Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The dreaded event of second semester came Thursday evening. Parent-teacher conferences. Ugh. For the most part both kids are well-behaved and good students. However, I just never know what silly or unexpected thing they might have done. Last year Kaylin colored her entire desk top with a pencil and last semester Logan was using the bathroom 8 times in a 6 1/2 hour day. What dumb things had they done this round?

The conferences went unexpectedly well. Kaylin's teacher praised her creativity and literally laughed herself to tears showing us some of Kaylin's crazy assignments. Mrs. J admitted that Kaylin's antics sometimes drive her crazy, but said mostly she'd miss having Kaylin in her class. She lectured us about Kaylin's organization skills (or I should say lack of) but also said she's improved over the year. Yeah.

Logan's teacher surprised me by saying she thought Logan was much more focused and well-behaved since returning from our vacation. That was probably the LAST thing I expected to hear! I had been somewhat concerned about his reading ability because Kaylin was much farther along at this point. Mrs. L said that many boys prefer non-fiction to the picture story books that tend to be reading level appropriate. I hadn't really thought about it, but Logan definitely falls into that category. He must have 20 books about sharks, but none of them are written for beginning readers. We recently bought a series of "Bob books" (simple, phonics books, thanks Tara!) and he's been proud that he can read an entire book even if he would rather be doing something else. The Bob books have also given me peace of mind because I now KNOW he can sound out words and read words he's never seen before.

Our big project for today is looking for a kitten. Yes, a kitten. Yes, I'm crazy! Before becoming a parent I always thought that if I ever had kids we'd have TONS of puppies and kittens. I've changed. I love puppies, but I'm pretty sure I'll never have another. Having a puppy would be like coming home from work to do hours more of the same work. The neighbors' horrible puppy cemented the "no more puppies" idea in my head. My kids hate their puppy anyway :)

A kitten will be less work and will require less attention. I think the kids are at the perfect ages to really appreciate a kitten. They aren't involved in too many extra activities and are spending most of their spare time at home. Now I just have to convince myself to get a kitten based ONLY on personality! I would absolutely love an orange tabby or a calico. Must. Resist. Cuteness.

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