Tagg Turned Three

Three Year Stats

Weight: 28lbs (10th percentile)

Height: 3ft (20th percentile)

Dear Taggart,

Oh my goodness, I just literally started crying as I wrote "Dear Taggart..." I love you so much! I'm in complete shock that you are three already, and yet, I feel like I've known and loved you way longer than three years. It's incredible how much my heart aches at the thought of my babies growing up so fast.

You are the cutest little man. Your funny side is hysterical and your shy/reserved side is so sweet. I see so much of your daddy in you - personality and looks! You are easy going and determined at the same time. Your best friend is for sure your big sister, Holland, and you want to play with her all day everyday...and yet you also love to push her buttons - like running into her and pushing her unexpectedly and dog-piling her, you know, just because.

You are so excited to meet "Baby Brother" and ask to hear his heartbeat often on the Doppler I purchased from Amazon. Best purchase ever! Only problem, you are convinced that you also have a baby in your tummy, so we spend time listening for your "baby's" heartbeat as well. It's pretty cute of you.

You give really good tight hugs that I can't get enough of.  And if I ask you if you have a kiss for me you always say, "Yes." But then you just sit there. So I say, "Where is my kiss?" And then you point to your lips and say, "Right here!" Melt my heart!

You love to have your turn saying prayers and actually like for Holland to be the one to help you. You call Grandpa Charlie several times a week, just to say hi. You enjoy going to the Aquarium and getting your haircut, and you love pointing out both places whenever we drive by them - "There's my haircut!" "Look - it's the Aquarium!" You get pretty sad, sometimes to the point of tears, when we drop Holland off at Preschool on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

You are still sleeping in your crib, even after several people told me to give up and move you to a toddler bed. No way, Jose! You no longer climb out, which makes me happy. You still take naps, but definitely have your days of defiance where it just doesn't happen. But, a few times a week your naps are 3+ hours, so it makes up for the days that you are a stinker and scream "Get me out of here!" until we come rescue you from your room.

A little move about you lately:

• eating preferences include granola, chocolate milk, grapes, yogurt (Yoplait Key Lime "green yogurt) and crackers (Ritz "circle crackers" and Wheat Thins)
• favorite songs are The ABCs, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, and I Love to See the Temple
•  words and phrases we hear from your mouth on a regular basis:
• Poop
• Sure
• WHAT??
• Yep
• Come on Holland
• When asked who you are you say, "I'm Taggart!" and you also like to make it clear that you are no longer a baby, but are now a "Big Boy."
• Mommy, I just love you. (my fave - of course!)
• Where's my "Liteling" (Lightning McQueen) and Mater 
• Play disappear, Daddy. (which means you want to listen and dance to "Houdini" by Foster the People)
• And, while we're at it, your dance moves are the BEST! I need to get a video of it. You do this little cross your legs over each other while running in circles and it's pretty darn funny!!
• you might be slightly addicted to screens as there are several things you like to watch on the TV, Kindle, computer and/or anyone's phone, such as: Chuck and Friends, the movie "Cars", Mater Cars, Chuggington, Paw Patrol, any YouTube video about excavators, trains or heavy machinery. You also love the movie you borrowed from Grandma Lucy "The Island of Misfit Toys."

We love you Tagg and are so happy you are part of our family! Please keep making us laugh...every day!

Love,

Momma

Me and You...saying cheese!

Momma and her birthday boy.

Pictures of you over the past six months:

 

Four and a Half - Say What?

At 4 1/2 you...

• Are 3'7" and weigh 35 lbs.
• Love to play make-believe and regularly can be heard talking to one of your "friends" (usually a Paw Patrol, Care Bear, 101 Dalmatians, Frozen, Cinderella or Rapunzel character)
• Are extremely imaginative
• Enjoy going to Preschool and really like your teacher, Mrs. Thompson
• Beg to do UpStart (online preschool program) every day
• Love to draw - especially rainbows, pictures of our family and flowers
• Just finished your first season of soccer - you loved practice but did not enjoy the games (you claimed they were so long it would make your "legs tired" after the first 15-20 minutes)
• Are so excited for your dance recital (Little Mermaid)...in June 2016! Needless to say, you love going to dance and definitely prefer ballet over tap
• Still nap, although only about 3-4 times a week
• Sleep in until at least 7:30 a.m., sometimes 8:00, most mornings - if you wake up earlier it's usually because Tagg is being loud
• Are anxiously awaiting your new little brother to arrive (due March 1, 2016) so that you and Taggart can play Peter Pan with him. You've decided that you will be Wendy, Tagg will be John, and the baby will be Michael (Note to me: Halloween costume ideas for next year)
• Are still a picky eater - but like strawberries, french fries, ice cream, noodles, ritz crackers ("circle crackers"), Nutella on graham crackers, Gogurt, and always MILK
• Want a Peppermint Patty anytime I offer you a treat, which you call a "circle treat"
• Like to dress yourself and come up with some really eclectic combinations some days
• Sing a lot and like to make up, on the spot, stories and lyrics to songs
• Insist on kissing Tagg on the lips every night before bed
• Really want to "go on a trip where you fly on a plane"
• Say the best prayers - and lately you pray that Taggart will "get on the potty train"
• Like to have play dates with Sarah Grace, Hannah, Caroline, Siena and Aria
• Wish to go to Disneyland every time you make a wish...and then always turn to ask me if star and dandelion wishes really come true
• Rotate through your dress-up dresses and insist we call you by the name of the dress you are wearing
• Ask when you will be five at least five times a day!

