Made the Cut!

I had my first Parent Teacher conference on Friday afternoon. When I arrived at the school, the kids were still playing in the yard, so I snuck into the school, because I knew if Christian saw me, he would think it was time to go home and the meeting would have been impossible.  He was so wrapped up in pulling another kid in a wagon that he didn't even notice me and didn't hear a little girl loudly say,"hey Christian's Mommy, what are you doing here?"

We sat in the kitchen, out of sight, because in 5 minutes they were coming in for nap time.  The director reviewed his developmental milestones, cognitive and social level and language levels with detailed forms they use.  As expected, he is still behind in language but is at an incredible level due to the fact that English is his second language and he's only even heard English for 14 months.  She did say she's noticed bigger leaps in his language in the last month, so that gap may start closing faster.  I thought his language was improving quite a bit lately, but then I didn't know if it was just wishful thinking.  So glad to know it's real!

His large motor skills are right there with other kids his age, with the exception of his balance, this he needs alot of work on.  His legs are still not as strong as other kids his age due to the lack of iron and vitamin D he had when he came home, but it is improving a great deal, so I expect the balance to catch up soon.  I'm going to enlist my Dad to build a balance beam, close to the floor, that he can play on at home. They have one at school and the director says he loves it, even though he falls off alot.

The other thing he needs alot of work on is his fine motor skills.  This is where daily tasks come into play alot, and I just need to remember to let him do them.  I'm either in a hurry or don't want spills, so without realizing it, I tend to do the small tasks for him.  These are things like twisting the caps off water bottles, toothpaste, etc., tearing open things like the breakfast oatmeal packets and peeling things like bananas and stickers off the sheets. So today I let him do it all and he did great, the stickers gave him trouble, but heck, the usually give me trouble too!  I looked online at things to do to develop fine motor skills, other than writing and the ones stated above, and opening and closing latches was another good thing along with lacing things and buttons.  I found some latches in my basement that I'm going to mount on a board for him to play with and my Dad said he had a couple more to add too.
I got online and ordered some lacing kits and a stuffed monkey that you can dress with clothes that have buttons, snaps, clips and a zipper.  I think he'll have fun with these while working those chubby little fingers :)

So all in all, the parent teacher meeting went great and we didn't get kicked out of preschool!
I just can't say enough how blessed I am that I was able to get Christian enrolled in this preschool.  The directors and teachers are absolutely wonderful, they work so hard to expose the kids to a multitude of experiences and you just feel how much they truly love what they do by the commitment they have to the preschool.  They are a blessing to every child they encounter.  Thank  you with all my heart Busy B's Preschool!!!
~Amy