Thursday, October 7, 2010

Absolutely amazing

I really need to take time to be very thankful at the wonderful children we have been blessed with. There are times where I wonder what I am doing wrong, but after the past few days, I know I am remarkably blessed to have two wonderfully happy, healthy, and smart children. On Monday evening, we had Trevor's fall parent-teacher conference. It was a great change from last year where they had been doing conferences in November. Instead they wanted to get a jump start on evaluating and identifying goals to have for the whole year, rather than the last two-thirds.

I thought I had done a good job of filling out all questionnaires that the teacher sent home, and even emailed her making sure that I gave her suggestions on what helps Trevor learn, in terms of his behavior. Although his conference was 15 minutes, it was such a pleasant experience. In Kindergarten, it was kind of a nervous situation for me because I wasn't sure what I was doing, and wanted to see how best to help Trevor in a new situation. This year, it is not new, he knows what he is doing. It is a new teacher, but she is wonderful. He loves being able to see last year's teacher to say hi to her. Academically, he knows all the 1st grade sight words, and only did not know 2 of the 2nd grade sight words. He is challenged with his reading partner, and in math, they are doing timed tests. I'm excited to watch him grow with that. I remember we didn't do timed tests until 3rd grade. We are working on doing extra math homework when we feel like it. He is making good choices in his friends, and as I had the feeling, he really likes the 2nd graders in his class. His only behavior that would be nice to be changed is that if he gets antsy, he starts to want to move around. Totally normal for his age and his temperment. Unfortunately, it isn't a behavior that is something he can really control. It is more of a subconscious thing. So we keep asking about it to continue the reinforcement at home, but there really isn't anything that he is going to get into serious trouble doing. Such a relief!

As we were walking out, we saw his Kindergarten teacher and had a fun conversation with her. We told her how much better he is doing with his behavior and how she was much to credit for that. She said that she loves that he says hi to her every afternoon. And that when she too met with his teacher and tried to give her some hints as to what worked well with him last year, she quickly dismissed it because they were not having any similar issues this year. Who would have thought that he just needed to do some growing up this past year and it would all be behind us? This year is going to be much more fun for him. And we even have some suggested books for him and us to read at home. Anyone who has a similar aged child, check out the Magical Treehouse series. We are almost done with the first book and there are 40 more to go.

On to Gwen: We had her well-check on Tuesday. It tickled me a little bit to get a questionnaire about my concerns with her development, either physical or emotional. I couldn't think of a single one. I do know part of it has to do with her being a second child, but it is nice to be able to have her look forward to and learn about all the check-ups she will be getting. And look forward to them because she is a very healthy girl and isn't going to need shots for another year or so. She got her flu mist, and didn't put up a fight at all. Next I have to get Trevor in for his mist. The doctor and I chatted mostly about kids in school and how everyone was doing. Gwen got to have her first hearing and vision screening. It was pretty cute. She had no fear and got to wear silly glasses. I love that these visits can be quick and almost fun for her. Of course I forgot to ask about her measurements, but the doctor said she was right at 50% for both height and weight. I have a feeling we might have been a little off for her growth spurt. I think she is just about due for one.

My classes are done for this term. I have a week before they get going again. Thankfully I aced both classes no problem. Only three more classes to go. Then what? I'm not exactly sure. I'll have to look at contract-type work that I may be able to do from home. I would like to start making some income but on my own time. I'm not sure how available it will be for bookkeeping stuff, but maybe something else will fall into my lap.

I did want to say an extra-special thank you to everyone that attended the Gwendolyn Princess Party on Sunday. The presents have been extremely fruitful in occupying her time and imagination. Contrary to a family member's thoughts, I have a feeling we won't have any problem finding more things for her to play with come Christmastime.

No comments: