our first report card

d and i just got back from our parent/teacher conference. overall, i think it went very well. em is right where she needs to be (uh, really? i had no idea). she's very sweet and is not-so-secretly-anymore ms. robin's favorite baybee. but. BUT, we got a checklist from em's "assessment" dated 2.11.10. frankly, i want a re-do and not just because it's 2 months old. they noted that she had mastered most everything, with the exception of a few. for those, em got a check mark as "progressing." this means she does these things less than 80% of the time.

movement- mastered 6 of 7. still progressing with standing on her tiptoes. i have to dispute this. because at 12-14 months (after she got confident with walking), the girl walked on her tiptoes more than flat footed.
social/emotional- mastered 2 of 4. she's still progressing with "excited about other children" and "begins to refuse." now, i'll take the first one because i know she's very shy. but the one about refusing? (1) maybe she's just polite. or (2) can they explain why she yells at us and tells us "NOOOOO! i don't want to go to ba's house." or "NOO! DON'T help me." or "NOO! i don't want to do that."
language- mastered 4 of 5. still progressing on recognizing her body parts? the child has known all of her body parts for over a year. she checks her babies' pompas to see if they need a new diaper all the time. if by body parts they mean shin, calf, knuckle, or ribcage, then i'll conceed. but anything less specific, and i give this assessor a "progressing" checkmark as well.*
cognitive skills- mastered 3 of 5. apparently she hasn't mastered sorting shapes or playing make-believe. which means you should totally ignore all my ranting on this blog, since obviously, i just make things up.

you can tell i'm not bitter about this assessment at all and agree 100% with it. i kid. i guess i was just surprised, because these are not things i've ever worried about with em. to me, she is very advanced for her age. the things i worry about are her shyness and lack of assertiveness. i was prepared to talk about those things, but not these (which i disagree with anyway). nonetheless, i was very pleased to hear about how much her teachers adored her and how they complimented me on her clothes ("she is always dressed so cute! every year we have one who is dressed perfectly everyday. emily is the one this year. we always look forward to seeing what she'll have on each morning." hehe). even better, ms. annie and ms. robin said that while emily is, for the most part, reserved and easy going, she has no problem asserting herself, fitting in, or interacting with others. i give her an a+.

*please don't misunderstand. i'm just being defensive. i am very happy with what the kdo program has done for emily. she loves school, and i think that is a testament to the good of her teachers.