Holland, we love you so much. Please stop begging to turn five...time is already flying by too fast!!

xoxo ~Momma

Taggart Craig - Happy Half (2 months, 1 week and 2 days late!)

Taken July 26, 2015

Dear Tagg,

Happy Half, Tagg...plus two months. But hey, who's counting? Who? ME!! I am. I'm constantly torn between taking the time to document everything and actually spending time with you and Holland. But today, my little buddy, you and your sister are sleeping, and I don't have any work to do, so I'm finally getting a few things down so you and I can always remember them.

If I had to describe you in one word it would be HAPPY. Above everything else, you truly are a happy little person. If you cry, it doesn't last too long and then a smile quickly spreads across your face. You are easy going, funny, timid at times, and then shockingly brave other times (you drove your little four-wheeler out the back door and down the steps a couple weeks ago), you adore Holland and will 9 times out of 10 do exactly what she wants you to do. More and more you are learning to have an opinion (and make it known), but like your dad, you really are easy going and a kind of go-with-the-flow kind of guy. I love that about both of you!

A typical morning for you lately is waking around 6:30-7:00 a.m. and quietly walking into our room and standing by my side of the bed until I feel/hear you there. You always want me to lift you into my bed with me and snuggle, but that usually lasts all of two seconds before you are saying, "I want cereal." After eating, you'll then come snuggle with me for a bit until Holland wakes up. You often want to wake her up, but I quickly stop you from doing that. If she takes too long, you often get bored and want to head outside to play in the backyard. Then, without fail, she'll finally be up and eating her breakfast and you'll start pulling on her arm saying, "Come outside with me, Holland." After breakfast, you and Holland either go to the gym with Daddy (occasionally Mom will come as well), or you go and do something fun with Mommy and Holland - like going to Classic, the aquarium, Thanksgiving Point, play dates at the park or splash pad, or sometimes just going for a walk or playing in the yard. And on really fun days, we spend time with Grandma and Grandpa at their house or ours.

You have been a stinker the past several weeks with your naps, and with going to bed at night. It's driving me crazy! You used to be the best little sleeper and would go to bed so easily. Then, you learned how to climb out of your crib...and then how to open doors. Ugh! So, often times, we have to put you back in your bed 4-5 times before you fall asleep, or sit and rock you until you fall asleep. Hopefully you'll get back to to being a good sleeper again. Well, I guess you haven't changed your sleep per say, just your process for getting to sleep. You still take a 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hour nap each day and sleep about 10 hours each night. You go down for a nap around 1-2 p.m. (depending on how many times you climb out of your bed) and between 8-9 p.m. each night (we used to be really strict about bed time...and then Summer happened!)

Things you LOVE lately:

• Puppy
• all kinds of little play cars (hot wheels) and trucks
• Trains! Reading about, playing with, watching videos about, riding on...
• Cars (the movie), especially Lightening McQueen
• Cars pullups
• The Kindle (to watch Cars)
• Your bike - you want to ride it constantly!
• Grandpa Charlie!
• Being nakey (You always yell, "I'm nakey boy!"
• Swimming/splashing at the pool or splash pad
• Cereal, grapes, Nutella on graham crackers, rice, and milk
• Being outside
• The aquarium
• Being tickeled
• Wiping off Momma's kisses (you think it is so funny, and then you ask for "one more" and so on...)
• Pushing (not riding in) the shopping cart
• Your sister, Holland!
• Your "Carson Shoes" (little black Crocks, we have no idea why you call them that)

Things you say lately:

• I love Grandpa Charlie!
• Yep.
• Um...sure. 
• Okee dokee dokee
• Again.
• That's not very nice!
• Because (your response to most "why" questions.)
• Poop. Toot.
• Will you jump me? (meaning, will you catch me when I jump?)
• That's silly.
• Where's Holland?
• Can I hold you?
• Holy mackerel!
• I all done sleeping...I waked up!
• I want cereal.
• This is a mess. (Wonder where he's heard that? ha!)
• Can I hold your hand, Momma?
• Put me in my bed. (This used to mean: I'm super tired and would like to go to sleep now. It now means: See ya in two, suckas!)

