Parent-Teacher Conference

We had the first (of many to come) parent-teacher conference on Tuesday afternoon. We have always been closest to Ms. Stephanie, the lead teacher. She is really smart and energetic, and all the kids love her. So we were very pleased to learn that she would be meeting with us. Unfortunately, she will be leaving her job to pursue other opportunities. Even though she will be in the substitution pool, I think the school is losing a valuable asset. We are very fortunate to be in her last "class."

She gave us a chart of the 6-12 months milestones (cognitive, language, social/emotional, physical) and went over each one. Some notable comments:
  • he always knows when it's time to eat, go back inside, or when he needs a diaper change (he'll go and sit on one of the teacher's laps)
  • he engages with his friends, as opposed to playing in parallel with them: he takes things and gives them back; he touches their hair; he looks in their eyes
  • he has wonderful eye contact and will really look at you
  • he is super observant and sees everything: he will find the smallest thing on the floor and seek it out
  • he has "awesome" hand-eye coordination
  • he has a "great" memory and he is very aware of his environment: if a teacher removes something from him, he will remember and try to find it later
  • don't be deceived by his size because he is very strong (everyone says this - that's why he's been called Mighty Mouse ever since he was wee)
There were 2 surprising comments:
  • regarding fear of strangers, she said that he takes a few minutes to accept a new person in his environment. I was a little surprised by this because I have always thought he responded very well to new people. However, Gabe's interpretation was that he was too trusting and he needs to develop more stranger anxiety
  • he has a harder time during drop-off with Gabe! Hmm, when I told him about some really rough mornings, Gabe thought I needed some pointers about how to drop-off. He told me how I had to stop lingering and just say goodbye. Hmmm...
Apparently we have a pretty bright kid on our hands! I heard Gabe use the word "genius" and I reminded him that I don't want Gustav to be a genius; he only needs to be smart enough to get into college according to Outliers.

Something sweet that they told me was that Ms. Carlisa stops in everyday to visit him!