Hughes Can Do What?

Today, I had Hughes' preschool conference. No, it wasn't because of bad behavior! They do parent conferences twice a year to give the parents an idea of what their child has been doing, what skills they are working on, etc. Now, mind you, this is 4-year old preschool so we're not talking about capital letters, multiplication tables, etc. We're talking about work habits, listening skills, speaking skills, fine motor skills, etc. I was very happy with the progress report and actually quite surprised. Miss Adele showed me some of Hughes' artwork and on it is Hughes' name printed. I assumed it was hand-over-hand (teacher hand over Hughes' hand) writing but Miss Adele told me that Hughes wrote it! He's never written his name for me! I've asked him! Why isn't he writing his name at home?!

I was shocked. Now, it was far from perfect but how come I didn't realize this? He never wants to write/color/draw at home. On the rare occasion that he does then it lasts for about 5 minutes. Miss Adele also told me about Hughes participating more and more in class (which makes me happy). He will not sing but he will answer questions about a story if asked. So, that's good. At least he's listening. She said that he sometimes has a difficult time letting a friend help him do a puzzle or build a building. I think that is because he is the oldest child here in the Holman household and, therefore, is use to not having to share (Banks doesn't do puzzles yet and he doesn't try to build on Hughes' buildings).

Things I did know about Hughes that Miss Adele confirmed:

• Hughes likes to do puzzles;
• Hughes likes to read;
• Hughes likes to build with blocks; and
• Hughes does not like to sing.

Two things that Hughes knows but refuses to share: counting and the alphabet. I know he knows these concepts because I've overheard him in the bathtub playing while singing the ABCs and counting. He will not do it on command. Like I said above, he does not like to sing. So, we're going to work on that. He needs to get use to demonstrating his knowledge to his teacher or he is going to be in the C reading group (and we all know that the A & B reading group is better).

Oh man, the stresses of being a parent. I mean, this is 4K we're talking about here! All in all, he's doing great. Social skills are blooming, work habits are being developed, and the confidence is being boosted! If 4K is this stressful on me, what am I going to do when we hit the big leagues? By big leagues, I mean 5K!