Play date of the year

Last Thursday and Friday, Tristan had a play date with two boys, age 3.5 and 5.5. These two boys were my friend's children from Victoria. We have been friends since Junior High so that makes her "the friend I have been friends with the longest." We have been meaning to do this for awhile so when we finally picked a date this summer, it finally happened! Also, I haven't seen her in a year.

She took her two boys and came over to Vancouver as foot passengers on the ferry. After a bus and skytrain ride, she arrived Thursday in time for a lunch picnic I had organized for us. That morning I made us frosted soft sugar cookies for treats and vegan cassava tortillas for our picnic. We skytrained to Central Park, had our lunch picnic and the kids played at the playground while my friend and I talked. I got to socialize and Tristan had so much fun playing with his two little friends. He was so happy! He gets like that whenever he has little people to play with :)

After a couple of hours at the park, we walked to Metrotown where we rode the train in the mall. Then it was off to Sushi Garden to pickup sushi for dinner and skytrain back home. The kids love sushi as much as us. We all stuffed ourselves full! That night after the cleanup, the kids played together with Tristan's toys until 11PM. My friend and I looked at photos and talked about recent vacations.

On Friday, Tristan was up around 7AM, his usual time really. We were all awake around 8AM. I did a bit of planning while everyone was getting ready. We headed to Little Nest for brunch. I have never been to Little Nest during a week day before. It was still busy but much less chaotic compared to the weekend. We all liked our meals and my friend really liked the place :) It's one of our favorites too.

After brunch, we walked along Commercial Drive and checked out some kids stores. Then we crossed the street into a big playground where the kids ran and played for at least an hour. We ended up walking up and down Commercial a bit more before leaving for the day. My friend had never explored Commercial Drive. In fact, she doesn't come over to Vancouver often. When she does it's usually just for quick stops and she visits with people and doesn't really get to tour much. All the places I took her were new to her and she seemed to have enjoyed her stay. We weren't the only ones enjoying ourselves, the kids had a blast too! They got along so well and were all so well behaved :) It actually dawned on me that her kids were more obedient than Tristan. When it was time to say good-bye, her 5.5 year old was first to say bye to Tristan. He gave Tristan a hug and said "I love you." Haha. It was so cute though.

Tristan was sad to see them leave and they were sad to leave too. This was probably only about the fourth or fifth time Tristan has ever seen them. You wouldn't have guessed though since they played and interacted so well together. You would have thought they have been friends all their lives. Well all 3 1/2 years of their lives :)

Playdates for us, Game Jam for Daddy

On Sunday, Jean-Louis had his game jam hackathon so I made plans for Tristan and I. We had a playdate in the morning with a friend I met on Twitter. She's actually my very first real-life friend encounter from online. We saw each other a couple of other times but we actually got to sit and chit chat this time. She has a daughter who is a few months older than Tristan. They didn't play with each other until 30 minutes after. It was a short play date but like always it was nice to have company over. My friend also brought over homemade Tiramisu and I had tons of sugar cookies. Unfortunately, she was still fasting for Lent and couldn't have any cookies :( Her daughter had some though and so did Tristan. I decorated the elephant cookies just for the little people!

In the afternoon after Tristan's nap, we went over to my sister's place and Tristan played with his two cousins, a 6 year old and a 3 year old. A couple of hours later we were home and Jean-Louis was on his way back too. Luckily with all the company, the day kind of flew by. The past four days with Tristan seemed like a long time. It reminded me of the first year, before daycare when I stayed home a lot with Tristan. I'm pretty sure I was sort of insane back then.

Jean-Louis had a nice day with his Tweeple at the game jam. They had coffee, cookies, lunch and got to leave early. Sounds like the perfect work day to me! He showed me the game he created in the 8 hours he was there and it was cool. It was very basic but it was functioning :) Because of last minute cancellations, there were only three Developers there, including him. Obviously, I shouldn't have made the second batch of cookies. Not only that, but one of the guys was allergic to wheat and couldn't eat any. Basically, I made over 50 cookies for just one new person to eat. Well, two, if you count my friend's daughter. *Big sigh*

Ah! Smart toddlers.

No, we're not bragging about Tristan again. Today, we had a playdate with a toddler who is way more advanced than Tristan. He is only four months older!

Every parent loves to hear that their child is advanced and smart. We're no different. We some times hear that Tristan is smart from the daycare staff and since Tristan seems to be learning 3 languages and does baby sign, we always thought he was smarter than average babies around his age. Until today. Once you meet another child that is way more advanced than your own, you begin to question your own child's intelligence. Ok, so Tristan may just be average now.

So who is this wise child friend of ours? He is definitely smarter than most kids his age. As far as I know, he has always been smart. He was playing the Towers of Hanoi at a young age, for crying out loud. Ok, Tristan started to walk at an earlier age and can sign but this kid started to talk way younger. Now at just 26 months, he can say four syllable words like helicopter and motorcycle perfectly! He speaks two languages and can assemble puzzles designed for 3-6 year olds. Incredible. Tristan can sign airplane and make airplane noises :(

I know. It's silly to compare kids so young because some my appear more advanced than others but it may not mean anything. Although I'm pretty sure my wise friend's child will be brilliant and will have a bright future :) I once read that a child could start speaking before another but then could catch up and start forming sentences before the first child that was initially more advanced. All children are different, even within the same family. As parents, we just can't help but compare our child with others. Today, I found myself doing this a lot more than I would have liked. Now, I understand how parents can be so competitive with their children. If you have watched the Joy Luck Club, you'll know exactly what I mean. Oh boy!

Tristan's first play date with a friend

Yesterday, Tristan had his first play date with his little friend who is 13 months old. Play dates are fun in that they allow the Moms to chit-chat and the kids to play and share toys. Staying at home a lot and playing with the same toys can be boring. I know Tristan had fun just seeing other people at the house.

Tristan is not quite at that age yet where he knows how to play with others. Whenever they got close, they wanted to touch each other. Curiosity can be dangerous. We had to stay close by and make sure the babies weren't clawing each other. They never fought for toys. Tristan was entertained by just watching the other baby. Maybe once he is a bit older, they will be able to play better together.

The play date lasted a couple of hours and we took pictures, videos, drank tea, and had cherry strudels and chocolates. The kids had a snack time together as well. I can definitely see why Moms like to arrange play dates. It's great for both Mom and baby!