March 12, 2010

All That Really Matters

tGif - With a strong emphasis on the G today.  It's been a crazy week. Actually it's not that different from my typical week, but for some reason this one seemed exceptionally busy.
It was in large part due to meetings outside of work. I've noticed that when my daily routine has a few extra outside committments thrown in, it sucks twice as much energy from me.
And it's not just me.... I've actually heard Nathan asking if it's the weekend yet too?
Just when you feel you are part Gumby, and stretched to the max.....you see the light.
The light for me this week was Nathan's parent teacher conference.

As you know, a baby doesn't come with a manual. (I think it has something do with printing costs.) Each child is unique, and I like to say Nathan is an overachiever in the unique category.  Since we've pretty much been winging it these past 4 1/2 years, we've been crossing our fingers that something is going well.

When you sit down in the teacher's office and they hand you a sheet that decribes your child's social, emotional, language, and motor development skills you think, "Well, here it is, OUR report card. Have we been helping Nathan to develop his unique personality in a way that he's not labeled the serial killer of the class room? (Of course I'm being overly dramatic, I haven't seen him pull apart any bugs yet, so I'm 99% sure we can check that off our list.)

Here are a few of the highlights:
  • Nathan loves building with a variety of materials. (Yes, I saw this today when I had to take apart a fort two stories high built with chairs, a piano, two yoga mats, and a few Star Wars characters!)
  • He shares materials and includes others in his play with a smile. (Glad to hear that - he includes his brother too, but I'm certain it's not with that same sweet smile.)
  • Nathan loves having jobs in the classroom and helps clean up toys and materials. He is a great sweeper. (Well at least our child labor is starting to pay off.)
  • Nathan shares stories and relates experiences with friends and teachers. (This makes me a bit nervous...which stories?)
  • Nathan has made great progress writing the letters of his name and drawing people. ( He recently drew a picture of our family. He's in it of course. But I'm 8 months pregnant with Jack. Funny since Jack is almost two years old. I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day with that one.)
  • Nathan has developmentally appropriate cutting skills. (Sure....I've seen the evidence with 350 tiny pieces of cut up paper on the carpet.....some not even visible to the human eye.)
But really the one skill that made my whole week was the simple line. "Nathan is kind and considerate to his classmates." If nothing else was going as planned this week, this one phrase gives me hope. It shows that our last 4 1/2 years may have been difficult at times, but we are helping to raise a good person. And in the end...that's all that really matters.

2 comments:

roz said...

Awww...great post. I'm gonna hire that kid one of these days. You know, a quick sweep of my kennel/kitchen before he heads off to school? :o)

Deb said...

ok, that last post was from me....your neighbor :o)
Sorry I was in the pbjunkies account, not my own. Lord, save me from the internet :o)