Samuel's Teacher

I was very pleased to find out that Samuel was assigned to the same first grade teacher Miriam had when we moved here. He's an excellent teacher and really seems to love his job. Here's an example:

Earlier this week the teacher called me to discuss Samuel's behavior. (Yes, already! Yikes.) Apparently Samuel was investigating an inappropriate hand gesture. According to the teacher, he wasn't acting maliciously and didn't gesture at anyone in particular. It was purely curiosity. So they had a talk about how it's not okay to do that and that was it.

We also discussed Samuel's inattention and how it's very difficult for him to complete his work. I explained that Samuel hasn't taken any Focalin all summer and that I really want to see how the school year starts before putting him back on it. Also, the transition onto the medication is a little difficult and I don't want to pile that on top of the transition to being here after being in Albuquerque and starting school after being on summer break. His teacher is very understanding and willing to work with us on this.

Very nice, huh? Well, listen to this.

Today I missed a call from the school. When I checked the voicemail I was disappointed to hear Samuel's teacher saying, "Hello, this is Mr. X." I was afraid it was something bad. But it wasn't. He was calling to say how proud he is of Samuel and that he thought I should know. He said Samuel worked really hard today, finished most of his work and followed the classroom instructions. Yay!

I got the message right before I left to pick up the kids. It was a great way to start the afternoon. Samuel's teacher even made a point of finding me in front of the school to reiterate how great Samuel did today. Pretty fantastic, huh?