Hopping into Spring

It's been awhile since there's been some Elaine news, right? Today, at a time that felt so early it almost seemed like nighttime, I had my first parent-teacher conference for her. Oddly enough, last night I had, not one, but two dreams about this conference and how it wasn't going to go well. I dreamt that she got rated 1 on everything and then that the teachers said, "We just can't get her to listen or do anything we say." You know, kind of like my reality? I told Darren about it in the morning, and he said, "It's just a 10-minute pre-school conference, Alice."

But when I got there, the teachers showed me Elaine's progress report. 3 is the highest, and 1 is the lowest. Below is how she writes her name, which for some reason, almost put tears in my eyes. The only 1's she got were in hopping, skipping, and jumping--and they said that she feels very self-conscious and sad that she can't do it well. That also almost put tears in my eyes.


Here's her social development. That "2" on self-control has nothing to do with her temper, they said. It has to do with how she loves to be silly when she plays in the school kitchen. Shocker. The 2+ on attention span means that sometimes she chats and giggles during story time. Also, huge surprise. Except not at all.


Also, don't you just love, "I can cope"? I'm glad she got a 3. I pretty much give myself a 1 most days.

And here she is at her Easter party, when the class sang songs and did the bunny hop for the parents. I didn't think her hopping was so bad, but maybe I'm biased. It's all about the goals, though, so during the summer months we will diligently practice our hopping.


She's also working on fine motor coordination. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times when it's so quiet that it's too quiet and you know something must be wrong. I looked outside, and there were the sisters, sitting on a blanket and making bead bracelets together.

(Please note Elaine's ever-present plumber's crack.)


I was so enthralled with the sweetness of their playing so nicely together that I just stood and watched them for awhile. Then...wait a minute...what is this?


Why, it's my six-inch blade kitchen scissors that they're cutting with. Sigh. Time to intervene.

At least she's not hopping with them.

So, that is Elaine, enjoying spring!