I had my last round of parent-teacher conferences tonight and my brain is tired. Let me just give you a peek into the highlights of my day.
Early morning during my first cup of coffee, Isaac (age 3) told me his career trajectory: “I’m gonna be a mascot and a pirate and a motorcycle guy and a skateboard guy and a principal. But first I’m gonna be the pirate.” Gotta love a man with goals.
I have a very shy boy (Mike) and was teaming him up with a very outgoing boy (Dennis). (Names have been changed.) They worked at playdough for a while but Dennis said, “Mike, I’m only going to play here for a little bit and then I’m going to go draw, ok?” I asked Dennis to come to the hallway for a bit, where I explained that Mike is kind of quiet and I thought Dennis would be a great friend for him to practice talking to. Dennis perked right up, walked over to Mike and said, “Mike, you’re kind of quiet. Let’s practice talking.” ….. and they did. Let’s hear it for the direct approach.
At lunch, Grace did not want to eat her food to get to her cake. She said, “I don’t like chicken or (sweet potato) fries.” I said she would need to work on one or the other so good food would go in her body. “I’ll eat my fries, then.” She took a bite of the fries, grimaced, then dragged her sleeve through her mouth to rid her tongue of the vile taste. She took a breath and said to herself, “Then it’s chicken.”
Tyler had already inhaled nearly all of his lunch and was munching away on his cake. He took his final chunk of chicken, scooped up some frosting with it and ate it. Jack, who was only nibbling at his food, looked wistfully at him and softly asked, “Is it amazing?”