 You have started doing a lot of "boy things" that, quite honestly, crack me up (and some that infuriate me at the same time): biting, spitting, saying "poop", knocking things over just to do it, running as though you are a race car, galloping from place to place, making sound effects, taking things away from Holland just to get a reaction, kicking... Boy, oh boy, oh boy! You are fun and a handful!

You currently weigh 26 lbs and are 2'11" tall. Your hair is light blonde, especially from the Summer sun, and your eyes are still sparkling blue. People comment on your eyes a lot! It's a Pace trait for sure. One of the first things I noticed about your Daddy is his eyes! You have the best smile, give the meanest glare and have the best laugh that has a growling undertone - your laugh alone makes me laugh!

I love you little man, and I cannot believe that you are creeping up on being THREE! It's true...time flies!

Love,

Momma

P.S. These pictures of you are ADORABLE! They were taken in April, just a month before your half birthday.

The Princess Train

I found out in April that The Heber Valley Railroad (aka Heber Creeper) was doing a Princess Train. It was right around Holland's birthday so I thought it would be fun to invite several of her friends and their mom's to join us. Sadly, it was already sole out. However, they had another one scheduled....but not until July 14. It was a LONG wait for a little girl, but it made it so exciting when the day finally arrived!

Holland started out in her Anna (non-coronation) dress, but then she Anna was wearing her coronation dress so we ran to the bathroom to change. We had brought an extra dress for Siena, but ended up using it ourselves for several wardrobe changes. It was so fun to watch Holland's excitement.

Sarah Grace Barber and Holland

Holland and Grace Oldham

All of the princesses: Bostyn, Sarah Grace, Grace, Aria, Siena, Holland, Caroline, Hannah and Eliza

Elsa looks haggard here, but she really did look better in person.

  

Each little princess was given a cupcake and pink lemonade while riding the train. On top of the cupcake was a little ballet slipper ring. The girls loved it!

Holland loved buying candy (Starbursts) from the train's concessions car - she even shared a piece with each of her friends.

When Elsa, Anna and Cinderella first got onto our train car the girls were mesmerized. It was the best thing to witness!!! Holland's face lit up and she had a perma-grin the rest of the time. It was a moment where I thought, "Ya...this is totally worth it!"

The Ice Princess - Holland's 1st Dance Recital

Holland was in her first-ever dance recital last night and she loved it! She dances at the Utah Dance Arts Center and their performance was held at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah Campus. This dance studio only does one recital a year, and after watching this one I know why. It was honestly the best recital I had ever been to! It was a full-on, legitimate production.

Holland and her class, taught by Shauna Williams, were reindeer. The entire production, although titled "The Ice Princess", was based on the movie "Frozen." Holland's number was to the song, Reindeers Are Better Than People. They came out holding a rope led by Sven and then Kristoff was on stage with them as well. It was adorable...and typical of a dance number by 3- and 4-year old's. Some kids all bunched at one end of the rope. Some kids spinning when they should be jumping. Some kids not exiting the stage when they were supposed to. ADORABLE!

We were not allowed to video or photograph during the recital, as we had to pay for a professional DVD of the recital (which we don't get until September!), so I'll attach a small clip from the dress-rehearsal. I tried to take a better one, but apparently I was hitting record when I wanted to pause and pause when I wanted to record. Ugh

During the production, the dancers were all kept in rooms backstage. Holland said it was fun, the snacks were really good, and that there was some creepy stick that kept making them laugh. What? I have no idea! Taggart actually sat through the majority of the two-hours. I was impressed! My parents, Cheryl and Ashley also came to support Holland. We didn't get any pics with Cheryl and Ashley because they arrived just as it was starting and had to leave immediately after. But we are so happy that they came!

When I picked up Holland from the waiting area and brought her over to the grass where everyone else was waiting, Taggart ran up to Holland at full speed, practically tackled her and then said, "Here ya go, Holland." and then gave her this bouquet of purple flowers we had brought for her. He was so excited to give them to her, and Holland was so excited to get them. They hugged and I loved it! Wish I could have captured the exact moment that it happened...but this picture below is what I captured right after the exchange.

 

 

 

Holland with her post-dance 'Purple Sprinkle Cookie she requested.

In the waiting area.

Aria and Siena Glover ~ Bostyn Baxter ~ Holland Pace

Getting ready. The first time I put makeup on her for the group photo, she looked in the mirror and exclaimed, "I LOVE ME! I want to look like this forever, Momma!"

 

Me and Sheri

Besties with our tiny dancers.