Good parent/teacher meeting.

Had my first ever parent/teacher conference today. Started out poorly, as I arrived a little early for my designated slot, and the teacher passed me in the hallway, looking a little startled. "I'm a little early," I said, and she looked only slightly less startled. When she returned to the classroom, she looked at the schedule and told me I was on for tomorrow, not today. I couldn't understand how I'd screwed that up so royally till she said that she had sent a note home, asking me to switch, as she'd had to secure an interpreter for another family and apparently needed my slot for that conference. I'd never gotten that note; Y-kids never got it to me.

I could have come tomorrow, but had set up lunch with a coworker from Pittsburgh and really didn't want to miss that! But there was a later appointment today, so we decided I would just come back at that time (it's maybe 5 minutes' drive from my work).

The conference went especially well in that a) I didn't learn anything new, really, which tells me the teacher and I have been communicating well, and b) I got another chance to just talk with her, and I really am enjoying getting to know her better. She seems like a sweet person with a good devotion to the kids. There is one very odd element on the set of goals for the kids and she explained that it must mean that they want the kids to start understanding the division between fiction and non-fiction (it is phrased as "fantasy vs reality" in books). Stupid, and completely age-inappropriate. At least we're completely in agreement about that--G and I have read a book called "Flat Stanley" in which a boy is squashed flat and has subsequent amusing adventures. G asked some realistic question about how it could possibly happen, and I could only say that there was no way he could be flat and still live. shrug.

She also said, bless her heart, that she is already seeing massive improvement just since Thanksgiving in his behavior. People, that's only last week! So the behavior chart is really making a difference, even at school, I guess. Wow, this parenting stuff really works! Big thanks to those of you who lent a hand in this. Really.

And I got to assess her shoulder width for the shrug I've made for her. Suitably narrow, yay.