A Note on Parent-Teacher Conferences of a Preschooler

Alex and I went to meet with Miss Michele last night for Eli's second parent-teacher conference. 

I should mention, that Eli's first even parent-teacher conference did not go how we had anticipated, as we learned that Eli apparently did not know our names, his own name, or where we lived, amongst other things.  I assume that we had thought that Eli was going to be praised as the brightest among his peers, amazingly polite and helpful, always kind and sharing with his classmates, right? : )  Well, whatever we thought in those early weeks of Eli's first preschool experience, we definitely knew, with confidence, that he did know his name in full, as well as how to spell his first name, he knew his parents names (because he had just spend the previous six-plus months referring to us as "Bethanie" and "Alex", respectively), and he at least knew the city in which he resided. 

This parent teacher conference went better.  Lowered standards, perhaps?  We fully anticipated being told that he was par with all of the other four year olds in class.  Hopefully he would be sharing most of the time.  We still expected that he know his name, his birthday, our names, and where we live.

However, something that should be noted is that four year olds are quite unpredictable. 

Eli got a negative mark for not knowing his name.

Miss Michele:  "Eli, can you tell me your full name?"
Eli:  "Eli Flynn."

Miss Michele was puzzled.  Why wouldn't she be?  She asked us about this.  We laugh.  This is SO Eli.  He kind of did answer her question.  When she asked Eli his name, at that moment he must have been Eli Flynn.  He really is Eli Flynn most days. I happen to be Mommy Flynn (original, right) on most days, although lately I have been Mommy Toothless.  We went through a very long period of time where I was Mommy Crane.  Alex is Daddy-whoever-Eli-is that day.  Lucy, almost always, is the arch enemy of Eli.  She sways between Baby Mother Gothel and Baby Mean Dragon. 

Once she understood Eli's answer a little more, she shared with us that interestingly enough, one of Eli's classmates was Rapunzel, and would not answer to any other name besides. : )