Term 2 Parent-Teacher Interview

Met with Beth's teachers last night for her term review.

We went through the very detailed written report the teachers had prepared, evaluating everything from work habits and social skills to PE.

Beth's report shows she's inclined towards English/Music/Science/SOSE (like Social Studies), is so-so in Maths, and is scraping the bottom in PE. [On Tue, we attended her dance class end-of-term performance. After it was over, I told CA, I don't think she'll make a career as a dancer. He laughed, but didn't disagree with my observation.]

I'm starting to see a family resemblance here....

Her teachers are pleased with how she's doing, and note that she's grown a lot in confidence. Apparently, she can now bring an object to school and stand up in front of the class to talk about it in a "clear, strong voice"!

That is something.

Her teacher is also thrilled with her reading ability and her Bible knowledge. She has been given an Enid Blyton book for her reader instead of the shorter books she's been getting. Her teacher told of how she was down with a sore throat one morning and couldn't speak, so Beth read the Bible verse to the class, which her teacher says was "very helpful".

Beth has been going for extension classes with the Grade Ones twice a week for literacy, and is also doing extra work for writing and Maths.

She needs to work on the accurate writing of punctuation and her understanding of Maths concepts.

In Term 3, she will be going for an extra class once a week with other Preps where she will learn Science and other stuff at a more advanced level.

Hope the extra stimulation motivates her to want to learn more.

Go Girl!

J Starts To "Read"

Why Do The Terrible 2's Always Start Before 2??

I have the dubious privilege of parenting 2 girls who both started the Terrible Two's before 18 months.

I remember Beth started saying NO at about that age.

So we sent her to childcare.

(Just kidding. The official reason is that we sent her to childcare because I went back to work, and we felt she would receive the appropriate stimulation at childcare rather than with the maid.)

J has just hit 17 months.

At playgroup yesterday, I was publicly humiliated when in the middle of storytime with the kiddies, J decided MY FUNNY FAMILY was her book exclusively, shouted NO! as I was doing lift-the-flap with Maddie, and snatched the book away.

Deafening silence as 5 pairs of parental eyes fixed on us.

The horror.

A tug-of-war ensued, with the sorry result that one page was torn.

Must remember to sticky-tape it back.

Did I also mention J has the habit of pushing Beth off whenever she sees Beth come to me for a cuddle?

I always thought the firstborn would be the more aggressive one, but J has proved us wrong.

Celebrating Innocence

Beth's teacher has been away the last couple of days, another victim of winter flu.

"We had a replacement teacher today; Miss Holmes has a croaky voice," announced Beth on Friday.

I smiled at the adjective.

"It's not funny," Beth admonished.

She is very serious sometimes.

Today, Miss Holmes was back in her usual spot, facing the growing line of Preppies.

"Miss Holmes, Miss Holmes!" cried the children gleefully, and a few of them ran forward and threw themselves around her.

It was so beautiful to see that warm connection between children and teacher, that unrestrained passion and innocence that the very young have - and gradually lose, as self-consciousness, peer influence and the complications of growing up set in.

J Is Learning To Talk

J turns 17 months on Sunday.

She says "Let's go!" when it's time to go out.

She has started showing a preference for some pairs of shoes over others.

She can eat with fork and spoon.

She is an adventurous eater who counts Thai cuisine and spicy marinated chicken in her repertoire.

She enjoys watching Blue's Clues, The Tweenies, Bob The Builder, Barney...and Mary Poppins. When Bert and Mary sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, J did a little dance.

Speaking of dance, at school pickup time yesterday, I put J down so she could walk to Beth's class, and she promptly did a little Riverdance-like jig on the spot, grinning all the while.

She loves music and is so infectiously enthusiastic about it. She even knows all the right spots to sing in the Frogs On The Move song on Beth's Yamaha DVD.

She hugs her soft toys with gleeful affection.

She is in her social phase and happily dispenses hugs and cuddles to those she knows by sight. The mums at school adore her and call her "doll" because they think she's so tiny and cute.