Daycare conference

We had a daycare conference with one of James' teachers today at 5:15, before Jim left for his Tuesday night of pool. It was just a normal, bring us up to speed kind of conference for 20 minutes. Ms. Reina reviewed how James does in the classroom- his motor skills, his social interactions, his potty training, letter recognition, etc.

We learned that he has been writing his name! I mean, at a 3 year old level. They used to guide his hand and help him write it but now they give him a dotted tracing of his name (hard to describe) and it's very crude but you can see that he is trying to trace his name! I wish I could have taken home his signature. He does need to work on his pencil grip. I'm going to try and find the kind of thick pencils that they use and help practice at home.

He is able to recognize his name. J-A-M-E-S! Sometimes he refuses to acknowledge that he can do it, when they ask him to look for his name on his locker or his "popsicle stick" (kinda like their attendance system). They suggested that when we read him books, we use our finger to follow along with the words, especially in the easier books. He'll eventually recognize some of the words. I tried that tonight and he really did catch on! We were reading his Star Wars book and I used my finger to follow the words as I read them but I stopped on certain words like "R2D2", Jedi ("J like James!"), and Yoda. I finished the book and leafed through it, stopping at some of the words and asked him, "What does this say?" And he did recognize R2D2 and after a few prompts he did say "Jedi". Hmmm. Brilliant :)

He's not the last kid in his class to be potty trained but we did learn that he will need to be trained before he can move up to the next classroom, the Red Room. (Right now he's in the Orange Room.) There are a few kids still in the process of being potty trained so we just need to step it up. The teacher suggested that one weekend we just put him in underwear and let him have his accidents. He will be uncomfortable and will notice the pee and the poop. And yeah, we will too! I imagine that we'll spend most of the time outside that weekend so we don't make a mess in the house :)

We've seen many times that James is a shy and sensitive kid. Daycare sees that too. He rarely breaks down and has never really had a tantrum there, but Reina said that James has broken down in tears and cried and has a hard time identifying his feelings. Something to work on. James needs to express himself and say WHY he is upset and what he is feeling. We see the shyness and the anxiety that he sometimes feels when he is unsure of a situation (someone visiting the house) or when he is out of routine.

We learned that James has been "attached at the hip" to Daria these last few weeks. James has a girlfriend!!! :)

Well, we have a normal, healthy, sensitive, wonderful little boy. No complaints from us or daycare! I think they love him too.