Parent Teacher Conference

Yesterday we had our first official conference even though we chat with the school all of the time. For a little background, Elizabeth is in a class with kids 12-18 months younger. We did that last year because she was delayed in everything from feeding to gross and fine motor skills to social skills to talking ... EVERYTHING. Last year after being in a class for a few months, they wanted to move her up and I refused. She has such attachment issues, I and her Ped thought she needed to be in the same place for as long as possible. Fast forward to summer when it was time to move up. I made them transition her slowly. The school tells me they understand her special needs in this area but I am not sure they really get it. Fast forward to yesterday, the teacher tells me she is doing everything she should be doing. They only thing in the "not yet" column is puzzles. Can you live life without a desire to do a puzzle. We have tried and she just doesn't seem to get it. Then they tell me she is mannerly (ok, are we sure we are talking about Elizabeth?)and then they tell me she is reserved(ok, you have the wrong file, my kid is not reserved!). The teacher tells me that, in fact, she heard Elizabeth laugh for the first time the day before. She just walked away for fear that if she looked at Elizabeth she would stop laughing. Now for the best part~ Since she is comfortable, she should be moved up! Can you imagine how much I wanted to pull my hair out. Do they not hear themselves? Now that she is comfortable, is that not reason to stay so that she can really flourish? In the end, I have agreed that after the holidays she can move up. Not for their reasons but I do need to have her on track to be in an age appropriate class by the time we get to Kindergarten. If she moves up now, then in the summer she can transition to the next class, the winter transition to the pre K class and then hopefully be ready to start Kindergarten in the fall.
That night after school, this was my reserved child!