Tristan is now level four!
We had his birthday party at a children’s playground called Swaray. It’s a place you can rent out for a private party instead of having to go share the party with everyone in the world who’s also out on the weekend. I bring Tristan to play there most Wednesdays, so we’re well familiar with what he can and cannot get into trouble with. We had a handful of Tristan’s friends that we met at the old apartments and everyone ran around, had fun, and killed two hours rather quickly. We had chocolate ice cream cake and Tristan liked it very much. Tristan still didn’t blow out his candles, but he gave it a really good try and was assisted by his friends after he started getting frustrated.
Otherwise, not much has changed lately. School is back in, so we’ve been going with that routine again. He seems to thrive on being part of a group and having a set routine; plus, he isn’t bored by 10am because he’s out doing things. He’s now among the older kids in his class instead of the teeny tiny little 3 year old he was at the beginning of last school year. It’s still the same class, in essence: the same classroom, the same teacher, some of the same kids (whoever hasn’t aged out or isn’t starting kindergarten? I’m actually not yet sure how it works).
Tristan is getting the hang of “I” vs. “me” pronoun usage. I don’t think he’s even ready to explore “we/our” yet. He’s not perfect, but he has certain requests that he makes the proper way. When he’s being conversational or asking for help, he fucks it up a lot more. It will come in time. Lately, he has been asking for a lot of hugs and he says that correctly – “Mommy (or daddy), I want a hug!”
If you give Tristan a puzzle of the United States, he can correctly place California and Texas without any hints. He has also begun to correctly answer some of the addition tables.