2011 was a big year for Tristan! Not as big as 2010, given that that was the year he developed discrete organs and starting respiring gas, but still. Walking is important too. Q4 saw some new milestones: he has fangs now, he can reach the table, and he's starting to climb. In terms of skills, he brushes his teeth, helps dress himself, and can open and close some bottles. Fortunately, he's not yet learned that he can open tubs of crackers, or his diaper.
He proved his mad travelling skillz this quarter, showing admirable patience on the long car ride up to Michigan, where we got to meet his other grandpa, and his only aunt, for the first time. And he cemented his trust of his uncle by vomiting on him on the train. He got to see his other grandparents at Christmas, which brought lots of his most favorite thing of all: wrapping paper to recycle!
While he continues to refuse to speak, his development is still progressing nicely. He recognizes dozens of words, most body parts, a few letters ("T" and "O" for sure), and probably colors. He's demonstrated some basic abstraction, like recognizing that his truck is connected to the trucks in the parking lot, and he remembered a game he briefly played several months ago. He knows the names of almost all his toys, and can follow instructions like "go throw this away," "find your shoes," or "go feed strained prunes to your mom."
Less endearingly, he's precociously heading toward the terrible twos with enthusiasm. Most of the time, he will eat nothing but goldfish crackers, yogurt, ice cream, and candy, if we let him, and he gets very upset if he doesn't get his inalienable privilege of being carried around outside for hours, ooh-ing and aah-ing at trucks, vans, and buses. Upset-ness is sometimes expressed with biting or throwing things, but so far that's pretty unusual.
Unfortunately, we were sick over Halloween, so we don't have any really good pictures of the awesome Cthulhu costumes Christie and Nicole made (GMTA), but it should fit next year too.
The tooth meter stands at 80%, with just four molars left to go.
