I went to their parent-teacher conferences last week, and Emily's was pretty much as I expected. She's meeting all expectations for Kindergarteners, and in some respects has achieved all that is required of K-ers for the entire year. Her teacher likes to tell her that she's "a reader" now, and it's fun to reinforce that at home, too, because I can see that Emily gets a little kick of pride out of it. Which is nice because Audrey actually has an easier time reading sometimes, and I can see that that deflates Emily just a little when she sees that. (What can I say - Audrey enjoys it more and practices more! that's what happens...) Her teacher also said that Emily is a bit of a leader in the classroom, but not bossy, that everyone likes to play with her and they seek her out for fun ideas and creativity. Awesome! Not only is my kid enjoying school, but school is enjoying her back.
Audrey's was a bit more interesting - not in a negative way, just very surprising. Her teacher told us she thought it was great that Audrey loves books so much, that she'll pick up her favorites and go off in a corner and read them. She said she's really smart (duh) and has great ideas, and the best dimples ever (again, duh!). She likes playing with other kids but she's pretty quiet and keeps to herself most of the time. She said she'd like it if Audrey could open up a little more, participate in circle time and maybe sing with the class, at which point Travis's jaw dropped to the floor, because Audrey wasn't singing?!?!?! When does that happen??? This girl is so funny. She sits quietly with her hands in her lap, won't even do the actions along with the other kids! When confronted with someone unfamiliar, she sits with her head down and won't let that person see her face (which happened at the dentist, and upon re-meeting her uncle Pat, too. We're familiar with that shyness!). I was pleased that the teacher said she's emphasizing free play and socializing for Audrey, since obviously academically she's getting everything she needs. And that she said she doesn't push Audrey to not be shy, but rather just checks on her to make sure she's fine, and knows she's safe, but doesn't tell her to be something she isn't. phew! And then she said she loves art, and showed us her scarecrow up on the wall. Audrey's stood out from all the rest - some of them didn't have faces, some had basic smilies, but Audrey's had full, gorgeously-shaped lips with big round eyes AND eyelashes. Hilarious!! What a funny girl!!
Meanwhile, at home, Emily has absolutely been driving me nuts lately. I know I should be careful to keep my expectations of my kids in check, because they can be SO capable that when they aren't, it's irritating. but really, when you're around anyone, you expect certain things, like, if you're having a reasonable conversation about whether something should or shouldn't happen, and you make your case and the other person is quiet, you'd assume they agreed, right? No, it just means she wanted to do that thing SO MUCH that she went ahead and did it anyway. Too many examples to cite here. It even got to the point where I asked Emily why she bothered asking me if she was just going to ignore me anyway? Probably the wrong question to ask a very literal little girl, because I DO want some way of knowing that she's intending to be up to no good! I don't know what to change, but Travis's thought is that all I can change is my reaction so I might as well just not get angry when she does things like that. My mom thinks I've put too much responsibility onto her as the oldest, and I come down harder on her for failings than I do her sisters because of that responsibility. But I don't think that's the case exactly because i don't WANT to be giving her responsibility! Our biggest arguments are that she wanted to try to do something that i didn't think she should be responsible for, like making breakfast for her sisters or getting out a project involving glue for Audrey to do. Really, just let me do my job... please... *sigh* She just absolutely cannot stop herself, sometimes. It's so frustrating because she is such an amazing girl, and she really does not see that there's any reason to stop. I can't make her want to stop. But the reasons why she doesn't want to stop (she doesn't see any need to please anyone but herself, she is very persistent and she has great ideas that are worth investigating) aren't things I want to beat out of her, either. They are wonderful things that make her unique and amazing! So I guess I get to just fight the daily battles and hope her gifts manifest themselves well in a few years... fingers crossed.
And of course Clara is still not talking. But she gets more and more expressive by the day. She can buckle up her Buckle Pig now, and hold a pencil like you'd teach any child to do, but almost nothing for words. What a stinker. :)
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