Taft's 6th Year in Review (December 10, 2020 - December 10, 2021)

 Taft lived 5 in the fullest way!

Some memorable things:

:: Taft and Dad jumped into the world of hydroponic gardening. They have grown lettuce, kale, cilantro, tomatoes, and peppers. Taft got some strawberry plants for his 6th birthday.

:: Taft and Dad also began some traditional gardening including beans, blueberries, blackberries, onions, tumeric and anything else that can be planted. 

:: Taft is very enthusiastic about eating all sorts of different vegetables now. He eats salad and sauteed greens and mushrooms.

:: Taft started kindergarten homeschool. He enjoys reading the story of Fred who helps him learn math. He participated in the Elgin co-op classes of stories and crafts, unplugged play, and messy science. He really enjoyed making ice cream in unplugged play.

:: Taft got a new brother, Evan. He has been an excellent helper with Evan. 

:: Taft continues to strengthen his relationship with Alyssa, Joel, and Kent. They all play together everyday. They have adventures, play soccer, and play games. 

:: Taft and Alyssa often play games together on Alyssa's bed before bed. They like Blockus, SkipBo, and  Sleeping Queens.

:: Taft continues to ride his bike. He is very fast. 

:: Taft calls Nana often on Alexa and lets her know all about what is going on with the garden and other things.

:: Taft continues to love the garbage truck. Right after moving to Mossygate Taft got to push the garbage truck buttons to pick up and dump the garbage can.

:: Taft is a good helper in the kitchen. He likes to make pancakes. He can put them on the pan and flip them.

:: Taft lost his first tooth this year! He was eating watermelon and it got stuck in the watermelon!

:: Taft traveled to Utah this summer to visit family. He saw red rock in Moab, hiked around Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and saw ducks at a park near Claire's. 

:: Taft traveled to Utah in October.

:: Taft was in a parade in Denton County, TX with the Archibalds'. He was one of the founding fathers.

:: Taft wanted to sell cookies. He made $28.

Project Helper

You've become such a good companion and helper.  On the last few saturdays you've been really engaged.helping me with projects.

In April I started a hydroponic garden to compete in the NASA deep space food challenge and you've been my helper at every step of the way.  The original system consisted of plants in rockwool in 2" netcups inside of any can or jar we could get our hands on.

Later we developed a system using bins.  You came to Walmart to help me pick out the bins.  You love to come to Walmart with me.  We are good Walmart buddies, we both have a lot of patience to look at stuff and think about things for a long long time.  Once that system got working we decided we needed a new stand for the light.  You designed a stand on a piece of paper with a marker in a couple minutes and came back and said something along the lines of, I already drew what we need why are you here just still thinking about it.  Later, when we went to cut the wood and build it you confessed that you didn't think building it would be so difficult.

We started out by building the wood frame.  To top it off we cast a concrete countertop slab.  You and Joel, Kent and Alyssa all came with me to Home Depot to get the 80 lb bag of concrete.  You helped me mix the concrete using a plastic kitchen spoon stuck into the drill.  It took a long time and it was very hard to mix.  We were both very sweaty.

After a few days the concrete hardened and I put the 80 lb slab onto the wooden stand.  It works!

Reading

 You are learning how to read! It is so rewarding to see you grasp and progress in reading, mostly on your own initiative and with your own curiosity. I have been reading The Last Firehawk series to you. You can't get enough of it. You like to tell me what you predict will happen. Today you called me back into the house as we were trying to leave to tell me your thoughts! I hope your natural love of learning will bring you many happy discoveries and much progress! 

Taft's Birthday 2019

 Ok, so I'm writing about what happened a little more than a year ago.  But, I figured I'd record it while we both can remember.  So on your birthday for 2019 you turned 4.  To make the day special I brought you to school with me in the morning.  We went to the maker space at school and together we designed and laser cut a sign for you for your birthday.  Also, since in the makerspace the student employees are always trying out the machines, two of them gave you things that had been laser cut and 3d printed.  It was a lot of fun.  Since it was the end of the semester the civil engineering department was having a pizza party and watching the Grinch movie.  So after we finished laser cutting your sign we went to the civil engineering building and had pizza and watched the Grinch together.  It was a super fun day.  I am so thankful that I could take you to campus and you could hang out with me.  At night we had your birthday cake which was a monkey cake.

Christmas 2020

 Christmas was lovely. You wrote notes for everyone and put them under the tree before December even started. Here is a sample of your notes:

Alyssa gave you this note:

This is a picture of the Nativity that you drew:

This is a note you wrote to Santa last year. I am not sure exactly what it is or what you said - I think maybe it was a train track because you got Duplo trains. But I just want to remember it. You love Santa and you want to thank him!

This is a sticker picture you made. I never get tired of seeing your name written on things. You are so proud of your ability to write it!

Here is a card that Claire sent to you:

This year you made an ornament for the Garbage man. You like to run out and say hello to the garbage man when he comes twice a week. You are very enthusiastic!

