Adrian has recently gained surprising amounts of independence and confidence. Earlier this summer he went to the supermarket with Ingrid for the first time; this month he actually went to the supermarket on his own. And not only that – when he got there and couldn’t reach the cereal he wanted to buy, he wasn’t afraid to ask a shop assistant for help. I am surprised and proud.

He’s also walked to the house of a family friend (a few houses away from ours) to pick up their mail while they were away, and stopped for a long chat with another neighbour on the way back. And this is the kid who just a year ago had to be in the same room with one of us, and followed us like a puppy when we went to another room.

He is learning from Ingrid and is starting to enjoy the same things. He’s picked up Minecraft and built some houses already; we’re reading Harry Potter at bedtime just like for Ingrid.

School starts tomorrow and he is quite looking forward to it. Several kids from his preschool will be in his class and of course he is familiar with the schoolyard and buildings from all the times he’s been with me to pick up Ingrid, so it’s not a big step for him.

He’s in good shape for school. He’s known his letters and numbers for a long time already. He can read, as long as the words aren’t too long – give him a game card for example (“Move your game piece ahead of the player who is first on the board”) and he has no trouble reading it out loud.

He eats a lot, almost always more than Ingrid. We have been setting the table with smaller cutlery for the kids, but now Adrian wants adult-sized cutlery (and ours are even larger than average) so he can get even more food in his mouth.

He likes his scooter and likes cycling as well, but doesn’t feel comfortable with balancing when the ground feels far away. We bought a tow bike and he loves it.