Our Boy

We had a parent-teacher conference at the yW two weeks ago, and here's what we garnered from our session...

• Henry knows all of his letters and sounds and, even though it's not part of the formal assessment, provides example words with some animation
• He can count to 20 but can get really excited about getting to the end and sometimes just skip a lot of those pesky middle numbers
• He talks.  A lot.  With long sentences and remarkable clarity.
• He has trouble with some fine motor skills such as holding a pencil or eating with utensils
• He's not very interested in arts and crafts
• He does like to practice writing his name, and the tracings showed an amazing progression from light, shaky sketches to more determined and even graceful lines
• Henry vocalizes some concerns with the way some of his classmates perform their daily jobs.  For instance, he sometimes takes issue with the book picker's or the felt story board picker's selection and just might refuse to back down from his position
• He keeps Mrs. Hannah and Ms. Nicole laughing
• He plays well with others
• He almost always chooses the trains center until recently when some new, really large wooden blocks and car ramps were added to the classroom.  He also likes the large train puzzle.

There were no surprises, really.  I always just figure H will eventually realize that girls get grossed out when he eats his macaroni and cheese with his hands in the high school cafeteria.  We can pick out his artwork among his classmates from way down the hall.  His trademark?  White space.  What he lacks in enthusiasm for traditional artistry is more than made up for with his gift for clever gab and his artful expressions.  He loves to guess what letter words start with and is typically accurate.  He knows some sight words like "the" and "end" and writes his name in the shower steam.  Even though it wasn't discussed, Cory and I adore going to his classroom for group time.  He gets very excited about us being there with him, and he has this pure joy for certain activities and rituals like Monkey See, Monkey Do and the "Open and Shut Them, Open and Shut Them" and "Skinamarinkadink" songs, and we know he frowns upon deviation of rituals.  He likes to be the book picker, snack helper, and the weather teller and is a hard worker.  We're also often the subject of Henry's defiance and oppositional opinions.  He. will. not. back. down.  He still loves trains and assembles puzzles with striking ease and speed.  He genuinely cares for his friends and talks about his classmates and church friends frequently.  Their joys are his.  Their pains are his, too.  Or not--depends on his mood.

Henry tells me that, "I think you're pretty and I think you're smart."  Right back at you, Henry!