Making snickerdoodles with Mom on a chilly afternoon

You and I made browned butter caramel stuffed snickerdoodles this week. You were a champ at stuffing each cookie with the caramels and rolling them in cinnamon sugar. You chatted away while you worked. It was just you and me because it was quiet time and everyone else was sleeping or otherwise engaged. I am glad we got to spend that time together!

 

Recent Drawings - October 2020

 

My favorite part is the roots in the pumpkins in the first drawing and the toilet and dishwasher, complete with electric and water hook ups in the 2nd drawing.

A sketch from nature

We went on a nature walk to draw some white wild flowers. You drew the flowers and the grass and the sound of squeaky brakes and the road and everything you saw. You were invested in sketching nature and everything else.

 

Sunday

Today was Sunday, this afternoon you were looking at the gospel art kit.  Here are your reactions to some classic church images.

Regarding Portrait of Emma Smith  - Taft:  "Is that Joseph Smith with a wig on?"


Regarding Captain Moroni - Taft: "Are they all trying to kill him?"

Helper Guy

Taft, your are my companion and helper as of late.  We have done a lot of good things together.  In June we worked together to install a hitch on the van so that we could take the bikes on a road trip to Utah.

We have been working on building a robot together.  And you like to watch robot videos with me on YouTube.  Although, I'm afraid the internet might be running out of appropriate robot videos for us.

Now that we're back home you are helping me build an air purifying helmet and a fire extinguisher backpack for firefighters. 

You're also happy to help out with the grilling!  You only dropped the first two hotdogs on the ground, after that I reoriented them so that the bars would stop them from rolling off.

These photos are all from a 3 week period, it looks like those Old Navy shirts have got some heavy rotation!

The. 3 legged turtle

Last week we had a cookout down by the gazebo outside our apartment.  While we were out Alyssa discovered a red eared slider turtle.  We all went to go look at the turtle.  He got nervous and hid under a car.  We noticed that he only had 3 legs.  At dinner you said, he was looking for his leg.  I then followed up asking what he would do when he found out.  You and Joel replied that he'd take it back home. 

You are colorblind and we love you!

Last week, I found out that you are colorblind.  Your Mom has long been suspicious that you are colorblind.  You are four year old and you're not the best with colors.  I never thought much about you being colorblind because I figured that you confuse colors just like lots of young children have a hard time with different colors. 

I looked at some websites that have colorblind tests for kids.  On one of them, it showed shapes on different color backgrounds and you got it wrong like 1/3 of the time.  On another, more brutal test you missed every animal out of a set of ten.  It must've been the lamest test ever for you, because you never saw anything.

Your mother grew up with her brother Jacob and grandpa Scarlet being colorblind, so she is used to the idea.  I didn't really know anyone closely that was colorblind so for me it was more difficult.  I felt great love for you and cried more than I've cried in the last 10 years of being married.  I love you so much.  It hurts me to think that you can't experience all the same colors the same way that I do.  On the other hand, there are a lot of things that you see and enjoy that the rest of us miss.  You love to look at beetles, rolly-pollies and ants and have a fascination with rocks.  You see the beauty in lots of objects that I sometimes view as uninteresting or commonplace. 

This last week, after realizing you are colorblind, I have felt more love towards you and have been extra patient and kind with you.  Your Mom says it's like I've been treating you as if you are about to die.  Anyway, you're not.  You just see colors differently!  I love you so much and been able to feel that a lot this week.  It has reminded me of how God sees us all as his children.  None of us, can see as God sees.  But he loves as immensely and wants us to be able to become like him someday so that we can see all the truths, beauties and majesty that he sees.

Dad, all you do is 3d print stuff for us all day?

So, we got a 3d printer last week and we've been making good use of it recently.  Due to the covid-19 pandemic, I have been working from home for the last month and now as I work from home I can also 3d print stuff.

You have been very excited about getting the 3d printer. You were my number 1 helper putting it together and screwed in pretty much all the bolts.  You are always asking me to make stuff for it, and when we are printing something, you and Alyssa continually disappear for a moment to check on it no matter what else we're doing.

Today while I was trying to get some work done (I still the same full-time workload of classes and research), you said that we should get some of those firefighting robots from the youtube videos we sometimes watch.  Then you asked to watch some robot videos on youtube with me.  I said I was busy and had to work.  You replied, 'Dad, all you do is 3d print stuff for us all day!'  I was a little confused...  You continued, "Yeah you used to do other stuff with us, like watch firefighting robot videos on Youtube and now all you do is 3d print toys for us all day" 

Sorry buddy for being such a boring Dad and spending all my days 3d printing toys for you.  We'll have to get back to watching more YouTube together!  😁

Brothers!

You, Joel and Kent are all now old enough to play together.  It is so fun to watch the three of you interact.  You are old enough to know what you want and to communicate it and to build all your own legos, duplos etc.  Joel says simple sentences and can make his voice heard.  He builds basic duplo creations.  Kent is known as the 'destroyer of toys', oftentimes you and Joel shout at him when he comes to tear apart your creations.  He is getting better though.  This week he put his first two duplo blocks together and was visibly pleased with himself.

