I’m going to have to go all mommy-blogger on you and brag on my kid today. I guess the old adage is true: you can take the mom blogger off the internet, but you can’t take the blogger out of the mom. Or something like that.
We’re wrapping up the end of Elena’s first year in public school. For the previous 6 years, she’s been in a private Montessori setting. We loved everything about Montessori, but last year we knew it was time to make the transition to public school. She’s a outgoing kid, we live in a great school distract, and private school tuition isn’t cheap. We did everything we thought we could to make the move as seamless as possible. We gave her ample time to get used to the idea (an entire school year). We asked her teachers to help prepare her for life after Montessori (which they went above and beyond to accomplish). We toured her new school and made a few connections before the school year started (God bless the secretary, for being so kind and getting her daughter and Elena together over the summer). And then the first day arrived and we sucked in all the nerves and worry and held our breath for a really long time.
It turns out we (okay, me) stressed and turned blue for no reason. Elena had an amazing year. Her grades started off excellent and finished out of this world. We never had a single issue with relationships or behavior (a big concern for parents who worry their Montessori kids won’t adapt to the more restrictive public school environment). She never once missed the bus. But most importantly, she loved her new school. Her teacher, Mrs. Jarrett, was everything Elena needed: patient, consistent, unflappable, and fun. We couldn’t have scripted a more successful transition for Elena if we’d have tried.
Last Friday I opened a letter from the intermediate school she’ll attend in the fall. They have six variations of gifted programs a child might test into, and guess who tested into the highest possible program? Yup, our kid. Two-year advanced math, one-year advanced language arts and science. I told you I needed to brag.
I look at this kid and I just have to shake my head. How did we manage to make this creature that is such a fun, quirky mix of both Mike and I? The math stuff, the competitiveness, the pluck, the social butterfly? All Mike.
The artist, the lover of words, the nurturer? So me.
She is bits and pieces of us mixed with her own unique self, and we couldn’t be prouder as parents.
So forgive me for being that mom for a bit. Sometimes you have to tell the whole world how awesome you think your kids are, so that one day they might go out and conquer it.
*so* forgiven. 🙂