cereal:

Now that I'm caught up, vw, your grandmother sounds like a strong woman and I hope she continues to feel better. Grandparents should not be allowed to age!

Anyway, in the middle of the night, Ellie called out, "Tefamie!" and then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Oh, that's adorable!

Fay - this is really obnoxious on the part of the family. Do they need a chart or something that shows them skills for 2s and skills for 3s and where their child is (REALLY) on the chart? Something that someone else (who is as well trained and skilled and as amazingly good with children [please see a number of your beautiful posts in thread #s 38, 37, 36 that made me wish you were Iris' teacher...] as you are.) Really. To them, I say: BOF!

Meara - thx. I will let them know. t /snerk I am fixing my resume though. As soon as the letters go out for DH's company (mid-December now) and we know for sure. We're pretty darn sure he's safe, but, you know - some of us (me) worry. too much.

Sean K that's awesome!

momistas - I sense that we have a huge delivery of chocolate, martinis, and babysitters coming. I know it's out there.

Sparky has a better term for this, but as Boss and I just had That Conversation Where She's Concerned and I asked her Not To Shush Me during a Meeting Because it makes it hard to get my point across, and she didn't remember shusshing me; I can't remember what term is.)

I told you to tell yourself that you didn't run away but "turned your back on the idiots."

w/r/t Iris' potty training: At least we know she's learned from her hiking experiences to stay well hydrated!

Fay, while I think a chart or discussion with the parents about where their kid falls is a good idea normally, these parents don't sound open to a discussion of the kid's abilities because they've already made their decision. Would the decision to skip a grade usually rest with the teacher? with the principal? with some combination of people?

I sense that we have a huge delivery of chocolate, martinis, and babysitters coming. I know it's out there.

I don't have any kids, but this sounds like a good thing for me to have, too.

vw, lots of ~ma for your grandmother.

Sox, I'm sorry you guys have to deal with that anxiety. That just sucks.

momistas - I sense that we have a huge delivery of chocolate, martinis, and babysitters coming. I know it's out there.

What's the tracking number on that delivery?

What's the tracking number on that delivery?

14UKEEPWAITING666

Plus, you know, they'll probably just leave it on the porch without getting anyone to sign for it, and when we get home it'll be gone....

(a little later, having bought 3 new Manga books, several Seekrit Santa bits & bobs, one yummy tuna sandwich from Subway, one rather-too-sickly icecream sundae from Haagen-dazs, and having listened to a hefty chunk of 'Enders Game' on my iPod*. Presently relaxing with a tall glass of blueberry-blackcurrant-cranberry juice mixed with a couple of slugs of my DIY plum/cinnamon Stolly [which is Teh Yum, incidentally] on ice.)

Have you written back a simple, point-by-point letter pointing out some of the things that she is mediocre at?

Well, I sent home the Spelling list of 157 words they should be able to read and spell by the end of Year 2, and she did very well - but she got 107. Which, to me, does not say 'in the wrong year group.' And as we've started on Multiplication this week, I'm going to send home the multiplication grid of 144 questions which we'll be doing on a weekly basis in Term 2 and Term 3, because I'd quite like to scare the crap out of her. And I'm going to start noting the winning five kids from our Number Bond Challenge game every time I write in our fortnightly Newsletter - and, oh, look at that! Camille isn't one of them! How is that possible?

Reports go out on the 19th, and we have Parent-Teacher meetings next week. Oh joy. I shall be showing them her books at that time. They have already had a meeting with my boss, where they tried to get her moved into Year 3, then tried to get her moved into the other Year 2 class, saying that they had "lost confidence in Miss Fay". At this point they are invested in defending their stance, as they've been pushing this since the start of last year, and backing down would involve a loss of face. And I'm defensive and hurt and angry, and that's getting in the way of me recognising my own failings and working more effectively to overcome them and be a better teacher.

But I shouldn't whine, because my colleagues are being absofuckinglutely terrific about it, and I truly do appreciate the fact that my Head is prepared to let them leave the school if it comes down to it. Because at my previous two schools? It was teachers that got canned, and no questions asked, if the paying customers weren't happy for whatever reason. I am SO grateful that I managed to find an International School that genuinely does value the professionalism of the teachers, and the education of the children, and isn't just paying lipservice to these things.

Whereas here I've got the backing of my peers and my manager, and they're eager to support me, happy to allow me to come and observe them to get ideas for better differentiation, and basically it's all good. My Year 2 colleague, who teaches the kid for Maths (she's in the top set - we split the year group in two for Maths and Literacy - I'm taking top set Lit, he's taking top set Maths) is more than happy to have them go see him on Parents' evening, because he's quite emphatic about the fact that she's not ready for Year 3.

Meanwhile I took the contact book up to the staffroom, having replied twice and decided that I was still being (1) too wordy (as is always the case) and (2) too emotional, and my Key Stage Leader, my co-worker, my Head and my Deputy Head all weighed in on precisely how I should phrase my answer, and were totally supportive and cool and funny. They really do rock.

I mean, you know, it's no biggie, really, in the scheme of things. There are plenty of shittier issues that people have to deal with even in primary school, let alone high school, and it's just because I have such an unspeakably adorable bunch of kids, and such generally lovely parents, that this issue is standing out in sharp relief.

But - it sort of kills me that I know today, I started being mean to this kid. Or at least - it was my conscious intention to make her aware of her own deficiencies, so she won't keep going home and blythely saying "Yes, Papa, I was bored, it was all too easy, I can do everything." I want to rub her nose in the fact that this is not the case, and that if she goes home spouting that, she's (continued...)

( continues...) going to have to damn well KNOW that it's lies. And all the clingy and kissy and handholdy girly crap? To be honest, it wins you no brownie points from me at all. If anything, I find it slightly off-putting - at the end of the day, I'm more All About Academia than I am All About Cuddling The Ickle Kiddies. I love my kids to bits because they are cool, funny, interesting little people who are capable of surprising graciousness and generocity. Also, they appreciate lots of the cool shiny things that I like, and aren't jaded about the sheer fabulousness of how the universe works - they can get excited about discovering all manner of things, which is fab. But I do not love them or enjoy their company because they're playing the role of sweet ickle kiddiwinks - it's more likely to be in spite of it.

So, yeah - I don't think it hurts to show Camille that I can be a hard ass, and if that's what her parents want, and if that's what it will take to get them the fuck off my back - then so be it.

a number of your beautiful posts in thread #s 38, 37, 36 that made me wish you were Iris' teacher

Aw, bless you! That's a tremendously sweet thing to say. But, see, really I'm a mean hardass bitch.

So, uh...

Here's the thing: I was s'posed to call my wife to make sure she was awake at 6:30 am. But I missed my bus and had to figure out if/how I was going to get to work on time (I managed, but there was that whole "Aw, fucksticks" thing happening) and I got distracted by all that and didn't call and Aimee didn't wake up until 6:55.

So, I'm kinda a numbnuts.

In this public forum, here before God/Goddess/Anthropomorphic Personifications of Natural/Supernatural/Paranormal Forces and you, our friends, I say:

I'M SORRY AIMEE!!