Solana the First Grader

I met with Solana's first grade teacher last week for the Parent-Teacher conference. I don't have a sitter so I brought the girls. The teacher said it would be fine. She showed me some of Solana's work and asked Solana to get a book, bring it over, and read it to me. It was kind of funny. I didn't know what to say. She looked at me like I was supposed to be amazed and thrilled. But Solana regularly reads books from the library that are more difficult than that. "That was great, mija. Thank you." Then she explained to me that Solana can easily read books that the students should be able to read at the end of first grade. I wasn't terribly surprised. As much reading as we do together at home she definitely has lots of experience with books. Not to mention the fact that she's pretty brilliant, in general. The teacher really didn't have much to say. She didn't "gush" about Solana like I expected but I get the feeling she's just not the gushing type. She did say that Solana's doing great.

-I asked if she pays attention, follows instructions, gets along with the other students.

-Yes. Yes. Yes.

-Is there anything in particular we need to be working on at home?

-Just do what you're doing.

-I noticed that Solana doesn't form some of her letters correctly (pencil strokes aren't perfectly sequential or she starts the letter at the bottom, etc.) and sometimes writes numbers backwards...

-Yes, but that's normal. She'll get there. Working on that at home is fine.

It was weird to leave a meeting without an IFSP, recommendations for exercises or skill building, diagrams, special areas of concern, etc. Solana's so easy. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to have her. And just look at that face! Don't you just want to pinch her cheeks and give her a big kiss right on her forehead?