Adelaida's First Report Card

There have been a lot of Adelaida "firsts" that I've really enjoyed in the first year or so of our daughter's life; this "first" is one that I really didn't think I'd experience for several more years!

Adelaida's daycare is really a school, and we've begun to think of it as a school rather than daycare. Yes, the kids take naps and do finger-painting, but they also work on counting exercises ("let's count all the pictures of dogs in the room"), language skills ("let's say hello to our friends"), large motor activities ("let's climb up this picnic table"), and so much more, every single day.

And, like a school, there are parent-teacher conferences.

Dale and I met with Ms. Sandy last week for a run-down of our daughter's accomplishments and "areas of potential growth." I have to admit, I felt like I was ready to hear my own accomplishments and areas of potential growth! But I quickly settled the butterflies in my stomach and prepared to hear all about Adelaida, from someone who spends a lot of time with her and is not biased (or at least, not as biased as her parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, who all know she is the most wonderful little girl ever and that she couldn't possibly have any areas in which she could be any better than she is!).

Ms. Sandy started by saying that Adelaida is a joy to have in the class and is a very bright little girl. She was impressed with Adelaida's command of sign language (I promise I'll post some videos of Adelaida signing soon!) and with how quickly she learns new things (like choosing the yellow block when Ms. Sandy says "yellow").

She then showed us Adelaida's very first report card. The report cards are set up for kids of a certain age, and since Adelaida is 14 1/2 months old, she is right in the middle of the twelve month and eighteen month report cards, so Ms. Sandy filled out both for her.

The twelve month report card is here (double click on the image to see a larger view):

There are a few things here that Ms. Sandy has never seen Adelaida do, but that Dale and I have seen her do, like knocking two blocks together -- Adelaida actually started doing that when she was about six months old, and had largely given it up by the time she joined Ms. Sandy's class. She also copies sounds (a little bit) and actions (a lot) that we do, and definitely recognizes family member's names (Daddy, Momma, Maggie, and Murphy). Unless we count the repeated "da" syllables Adelaida makes when looking at her daddy (and the dogs, and the trash can, and her shoes), she doesn't yet say her first word.

Ms. Sandy said she wasn't quite sure about showing apprehension about strangers, but she does show fondness toward people she knows, so Adelaida's "apprehension" might just exhibit itself as a lack of fondness.

On the back of this paper, Ms. Sandy had written:








Ms. Sandy then gave us Adelaida's eighteen-month report card (below; double click on the image to see a larger view). Recognizing that Adelaida is only fourteen-and-a-half months old, I think she did pretty well on this one too!

Again, there are things on here that Ms. Sandy hasn't seen Adelaida do, but that we have, like solving problems by trial and error, saying hi, bye, and please (and thank you!) with reminders, and asking for something by pointing to it. And there are accomplishments that Ms. Sandy has seen that we haven't, like carrying a stuffed animal or doll and scribbling with crayons (she scribbles with my help, but when she has control of the crayons, they end up in her mouth).

We asked Ms. Sandy if there were any areas that we needed to focus on with Adelaida, like maybe her language and social skills. Ms. Sandy said that Adelaida is doing quite well, and every child develops differently, and she is certainly not lagging behind her peers. Then Ms. Sandy looked at the list, noticed that "seems selfish at times" is a milestone that Adelaida is still working on developing, and told us that we could, for example, encourage Adelaida's selfishness if we wanted, but that Adelaida would surely exhibit selfishness eventually and we shouldn't be worried that she isn't selfish yet. That wasn't exactly the milestone we were thinking of working to help Adelaida develop!

The parent-teacher conference was a good meeting -- it was reassuring to hear from someone less biased than I am that Adelaida is doing well and is a very happy, well behaved little girl, and it was good to know what milestones we might look for Adelaida to accomplish next, like speaking and acting out a familiar routine in play (which I wouldn't have thought to do with Adelaida, but now will).

I was pretty proud of my little girl!