"She’s a happy, go-lucky girl"

Ah….the words every parent wants to see on her child’s first “report card”. Ok, it wasn’t a report card–it was a comment on her developmental checklist from daycare. Much to most people’s surprise, I had M’s first parent/teacher conference today. And it was great. Not only because Ms. A said all nice things about M (minus her budding graffiti artist and acrobatic tendencies) but because we had a chance to chat uninterrupted about things we’ve both been observing. So we are on the same page where she is developmentally, and I got to hear lots of cute little bits about what M does during the day. And in talking with her, I can tell that she loves her job and my child, despite (or maybe due in part) the fact that M’s been timing her BM’s to happen about 5 minutes after Ms. A arrives each day. Seriously. Each day now for the past two weeks. And she still laughs about it every day.

So where is she developmentally?? Well, at 15 months she can kick a ball, loves books, climbs, eats with a spoon, follows simple directions, and the list goes on and on. Did I mention this is a form for 18-24 month olds? What I like about the form she filled out is that if there were many boxes checked “unobserved”, you could take that form to your doc or call your health dept for a First Steps intervention. For us, we need to just be aware that she’s learning to sit nicely at the table (no straps or restraints!), and is still learning to balance on odd surfaces like playground mulch. She sometimes tires out when using her spoon, is learning NOT to color on things like the trash can, and NOT to climb on the lunch tables.

What will be cool will be seeing where she goes from here!