Congratulations
to Palms West Monthly’s 2011 Cutest Kid!

Neighborhood News Group
Posted Dec. 12, 2011

Tristan Hickman wore a gray and red plaid tie with his gray button down shirt in his photo. His strawberry blond hair lay perfectly across his forehead, and his big brown eyes and quirky grin drew the voters in.

The pre-schooler who turned five on Nov. 29 is this year’s winner of Palms West Monthly’s Cutest Kid Contest. Tristan and his family will receive a $500 photo package from Studio One to One at the Mall at Wellington Green and four tickets in the Lexus level to a Panthers Hockey game.

Tristan’s mother, Rachel, entered both Tristan and his two-year-old sister, Savannah, on a lark.

“I’ve always wanted to enter him in a contest like this. He’s got a unique look – he always has since he was a baby,” Rachel said. “One day we went to breakfast at IHOP, and I picked up a copy of Palms West Monthly, and there it was.”

Wearing the tie was Mom’s idea. “He got used to it,” she said of her strong-willed boy.

Tristan, a creative left-hander who loves drawing, building, trains and airplanes, will love seeing his first hockey game, Rachel said.

The entire family loves their sports. Tristan plays tee-ball and wants to play football when he’s older.

“Our family follows the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. Tristan gets all excited when we put on our jerseys,” she said. The only thing that could make the idea of a hockey game more exciting is if the family could ride in a train or airplane to get there.

“He’s into trains and planes,” Rachel said. “He is a train and plane fanatic. He’s very creative. He loves to draw pictures of trains.”

Art is his favorite subject at Northboro Montessori School, where he’s in pre-k, his mother said.

Tristan may grow up to be a pilot or perhaps an aviation engineer. He likes to turn his playroom into a train station or airport. But with a smile as cute as Tristan’s, he may have a career in front of the camera.

“We had a family photo taken when he was 3, and he posed himself for every shot,” Rachel said.

Palms West Monthly would like to give a special thank you to Studio One to One located in The Mall at Wellington Green, who provided all of the professional photography for the 12 finalists in this year’s contest. Without the support of Studio One to One, this contest would not have been possible.