I just finished writing (what I thought was) a clever blog opening about how much time runs together as a stay-at-home parent. I made a joke about how days and weeks and months often tend to blend together. Then I mentioned how years are exempt from this rule only because of the presence of birthdays and Christmas and Columbus Day. It's funny because no one really acknowledges or even cares about Columbus Day. Get it?
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| Robert California knows what's up. |
Anyway, the only thing that can add to that little story is the fact that as soon as I finished writing it, my PC flashed the blue screen of death necessitating a restart and yes, you guessed it, me getting to rewrite my opening since it wasn't saved. No worries though.
Back to the topic at hand. I bring up the idea of time running together because that's exactly what happens to me. It's especially true during those times that I neglect to write things down. Therefore, I find myself completely unable to remember if something happened on the Tuesday or this week or the Tuesday of last week. I supposed it doesn't really matter; the lack of knowing will just haunt my dreams tonight.
The topic in question is referring to Bethany and me receiving Ellie's progress report from preschool. This was actually a really exciting thing for us as Bethany and I had been eager to know how Ellie was progressing at school. While we can see certain things at home, we certainly can't accurately gauge her skills in the same way a trained teacher can.
As we looked at Ellie's progress report, we first noticed that nearly everything was perfect. Her academic progress was all at the "Mastered" level and if we had any doubts at all, her teacher had included multiple assessments taken throughout the year confirming that Ellie had indeed "Mastered"...things. There were two areas though that Ellie scored a mere "Improving" which caused us a little concern.
The first was in the area of ability to be respectful of other children's needs and feelings. What? How can that be? Not our Ellie? If those comments seem disingenuous, I assure you they are not. Bethany and I were honestly shocked about that as we've never seen anything other than the extreme love that Ellie shows for her friends and brother. The other area the teacher marked Ellie as "Improving" in was in regards to her ability to verbalize needs and feelings. According to her progress report, Ellie has been known to use her hands instead of her words in certain situations.
After talking to people in the education field that we trust, it was made evident that we don't have anything to worry about. We just need to continue to help Ellie learn to express herself in a positive manner. She also needs to continue to grow in understanding her own emotions.
The weird thing about Ellie's progress report is how I reacted to it. While I should have been unbelievably stoked about all of the areas she did well in, I instead couldn't get my mind off those two "Improving" ratings. Don't worry though as I took great care to not let Ellie know that was happening.
Honestly, I'm glad my mind responded in that fashion. For one thing, I'm sure I'll experience similar emotions the first time Ellie gets a B or C in school. Therefore, it's really important for me to figure out how to respond and deal with those emotions. It's also important to remember that I need to focus not just on the bad things but also focus on all of the things Ellie does well. After all, I want Ellie to grow up knowing that Bethany and I are proud of her and that all we ask is that she does her best.
At least that's the case until she becomes President of the United States. Then she needs to be perfect. Also, I guarantee that those will be four (or eight) years I'll remember every single day of. #DaddyWrite
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| A photo from Day 1,002 |
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