"the high road is hard to find / a detour to your new life / tell all of your friends goodbye"

TBD is three years and eleven months old, also known as "almost four" and "cannot wait to turn four."

This is suddenly a hefty child -- one not so easily tossed onto the bed. Or carried in arms for longer distances.

Achievements unlocked this last month: counting to forty-ten (and higher two-digit numbers with occasional assists with the names of the tens), trolling with science, more strategies for managing disappointment even with low emotional resources.

Shortly after the last update, during alphabet drill, TBD confused K and Q -- first sign of phonological association. There's also been some M/N and I/Y confusion. Most capital letters are recognized now except N (often called Z) and V (often U or Y). A couple all-cap words are recognized, including STOP and TAXI, even out of usual contexts. Lowercase letters are still very iffy -- we've all tacitly agreed to get uppercase down more solid before returning to that complication.

Career aspirations have returned to bus driver or tow-truck driver -- that astronauts have to be brave is a source of ambivalence.

Recent obsessive reading includes the Princess in Black series, Richard Scarry, Curious George tie-ins, and books about nature and the planets. I have had to memorize the names of all currently active space probes robot explorers (plus as many as I can of those that have crashed or had their batteries die) for daily recital, often at bedtime. I tend to fudge the ones orbiting Mars because six is a lot to keep straight. Of most interest are Opportunity, New Horizons, and Voyager 2 (who is traveling through outer space calling out "I am a robot").

Bedtime storytelling has gotten interesting again: TBD chooses a couple elements, usually the animal main characters and sometimes a premise or an event, and the parent on point has to spin out something. Those that reflect an anxiety, or recapitulate/anticipate a daily-life event, are appreciated, but not wanted all the time.

Talking, talking, I didn't get down much -- a week of flying solo while Janni was at a conference reduced my note-taking ability:

Janni: "I'll love you forever ever ever."
TBD: "Never never ever."
"Forever and ever."
"But you can't forever, because I will die."

(a few minutes after asking whether Saturn and Mars are hot)
TBD: "Is Mercury the hottest?"
Me: "It is."
(sly look) "It's the Sun."
(trolling with science!) (and anyway, I was wrong: Venus is hotter)

"How do cars work? How does EVERYTHING work?"
(while failing to wind down for bedtime)

TBD: "Maybe you could walk and I run."
Janni: "But then you'll always win."
"That's okay."
(said cheerfully)

"I want shoulders all over my body."

*holds up an Ariel-branded toy* "Is she part of the Princess Team that has Elsa?"


I got the impression the Princess Team is thought of as a unit much like the Avengers. Which is not actually wrong.

---L.

Subject quote from "The High Road," Broken Bells.