teacher conferences

Rylee has a bad cough. He woke up Wednesday morning, having trouble breathing. We stood in the hot steaming shower for a long time, and that helped. Thursday seemed better, but he woke up this morning again with troubled breathing. We did get the new Wimpy Kid book Wednesday night, and he finished it by Thursday night. He reads in the car; he reads in bed; he reads on the couch hunched over his book in his lap. Things like television don't distract him.

The boys had Thursday and today off from school. There were parent teacher conferences. Cyndi and I went this morning. Generally, good praise for both. I was glad to hear Jackson remains an active participant in class. He's been saying some of the children tease him, and I wondered how that was affecting him. I think it's a harbinger of what may be coming up in middle school. His teacher said his participation in class is very thoughtful, and he likes to help the other kids. I wish he enjoyed reading and writing more, but I don't remember doing a lot of reading and writing at that age either. He gets mathematics pretty easy. He apparently especially liked classroom projects about inventions and the Mars robot. And now they are reading about the Revolutionary War, and he seems to be getting into the book.

He's using a pretty basic laptop computer at home. Some might not even consider it a real computer. He's got it filled with coding software he's downloaded, as well as video editing software. He's been complaining about the computer speed, and I thought, oh-oh, we were headed to getting him a serious computer, maybe an Apple. Well, with persistence he figured out on his own how to use an SD card to boost the RAM on his computer. He's quite pleased; he even had to call me right away to tell me. Right now, we are actually chatting about it on our computers. So glad we don't have to get a new computer.

He had his soccer scrimmage this week. It was cold. He did great. He plays hard, skillfully, with enthusiasm. I love watching him. Afterward we went to Dion's, the pizza place, with his team and the other team and all the kids sat squished into one booth and told stories and jokes and had lots of boisterous fun, while the parents sat nearby.  Jackson was in the middle of it all. Nice kids, about even boys and girls, all around his age. Ah, nice to see him in his element.

I know Rylee is having a good year at school. He's always telling me little bits of what he's learning. You can tell that every new thing he learns makes a big impression on him. He retains the information--he must be listening--and likes to talk about it. The teacher said this is one of the best classes he's ever had. Ry tests right at the very top in mathematics, with perfect scores. The teacher is going to recommend Rylee for the enrichment program, which is what Jackson is doing now, too. I saw Ry's desk, too. It's the smallest, and sits right next to the biggest. I thought that was a bit unfair.

It's a quiet time for Rylee. No sports at the moment. Too cold this week to go out to play. Thanksgiving is next week. Ariel and Chris will be here, but probably won't be with us on Thanksgiving Day. It sounds like me and Cyndi will do most of the cooking here and then take it with us to Belen. That's okay. As Cyndi says, it mostly means all the good day-long smells won't be at Grandma's.