Marcel’s First Report Card

Marcel got her first report card last week.

Fancy Day Care didn’t give her letter grades. They didn’t even give her pass/fail. They probably didn’t want the other kids to feel bad in comparison.

Marcel’s “Progress and Planning Report” summarized progress in four development areas: social/emotional; cognitive; physical; and, language.

In the social/emotional area, the report stated that Marcel “demonstrates appropriate trust in adults,” “follows classroom routines,” and “plays well with others.” As an example, the report stated that “Marcel is very good at transitioning from one activity to the next.”

In the cognitive area, the report stated that Marcel “observes objects with curiosity” and “makes believe with objects.” As an example, the report stated that Marcel asks, “What’s that?”

In the physical area, the report stated that Marcel “demonstrates basic locomotor skills” and “controls small muscles in hand”. As an example, the report states that Marcel “loves running and jumping.”

In the language area, the report states that Marcel “understands and follows oral directions,” “asks questions” and “enjoys reading”. As an example, the report states that “Marcel sits for min(s) looking at books.”

As a new parent, I worried how well I would be able to judge the quality of my children’s teachers and school and, worse, if I would be able to support quality schools and teachers with my efforts at home. I’m still not altogether sure what “basic locomotor skills” are, but I can say with confidence that Marcel does love running. I can say with equal confidence that Marcel is very good at transitioning from one activity to the next, will sit for minutes looking at books, makes believe with objects and always ask “what’s that?” If Fancy Day Care sees what I’m seeing, that goes a long way to me trusting that the other stuff they are doing is right on point.

 

Favorites

When Marcel wakes up in the morning, she comes to get her daddy and the two of us go downstairs to the family room, where she sits in my lap, I spoon feed her yogurt and we watch “Little Bear.” It’s our thing.

At night, when Marcel is forced to go to bed, she insists that I read her a book and sit in her room until she goes to sleep. Sometimes, she wants me to sing her a lullaby. Sometimes she wants me to shut up so she can go to sleep. Either way, she wants me there.

For a long time, this led me to believe that I was the favorite parent.

Last Monday, there was a change in the routine. I still did the morning feeding and the nightly tuck-in. But I also had to do the morning drop off at Fancy Day Care, which is on the other side of downtown from our home.

Normally, when I travel toward downtown, I head west only a little bit, before jogging south to get to the major cross town route through downtown. When my wife travels downtown, she likes to head a little further west before turning because that’s her favorite way to the major cross town route that travels along downtown’s northern edge and that’s the way she takes Marcel to school.

“Straight! Straight!”

That’s how I found out it’s now Marcel’s favorite route, too. All the way to Fancy Day Care, my little girl gave me explicit instructions.

“Turn! Turn!”

“Stop! Stop!”

“Go, daddy, go!”

And then, on the way home from Fancy Day Care, I forgot to bring pacifiers. Marcel came right out and told me that she didn’t love me. That day, if I wanted love, I had to look elsewhere or, as she put it, “Cyrus (a classmate at Fancy Day Care) loves you.” But when I asked her, Mommy and Grandma didn’t love me, either. Apparently, they were on her side.

Thus, I found that while Marcel does have favorites, those favorites aren’t parents.

 

First Day of School!

Okay, it wasn’t actually Marcel’s first day of school. It was just the first day of day care.

And it wasn’t actually the first day of day care. Marcel attended another day care, previously, but they didn’t do much but keep her alive. This is a fancy day care, that actively engages Marcel in things like singing songs and finger painting. It even has a fancy name.

But it wasn’t even Marcel’s first day of Fancy Day Care. It was actually her second day, but the first was only a half day and my wife stayed with her the whole time.

This was, however, her first, full day of Fancy Day Care, alone.

As we drove up to the valet (I told you it was fancy!), we feared that Marcel would be upset when the teacher took her from the car, so we tried to prep her.

“Marcel”, we said brightly, “you’re going to school to play on the playground! And sing songs! And walk in the gardens! And finger paint!”

Luckily, when we finally drove up, and the teacher opened the car door and Marcel saw all the kids running on the playground, her face lit up like she just saw her momma get off the bus. So we were happy when we left her.

Apparently, Marcel wasn’t happy to see us go. The “Daily Activity Report”, uh, reported, that “Marcel was a little upset this morning.” Fancy Day Care recovered, though, continuing in the DAR that “[w]e talked and told her everything was okay and that mommy always comes back.” That must have been enough for Marcel, as the report also, uh, reported, that she “…read books, played instruments to Dora the explorer[,] danced with streamers” [and]…sang “itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald had a farm[.]”

So, Marcel clearly loves school, which clearly means she’s going to Harvard.

Of course, I know that there’s a lot of time between now and college, which is a lot of time for things to change, including her love and interest in school, which means she could end up at Dartmouth.

But for this week, at least, we can dream big.