A proud mommy moment

Just got back from dropping John off at school, and had to share.

One of the teachers came up and stopped me just before I left, and said "you have one smart little cookie on your hands!"

It was first thing in the morning, and the only cookie in my hands at the time was Joan. I wondered how she could tell a baby was smart just by locking at her, but then she started talking about John. Obviously, he didn't get his brains from me!

So it turns out what everyone has been saying is true - he's very bright. She had started by asking him his colours, and when he got every one right she just kept on going. She spent half an hour one-on-one, with test after test, and he knew everything she threw his way. "It was absolutely amazing," she said. He knew his colours, he could count not only Lego blocks in a tower, but could count the little knobs on top. He knew the difference between a fat Lego tower and a skinny Lego tower. He could tell her which tower was taller, which tower had more blocks, and even which tower was different from the rest. She said I should be very proud. :-)

She said what they're working on with him is finding ways to express himself. He knows his emotions, but they're trying to get him to express why he feels a certain way. I didn't know they were doing that, but I've noticed it popping up at home. He'll tell me how he feels, and when I ask why, I'm actually starting to get a reasonable response, instead of just a tantrum. Like, he says he's sad, and it's because I'm walking too fast for him, or I left him alone in a room, or whatever other atrocities I perform on a regular basis. Or he's scared because the closet door is open. He's definitely getting easier to deal with, and it's keeping him a lot calmer, because I can fix the problem, or apologize. He still has his share of tantrum moments, but I have definitely noticed a shift in him. What a great program!