I went to W's parent-teacher conference today. They told me that he's very smart and is always the first to raise his hand to give an answer. He is very active so they give him jobs to do, like tie his classmates' shoes and help them with their coats. He sometimes gets aggressive (pushy-shovy-hitting) and that he goes into the "thinking chair" sometimes. He has a great appetite and always eats all his lunch (no shock there). They showed me his folder full of drawings and paintings. And told me how absolutely adorable and handsome he is (and that he looks like me, LOL). They don't push writing at this level "because by the time they're in third grade they get bored with writing". No kidding. There are many trips scheduled starting in January and they're having a big Thanksgiving feast this Friday. All in all it was a good meeting. There are no concerns or problems and they knew so much about what he can do and how he is socially. I've never seen teachers like this whom I really like and feel this comfortable with. I can see why W likes school so much.

K got her report card today. It wasn't great (as I knew) and we had a talk about improving her grades. She now has limited time on the phone and computer (30 minutes each per day) until the next report card (January) - where I expect to see major improvement. She acting pretty indifferent to it all and I'm getting a bit concerned. I have been wondering if she feels overshadowed by J. Not just with the homeschooling, but with all the dance attention she gets. I do my best to include K in everything and make sure she gets lots of special things, too, and I try and spend extra time with her. I feel I should do more, though.

I wrote a thank-you email to the convention director expressing much appreciation, raving about the teachers, and and telling how J thoroughly enjoyed herself yesterday. He wrote back (names are edited for privacy):

"I LOVE J.......

YOUR KIND WORDS ARE MOST APPRECIATED. THE TEACHERS ARE SOME OF THE BEST THAT I'VE EVER MET IN ALL OF MY YEARS ON THE COMPETITION/CONVENTION CIRCUIT. WE TRY TO INSPIRE AND HELP TO NURTURE WHAT THE TEACHERS DO IN THE SCHOOLS. YOU ARE A VERY SPECIAL GROUP OF PEOPLE TO ME, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU OFTEN...

YOURS IN DANCE,

G"

He did take a liking to J yesterday. He told me that she has something so special and her energy and enthusiasm is so strong - she should never lose that.

The kids had Musical Theater class this afternoon. W refused to go in because there are no other boys in the class, but after 20 minutes he relented. He did really well and the teacher came over to me to say how proud she is of him. She can't believe how good he did today with him being so young and all. He is looking forward to next week! K loves it, too. She seemed to stop feeling so self-conscious today. But it must be hard to keep hearing the teachers and the studio owner (who came in to observe) constantly tell J she's doing a great job. I do feel weird about it. I think K and I need some more alone time. Maybe we'll go to the mall together this weekend.