Makenna's 1st Conferences

***KID BRAG ALERT***
This is as much for my records and personal journal as it is for everyone else to read, so please forgive me if this seems over the top but I wanted to remember this moment.

Josh and I had another first today as a mommy & daddy - we attended Makenna's first ever parent/teacher conferences! I told one of my friends that I felt so old! I couldn't believe I was going to conferences as the parent!

Anyway, I was so nervous going in, but as you will soon see, there was absolutely no reason to be. Mrs. Sodman made some comment about this being our first ever conference as parents and then said "Well you have no reason to worry whatsoever because this is Makenna we're talking about!" Whew! What a relief. To say the least, her conference was glowing :) I don't really even know how to start so I'll break it down how I know best...

Self-Help/Social Skills:
Mrs. Sodman said that Makenna does very well at cleaning up after herself (snack, bathroom, etc) and doesn't ever need help. She gets along very well with all the kids in the class and Mrs. Sodman couldn't even recall one instance where Makenna had an issue with another child or where she wouldn't share. Mrs. Sodman said that it is obvious that Makenna likes the social side of preschool :) She said that she was sure Makenna knows all of the kids' names in her class (I assured her that she does because she points them all out to me in her class picture at home) and said that this is very uncommon for someone to be able to do this at her age. She said that she loves helping and having a "job" in the classroom. The area that she said may need improvement is Makenna's ability to make transitions. For example, Mrs. Sodman said that if Makenna is sitting at a table working on a puzzle and they ring the bell for carpet time Makenna has a hard time not finishing the task at hand. Mrs. Sodman said that she'll always say "I just need to finish this first" or "Just one more minute please." Sorry kiddo - this a trait you picked up directly from your mommy :)

Verbal/Listening Skills:
Basically said that Makenna can talk up a blue streak and you can understand what she says :) She will tell anyone a story that will listen and said oftentimes these are very long, detailed stories. Said that she will occasionally get a case of the "wiggles" on the carpet ;)

Motor Skills:
Mrs. Sodman said that Makenna loves games and dancing activities and isn't shy about joining in even when the rest of her friends aren't. She said that Makenna isn't afraid to be silly and is able to stay in control and be a "good" silly :) As we all know, pretty difficult to come by in a 3 year old! Silly usually gets out of hand at this age. She said that Makenna does need to practice more on her cutting skills.

Academic Skills:
Mrs. Sodman individually asked all the kids (in preparation for conferences I'm sure) how far they could count and was hoping and expecting 1 - 10 (which is age appropriate). She said that Makenna counted the farthest in the class and counted to 39! She asked me if that was normal and I said that she had just counted to 39 for me this afternoon. She said this is amazing for her age and that she suspects that Makenna would've counted even farther if she wouldn't have been distracted by some of the other kids in the classroom. Then the fact that Makenna can identify all of her letters, sound them out, identify all the shapes, identify numbers, knows all her colors.... basically everything is terrific and she is advanced for her age! :) She said that the rate at which Makenna learns and her ability to recall information is outstanding and that she is performing well beyond her grade. The concern we talked about with Mrs. Sodman was that we are all concerned that she may eventually get bored with school since she knows all of the age appropriate academic skills already. Mrs. Sodman suggested that Makenna is the perfect fit for an enrichment program to excel her skills and recommended us to Kumon Learning Centers. Crazy! I'm not sure what we're going to do. I think we might try it out this summer and see how it goes and take it from there.

The overwhelming theme that we kept hearing as Mrs. Sodman was talking to us was that Makenna is performing well beyond her age. She is one of the youngest in her class (being a mid-summer birthday) but she is performing at a level much beyond most of the rest of the class. We kept hearing over and over again "It's amazing she can do this at her age." Josh and I have thought that all along but it's great to hear it from a teacher and someone who is trained to do this.

So as you can imagine, we left the conference beaming. I couldn't have been any prouder of Makenna. And not just for the academics, but for the fact that she gets along with everyone, has never had a sharing issue, has made such a smooth adjustment to preschool and that she does it with such "enthusiasm." I have been praying about this long and hard because I worried about sending her to preschool too early given her birth date. What a wonderful answer to my prayers today :)

And now to brag about my younger daughter for a minute... right when Josh and I got home, we were in the kitchen making dinner. Maryn was sitting on the floor playing with some magnets on the frig when all of a sudden one of the songs from her toy came on and here sits Maryn singing the ABC's!!!! This child is only 17 months old and she's singing her ABC's! We are very proud of our two little munchkins!