Gettin' Schooled

We're already at the end of the first quarter / grading period!

Miles is an old pro at being a kindergartner already. Doesn't he look old enough to be ready for middle school?!?

We had our first parent/teacher conferences, and it reminded us of what a special boy we have in Miles. I just hope that his enthusiasm and energy for learning stays with him always! He'll be starting the first grade reading curriculum soon, and I believe his teacher said he has a "great mathematical mind". Maybe she said that...or the proud mama gene might be clouding my memory. Or maybe that's just what I'm hoping she said, since Miles' latest career aspiration is to be an engineer like his Uncle Davy. Despite his perfect pencil-holding technique, he still needs work on forming his letters during handwriting. I remember getting mediocre marks in handwriting as a kid. I would have Jason write you a note about his poor handwriting skills, but you wouldn't be able to read it anyway. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and we seemed to turn out okay.

Miles still needs work with blurting out answers and distracting others while doing his work...big surprise there. The proudest I was during the whole meeting was when the teacher told a story about Miles using those powers for good instead of evil. There was a shy boy in the class who was struggling, so the teacher purposefully sat Miles next to him to bring him out of his shell a little bit. She said since befriending Miles, she's actually seen a smile on the boy's face every day. So glad that my boy has brightened another's day!

Marshall has wrapped up his first - and last - quarter at day care. After some philosophical differences (and maybe Jason blowing up at the director once or twice), we decided to switch day cares. If asked, Nosy Miles would tell you that Marshall was biting other kids because they let him watch TV, but we adults know things can be more complicated than that. ;-)  It basically came down to that Marshall didn't seem happy, so, hard as it will be, he'll be going to a new place on Monday. We bought a new pillow pet especially for the occasion, and he is excited to take it and show it to some new friends. I'm probably more nervous than he is!

Despite the drama, our little Marshall is turning out to be just as smart as his big brother. He speaks clearly in complete sentences, and he can identify all the letters upper- and lower-case. Here's a video of our nightly routine of "spelling" out the words in his alphabet books. Yes, it's dark, but it was bedtime!

I guess I'll post more after Christmas - the boys have already made their lists, have been watching Christmas cartoons, and are asking when we can put up the tree. We'll see if I can hold them off until after Thanksgiving!