well lately physically.  He is happy and "skippy".  He is always moving, or on his head.  He has the "wright" agility but the Tabla temperment.  He is patient, longsuffering, kind, thoughtful and would never say anything mean about anybody.  He eats healthy and has done well accepting he can't eat junk.  He excels at school and in fact received "Student of the Month" for February.  We started Tag (and Tatum) in piano and he is very quick picking it up.  He also loves "Memory".  Tag likes learning about animals and loves to play the A-Z animal game coming up with animals like the "zorse", he researches them on the phone.  He is very well behaved and when he does do something wrong he feels very, very bad about it.  He loves jumping on the tramp, hiking and has complete control over his body.

Tai:
Loves the outdoors, hiking, camping, growing things, cooking, cleaning, organizing, crafting, singing, making things.  Today she made lipstick out of a melted crayon and coconut oil.  She is creative and active and must be doing something constructive or she becomes destructive to others, or property or herself.  She is helpful, responsible and is in the process of learning better manners.  She wakes early and gets herself off to school.  She loves the social aspect of school and does well in the academic part as well.  She is very physically strong.  Our most recent arm-wrestling match lasted a long time, I put in my best effort and barely pulled out a victory, but also pulled a muscle.  I declared that our last match.  This April she is joining the track team in Pleasant Grove.  She has a good heart but hasn't yet learned how to control her emotions or reactions.  I never could have stayed sane without Tai to help me with 4 other kids.  Her favorite movie is Annie, just like her mother.

An amaryllis that Tai grew.

Mark and I got the chance to go to the Utah symphony on Friday night.  We had to run a few blocks to make it on time.  I knew I was out of shape but this was a wake up call.  We made it on time by 5 seconds and found that our seats were front and center.  First row!  Well, I still needed to catch my breath but I couldn't because they started already.   I personally experienced what Tag must go through with his asthma.  I felt like I was breathing through a straw and I was literally frightened for my life, but yet I couldn't get up or make a sound or I would disrupt the piece.  I could only concentrate on one thing.  Not dying.  I had to cough so much cause I still have the vestiges of a cold, but I did my best to hold it in.  Finally it came out in a burst and I coughed in front of the first chair violinist to my embarrassment.  Then I started wheezing really bad.  I still couldn't breathe!!....when will this be over I thought I must cough!  I didn't think I would make it, but Debussy was over and out came coughs like you wouldn't believe during the applause.  Things calmed down after that and I was able to enjoy Daphnis and Chloe by Ravel, one of Mark's favorite works.  It was incredible.  We were showered will the conductor's sweat and I could see every twitch, blink and movement of the strings.  A night to remember for sure.