The three of you love to go outside and ride your bikes.  You love to play duplos and legos together and also to play pretend.  Sometimes you guys fight.  You are getting better are working with Kent and helping to find toys to distract him so that he stays away from wrecking your stuff and Joel's stuff.

You have also been teaching Joel things.  We are trying to get him to pee in the toilet and you have been good at explaining and demonstrating how it works.  We also overheard you teaching Joel in the bathtub, "Do you know what happens when you fart in the Tub? ... it makes bubbles."

You are just like me in a lot of ways.  You love to stay up late and work on projects.  You are my number one helper when I'm doing a project, like fixing the dryer, building shelves or assembling and using the 3d printer.  You are always coming up with invention ideas.  About two years ago while riding my bike around the river I thought, I should design a bike that can go on water.   I later discovered that someone already invented such a bike.  Last week on your first bike ride around the river, you said something along the lines of  "We should build a bike that can ride in the river."   That's pretty good that you came up with the idea the first time biking around the river.  It took me dozens of times.

You love to be involved and included.  Tonight Mom and Alyssa had to go do an errand and visit a friend's house and you were really upset that you couldn't go.  You came inside and lay down on your floor in frustration.  It was so cute to hear you explain to Joel how you felt and why you were feeling that way.  It is fun to see you guys as friends and brothers.

Staying at home and avoiding COVID-19

We've all been home for the last two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  You've developed a good 4-yr old level understanding of the disease.  When we are outside playing with the neighborhood girl, I have heard you say " WATCH OUT she might have the CORONAVIRUS!"

Nana sent you all packages in the mail of something you could play with.  As usual, you were very excited for your package to arrive.  Yesterday, Alyssa's came in the morning, Joel's came in the afternoon and yours came in the evening.

Today you reminded me to call Nana so that we could tell her thanks.  You thanked her and said that yours arrived the earliest!  Me, mom and Alyssa all had a sudden realization about what you meant by saying you woke up early today!  You meant that you slept in!  For the record you are the one who generally goes to bed the latest and sleeps in the longest.  You love to tinker with duplos, legos or whatever at night before you go to bed and you hate to quit a project to go to bed.  In the morning everyone reliably wakes up well before you.   Some of us are done with breakfast by the time you get up.  But, your mother makes an effort to sit at the table with you while you eat and teach you letters and stuff.  This means she is at the breakfast table for like 2 hours a day.  You also eat the slowest!  We love you!

Tonight we made masks to protect ourselves (or for fun).  You are the king of PPE!

FHE by Taft

Today was your first day fully planning and executing an FHE.  You were very very very excited.  In in a kind of random hodgepodge planning session you explained to Mom excitedly about a dozen different ideas that you had seen in the friend in the past few weeks.  Finally the moment came for family home evening to start.  We sang I am a child of God, which both you and Alyssa conducted. 

You had us put on blind folds and follow the iron rod from your room, down the hallway to the family room. The iron rod was a piece of string about 1 ft long that you pulled each of us along with.  When we reached the end and asked so where are we, you explained we are here! 

You brought scriptures to each of us and asked us to share something we liked, or something we had heard of.  Alyssa shares first and then you threw tantrum because you wanted to go first.  You didn't want her to steal the show.  But actually she was really stealing the scripture I had picked.  She turned to the same page as me and read the verse that was highlighted in my page.  After the tantrum, this activity was over.

You setup a puppet show to teach something.  Like how God created animals.  It was very lovely.  Joel was laughing a lot, but Mom and I didn't quite get it. 

I just have big feet

After Taft's diaper had fallen off:
Dad:. These diapers haven't fit you for 6 months
Taft: I just have big feet.

His Spirit Warms My Soul

Doug and Amanda got married today. Taft was eager to see the temple and wanted to go inside. I took him in the foyer and showed him a picture of Jesus. I told him we can feel Jesus' love in the temple. I picked him up and he started singing/humming "I Feel My Savior's Love" and then he sang "his Spirit Warms my soul". Taft could feel the peace of the temple. I'm thankful I could spend that time with him for a few brief moments in the temple.

Actually

I made a lot of cookies today. You wanted to eat them all! We were having a snack with piles of cookies sitting around us and you repeatedly said, "Actually, cookies are good for me."

While praying today at lunch you said, "Please bless Joel, I knock him over."

I find it almost unfair to the other children that you are so funny. But I'm always laughing over something coming out of your mouth these days.

Pizza farts and...

Today you were helping Mom make pizza and mom was explaining how yeast works. She explained that yeast produces gas just like farting. You added "I fart from my penis.".  This is anatomically incorrect we're still working on teaching you these things.

You also dumped the entire bag of cheese for the pizza on the ground.  As Mom expressed her displeasure had seen the entire bag of mozzarella dumped on the ground you looked down and said "I have some".  He then proceeded to serve yourself as much mozzarella cheese as you could eat from off of the floor. At one point I caught you hunched over the floor in a position in which one leg was lifted and you were balancing on the other leg and your arms like a three legged dog eating mozzarella.