I was, admittedly, nervous when this school year began. I’m not sure why the transition to first grade seemed like a trip to the moon from kindergarten … but it did. Not only were the kids no longer protected in a separate wing; they had their own mailboxes for crying.out.loud. 

I was also nervous because, for the very first time, Connor got to experience that magical time of year that the majority of kids dream about every other day of the year … summer break. Connor’s always been a daycare kid, and to be honest, his day was longer at daycare than it is at school so getting out at 2:55? Was magical. But then, to just hang out most days of the week and you know, play outside or swim, and just generally have no responsibilities? Unbelievable joy.

So, when it came time to go back to school and return to a routine of some sort, he wasn’t terribly impressed. I’m sure over time he’ll realize that summer break is a fleeting thing. It was only his first time … part of that whole ‘all good things must come to an end’ concept that we all have to learn at one point or another.

Fast forward two months and I can’t even tell you how proud I am of my little first grader. He quickly stepped back into it because that’s how he rolls but we had his first conference a couple weeks ago and Connor’s teacher, Mrs. Modreske, was so complimentary.

I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire ten minutes time we met with her. She started by commenting that Connor is just an excellent student. She mentioned that he is a great listener, always attentive, and is ‘secure’ at all subjects, but particularly excels in spelling and math. I’ve talked about his number-crunching before. She also noted his scores in phoneme segmentation and nonsense word fluency (yep, nonsense words) are well above suggested fall goals. Jon and I walked out and high-fived. For reals.

Hearing that your child “loves to learn” makes a mama’s heart proud. Just think … if this God-loving, academic, handsome, athletic kid keeps up the good work, he could just change the world. Heaven knows he’s already changed mine.