Yay day!

See how nice I am to you? I'm about to brag blatantly, but I'll turn it into a yay day so you can brag, too.

We got Tristan's report card this week. They 'grade' them on a four point scale, from "needs to work on this skill" to "beginning to develop" to "meets developmental expectations" to "exceeds expectations". He met developmental expectations in most areas - math and science and art. He knows all his letters except for Q, and can count past 40 in English and to 28 in French. He can also follow simple directions in both languages, and remembers his vocabulary in both languages well.

(I must admit I'm still just a little bit entertained that they grade four-year olds in junior kindergarten on math and science and art, to be honest. I kind of expected to get a report that said either 'does' or 'does not' eat paste and colour within the lines. They take this educational stuff pretty seriously right out of the gate.)

He got a few "beginning to develop" in some areas where we already knew he needs to put in a little more effort - writing his letters, for one, but mostly in areas like following instruction and social skills. He still follows his own mind a little more often than the teacher's instructions, but he's come miles and miles from that first week, where we got called in for "the talk."

So while I'm proud that he did well overall, and the comments reflect a bright, happy little boy who is a pleasure to have in the classroom, who enjoys role play and music and story time and interacting with his peers, there were two areas where his teachers said he excelled. He got a '4' for exceeds expectations in oral communication and reading. I'm really not surprised that my boy is particularly literate, given that I can say without modesty that he comes from exceptionally literate people, but I'm proud nonetheless.

We survived the first year. The lovely part is not so much that I'm looking forward to the next year of challenges, but that Tristan is. That's my boy.

And now, after all that, I turn the microphone over to you. What makes the sun shine in your world today?