Lucky in Oz

Quotes from School Interviews Today

Here we call parent / teacher conferences "interviews" and having just finished half of grade one, we had ours today with Kid's teacher (and her Japanese teacher). Some memorable quotes:

• Delightful child

• Very conscientious

• Almost a goody-goody

• Has a great time with her friends

• REALLY pays attention to stories

• A great reader

• Very good pronunciation - that's why I gave her such a big part in the production [about a giant turnip ... performed last term in the library during Friday assembly]

• I'm not supposed to compare the children, but she is one of the best ...

Apparently, she now knows enough Japanese characters that she is onto reading. The take-home books that they use in Prep for learning to read English? They have a set of the same books (same stories & illustrations) in Japanese. How cool is that?!

Bracing Myself

I keep a Word document of some of the comments I make on other blogs - for posting fodder here. Here's one I wrote on the subject of sleepovers / when they start:

In our circle, sleepover parties started in Kindergarten. Most kids invited stayed over, a few went home. No biggie. At my daughter's 6th birthday, only one of the boys that was invited decided to sleep over, with 6 girls. (I emailed his parents the photo of him crashed out on the basement playroom floor surrounded by his lady friends in their Hello Kitty Barbie Princess sleeping bags. That'll come in handy at some point.) IMO, this is the easiest age for sleepovers because they are too little to think of much nefarious mischief plus they are still young enough that they actually SLEEP.

So ... ask me on Sunday if I want to eat those words ...

So grown up ... and still so credulous.

We hinted to Kid that she might make out better in the birthday gift department if she cleared out her stuff a bit. (This sounds mean, now that I'm typing it. But the reality is that she has a lot of crap that doesn't even quality as toys (detritus she collects like receipts, string, origami paper, conference tchotchkes – padfolios, lanyards, etc. ... ) and if we're going to buy her stuff for her birthday, she needs to toss some of the crap to make room for the good stuff! ) Well, she has embraced this activity with a fervor - I'm guessing that she assumes there is a ratio of stuff tossed : potential new stuff to take its place. She came in an announced she is getting rid of her shopping cart. I pushed back – she plays with it every day! She said it is babyish. I reminded her how often she plays with it. I said maybe to hold off for a few months and see how she feels then – like, until Christmas. And she nodded and said ok ... and she added "maybe Santa can give it to someone else." She's too old to play with it, but still little enough to think Santa can pass it on. My heart breaks a little at times like this – realizing that she is on the precipice of little / big kid. (This happens a lot when I am clothes shopping for her lately – she is between departments! Little kids clothes are up to size 6. Size 7 and up looks way too teenager-ish for her.) Then she said maybe he can give it to someone who can't afford nice toys. Bless! So sweet sometimes. I must remember these moments when she is sassing me in her [frankly, more common] 6-going-on-16 state.