Hey! Teacher! Leave Those Kids Alone! (HOL 84)

House of Laughter 84

I had a parent/teacher conference yesterday with Isaac’s teacher Ms Peggy. They try to meet with parents at least twice a year to talk about their child’s development, point out strengths and weakness, and address any issues that the parents have.

There weren’t any real surprises. It turns out that Isaac has exceptional communications skills, but is still a little awkward athletically and socially. Actually, that accurately describes me and most of my family as well.

Peggy told me that when Isaac tells her a story, she can understand exactly what he is talking about. She confessed that it was a guessing game about half of the time with many of the other children.

When she listed Isaac’s weaknesses, it was a fun to pick which neurotic habits he got from Nancy, and which were mine.

“He dislikes chaos” that would be Nancy.

“He has trouble holding his pencil correctly”: that would be me.

There was a note in his chart “Isaac refuses to use finger paint. Will only paint with a toothbrush”: hmmmm…neat freak? Score 2 Nancy 1 Matt

“Is standoffish in the morning, and takes a while to warm up to new people”: Guilty.

Over all he is doing well, and I’m certainly not freaking out about things he needs to work on.

She did tell me something that made me smile. There is corner of the playground that is wooded. The kids can still be seen all the way to the back fence, but there are enough trees to make it feel like a forest. (This is one of the reasons we picked this daycare as opposed to the cedar chip and no shade version of playgrounds at most other daycares.) His teacher told me that this was Isaac’s favorite part of the playground.

Isaac did something the other night that he had never done before. He has a small three page plastic book in his bath tub. He offered to read it to me. Now the only printed words in the book are, “Cat, Cow, and Dog,”, but he told me a short story about each one of them complete with “Once upon a time”, and “The End”. (Once upon a time there was cat who lived in that house by himself and he was lonely. The end.)

Before I end this dispatch, I would like to remind you that it was three years ago on October 20 that Lance Cpl Andrew Russoli was killed in Iraq. Please remember the families of fallen solders and pray for peace.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt