What's in a Name?

11.13.2010

Naughty List

Devin is preparing for his first reconciliation at church.  This is a big deal, since it is really the first sacrament in which he is a cognizant and willing participant.  Since he goes to a Catholic school, most of his preparation for reconciliation (or confession, for those non-Catholics) is done at school.  We did some work at home, and I wasn't sure how much he was really understood and reflected on this until we were on our way to the reconciliation retreat. We were in the car on the way there when Devin suddenly told me that he thinks I'm not on the Naughty List.  After I nearly spit coffee through my nose, I asked him why he thought that I wasn't on the Naughty List.  He said because I do lots of things for other people and I never bully anyone (side note: thanks for noticing Dev!).  Then I asked him if he thought he was on the Naughty List, and he said in a soft and serious voice, "I don't know."

It is quite timely that these little kids start learning about examining their consciences and admitting their sins right around the time that they are thinking about presents and Santa and Naughty Lists.  I remember being terrified at my first confession (and my second, and my third and my...) that the priest would think I was such a bad person for the things I did.  I had the usual things to report; fought with my siblings, disobeyed my parents, told a lie.  But I hated (er.. hate) to admit when I did something wrong and it just seemed so painful to bring it up again.  Then when we were in line for confession if another kid took a longer time talking to the priest, we would all think s/he was soooo bad.  I always hoped for short little conversations and never wanted to go face to face with a priest when admitting all my naughtiness.

Devin asked me what it's like going to confession, and I told him that I was always a little nervous beforehand (huge understatement), but that I always felt better after.  I also told him that I'm pretty sure he won't make the Naughty List either.

11.12.2010

stressed about school? I don't even go to school...

I admit it: I was really pretty stressed out at the prospect of parent-teacher conferences.  To be specific, I was worried about our Kindergarten conference.  Our second grade conference for Devin was not concerning to me because the teacher and I have had some good conversations this year.  I am comfortable with her and I know that Devin is doing well.  He certainly has some areas for improvement, but overall he's great. 
However, the prospect of Alex's conference had me anxious.  There were a number of things to cover; both behavioral and academic.  Plus, my interaction with Alex's teacher has been more limited.  Most of our communication was through notes, while our face-to-face conversations were brief and at times abrupt.  Then I thought, "Was she short because of limited time or was she angry with something? Does she not like my child?  Is she mean?".  Going into this conference, I felt much less comfortable.  In my defense, Alex has given me reason to be nervous.  His report card had a few more "Needs Improvement" marks in the behavior section than I had expected.  He can be the most thoughtful and courteous boy, and he can also be insolent and willful.  Alex's behavior reminds me of the nursery rhyme:
There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

Plus, based on the school work coming home, I knew that Alex was not being challenged academically in school.  We chose to send him to this school rather than to the gifted academy in part because we wanted him to have a well-rounded experience and that certainly includes learning how to follow rules and respectfully function and socialize in a class of twenty-five of his peers.  I knew that he would not be challenged initially because of the focus on rules and the adjustment to Kindergarten, but I was not confident that his teacher really knew the extent of his capabilities.  Heck, I'm not sure that I know the extent of his capabilities, but I know that a kid who can read number like 2051 correctly and who can do basic addition and subtraction in his head may not find worksheets where you connect the dots from the numbers one to five to be interesting work.  So I was pretty tense about the conference. 

But the meeting was good.  One of the first things that she told us was that overall he has improved significantly since the report card was written and that she is proud of him.  She said that he is behaving well in class and that he struggles more with unstructured times like when they are at recess or are walking to another building for an activity.  She absolutely raved about his school work and said that he was doing really great.  I left the conference feeling that Alex's teacher understands and likes Alex, and that Alex is making huge improvements in 'softer skills' where he needed to grow.  But I am still not sure that he is being challenged, and this is where I struggle.  Is it enough that he is happy going to school and he's growing socially even though he's not working to his academic potential?  Should we even be concerned about how much he's really being challenged since this is just Kindergarten? 
There was a day recently when Alex had his name read during the school announcements.  It was "Thankful Thursday" and Alex's teacher said that she was thankful for Alex because he really helped her clean up the classroom.  He was so thrilled that later he told us it was the best day of his life.  Of  His  Life. 
Maybe we should just sit back and let Alex and his teacher continue down this path.  They seem to be doing well so far...

11.09.2010

mmmm.... cinnamon bread

After my speed work run today (half mile sprints in under four minutes followed by quarter mile easy jog), I was starving and I remembered that there is a really good bakery nearby.  I stopped by Great Harvest in search of a good chicken salad sandwich on some grainy bread.  Man did they deliver.  While there, I decided to pick up some bread for the family, and noticed that they had cinnamon chip bread that was fresh out of the oven.  It smelled fabulous, so I picked some up.  It was delicious.  I heated some up for the boys after school and they scarfed it down and asked for more.  No requests for butter either (which is a shock for Devin, really). 




Then after dinner tonight Devin asks for the cinnamon bread for dessert.  Forget the Halloween candy, he wants the bread. For dessert.  I can't say that I blame him though.  The whole kitchen smells amazing...

11.01.2010

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a great Halloween weekend!  Between all the festivities at school, Halloween parties and six-year-old birthday parties, the Blake family managed to go to five parties in three days, play two soccer games, run 10 miles, cycle 14 miles, carve pumpkins and potty train.  Yes, we can do it all... sometimes.