Lisa and Cheyenne came to the house tonight so that I could slip out and meet with Hugo's Kindergarten teacher Mrs Monroe. I was surprised how nervous I was. During the day I felt like I kept watching the clock ticking down the hours till the scheduled parent teacher conference, almost like it was a date or something. I think this means, I don't get out of the house enough. It also means, that my little boy is growing up and someone else sees him for more waking hours during the day than I do. So very, very strange. I was nervous what Mrs. Monroe thought about our little boy. I remember way back, when Hugo attended Mother Goose, how I had wished they would have had a scheduled time to talk about Hugo, his needs, strengths, weaknesses and their thoughts in general on him. Now that the actual parent teacher conference was before me, I was nervous. Hugo has been getting a lot of take a breaks, a nice way of calling it a time out. He has been pretty crazy.
I tucked all three kids into their beds and drove into the village to meet with Mrs. Monroe. I was on time, possibly even a bit early, so I waited in the hallway out side his classroom door. Everything in the hall was shrunken in size being that we were in the Kindergarten wing. The bubbler was hung low. The chairs were small. The artwork was also hung low on the wall. I could feel myself settling. The classroom door opened and out walked a mother I knew who asked about how Hugo liked school and asked nice questions about our girls.
People ask me all the time how Hugo likes school. Sometimes I'm not sure how to answer. I think I'm putting words in his mouth. I wonder myself how he likes school and just what in the world is going on in there for 6 hours of the day. Why don't they ask Hugo themselves I wonder? He does talk about school here and there throughout our evening and over the weekend. Pieces come out randomly. He doesn't fight me about going in the morning. He does drag his feet with getting dressed. I've tried to make a rule of no TV viewing on school mornings and that has seemed to help a lot. If Hugo seems a bit clingy in the morning all I have to do is list all the errands I want to accomplish and he'll quickly throw on his backpack, kiss me on the cheek, hop out of the van and run to the waiting door of his elementary school. Hugo does tell me that the school day is too long. That he misses me and the girls.
Mrs. Monroe was very nice and pretty. She asked me to describe Hugo to her, I was thrown for a moment not expecting a question like this. Finally I got to ask the all important question of Hugo's Kindergarten teacher, the best person to ask, How does Hugo like school? She told me that Hugo plays with everyone. He was fixated on Rowan in the beginning, but has gotten into a groove of playing with all the children. She said the class as a whole is chatty. So many of them attended nursery school together that they have been friends for two years already. She also said that at the end of day the kids are allowed to choose an activity to do, blocks, paint, books, puzzles, etc. Hugo always chooses to draw and he isn't fazed to do this activity with a table full of girls or all by himself. I guess I like that quality about him. Mrs. Monroe did agree that Hugo needs to work on his ability to focus. He can multitask like crazy, it's the focus that needs improvement. I asked if she thought he had ADHD, she laughed at me and answered, no. Cesar and I really have wondered. She also said she melts a bit when he looks up at her with his big brown eyes and his blonde hair. We talked a bit about how he talks too much during lunch and hasn't been finishing his food. She told me that he always eats the snacks I send, a clementine and pretzels. She also said that Hugo is all over the playground. Fearless and inquisitive.
All and all, I walked away from my first parent teacher conference regarding our first born, feeling very good. Possibly even a bit more of an adult. Sound strange? I guess as Hugo grows, so do I.
