Proudest moments as parents (they start)

Last night was our first parent-teacher conference. Yes, they actually do them for all children at The Goddard School, no matter their age.

We got there and met up with Miss Leah and she showed us Aidan's personal binder that she's been keeping on him. They start a binder when the child starts and it follows them all throughout their stay (until age 6) and it's where they document developmental steps for the child. There were comments in there for when they saw him first roll over, first pull himself up and other "precious moments" that you come to love and cherish as a parent.

Then she got into her report. It was very moving to see her hold back her own tears and emotion. She/They really loves Aidan and just predicts very big things for him. It was so very moving to see how these teachers work with our kids and how they have invested in them and their futures to ensure that they succeed in whatever they do. In her report we learned some NEW things that we didn't even know about Aidan.

She said that when the paints come out, that Aidan gets really really excited for artwork time. This totally blew us away because we haven't provided him crayons or other things yet, but Mary Kay is an artist and a damn good one. At almost 11 months, Aidan is exhibiting something that we didn't TEACH him, but that is in his genes. Mary Kay almost lost it at this point.

We found out that he loves bugs (well, that's ONE of us) and that when they had a bit of a cricket problem, he'd crawl over to them and touch them and then try to squish them. Any bugs! She said that when they go outside in the grass that he's always looking for them.

We were also told that he loves the outside (that's good as we do too) and that he's just learning the word "no" (yes, we know that as we've been having some struggles with him about that.) Lastly that he gets very upset when he can't accomplish something. We've seen this at home and he gets this very unique look on his face when he can't figure something out or can't get something to work how he thinks it should work. It's sort of cute, but we do feel for him. He's a very curious boy and has to pull things apart to see what they are made of.

So then the things that also make you cry came up. We talked about next steps for him as at 15 months he "graduates" to the next classroom, "First Steps". We found out that they actually do a two-week transition with the children starting out with 1-2 hours in the new room and the rest in the current and then slowly increasing until they are spending the full day in that room.

They go from sleeping in cribs to sleeping on a cot, so that'll be a big change for Aidan, one I see him struggling with for now, but he'll get used to it because it's what all the other kids do. They all take their naps at the same time (as opposed to the Infant Room) and they have more structured mealtimes as well.

So our little man is growing up and quickly. It's not a surprise, but it sure does take you back for a moment.