I have three big kids.

Taos was not a baby for very long. He has two older siblings to chase after, to learn from, and to mimic.

I was really surprised that he potty trained at 18 months old, but happily relieved!

This actually makes it very hard to dress him, because nobody makes big boy clothes for little bummies this small.

Taos loves wheels, and planes, and one of his favorite words is ‘pbpbpbppbbpbpb,’ the sound that anything with wheels makes.

Taos is a gentle boy, who loves to smile.

One of my favorite quirks about Taos is when he is caught doing something mischievous, he goes, ‘Shhhhhh.’ He tries to shush the parent, to keep them from stopping him.

‘Shhh, daddy. I’m going to keep doing this now.’

Taos loves books. Sometimes Johanna or I will look around, concerned at the silence, and race through the house to find Taos and see if he’s doing something that is going to get us shushed. Often, he is sitting in a corner with a book on his lap, admiring the pictures.

His destiny is to be a musician. Ever since he was old enough to pluck a guitar string, he has been fascinated by the instrument. He loves to make sounds and experiment, and when we gave him a ukelele for Christmas, he immediately started strumming and howling to the ceiling, putting on a show for everyone to watch.

For his birthday, we took him to a gluten-free bakery and gave him his first cupcake. At first he was like, ‘No, cookie. That’s stupid.’ Then he tasted it. And devoured it.

Happy birthday, Taos.