We had parent-teacher conferences today. They went well. The upshot:

• M is excelling in fine motor skills; she is eager to learn, aware, "a sponge", she has gotten more comfortable with scissors, she is excellent with letters, she is much better with transitions than at the beginning of the year, she loves to be with her friends and jump right in, she plays less with the boys than A does, she's gotten better about speaking up, she likes to take care of others and help work out issues and conflicts, she's a good friend to sister and friends.
• A's fine motor skills are coming along too, her letters are good, she has a sweet nature, loves to show off her outfits, she's expressive and uses her words, loves to play with the boys, she is not as enthusiastic about projects as M, she loves to play, she sticks up for herself, she doesn't eat snack but loves to hang out and talk to her friends, she sometimes gets distracted.

These answers to the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" were posted in the classroom:  

A: "I have been working on it that I want to be a ballerina in a movie theater, with the shoes. Whenever I see a ballerina on stage, it is fun."

M: "I want to be a ballet person. It just makes me feel like a ballerina and it makes me feel pretty."

The ballet recital went pretty well today. M did great; A got frustrated partly through and then refused to participate. It took some cajoling and stern words from Bad Cop (Daddy) to get her to go back. I have pics and video to upload, which I will do tomorrow.

And now, more from Daddy:

    Tonight the girls were so incredibly sweet.  It started off a little badly, because poor M got scared by Stuart Little, and started crying, but A was very good about turning it off to help her feel better.  Then A decided to play piano, and has started to learn "Day is Done" just since yesterday, which is pretty remarkable.  And M was very proud of herself for starting to learn "Doe a Deer" after not being able to do it last week, which was also great.

    After dinner/bath, they wanted to watch the beginning of "American Idol", and instantly remembered all the contestants, even though it's been weeks since they last saw it ("there's Anoop — but he has a mustache now;" "there's the boy who can't see;" "there's the girl with the tatoos on her arm I like").  They were remarkably insightful (they called David Cook's song very sad, which it was; they noticed Anoop's mustache, which I hadn't); laughed uproariously at the footage of the painfully bad singers, and danced hysterically (and quite well — the "underwater" and others) to some of the other songs.  

    They kept asking why the judges weren't judging, and were eager to hear their trademark spiels.  So when we went up to bed, we "played" AI, and they did a little routine, and I "judged" them, pretending to be each of the 4 judges (as Randy, I called them dawg; as Kara, called them sweetie; as Paula, hardly made sense, and as Simon, was critical).  They loved it. 

 

    At one point there was a really sweet ad, about a girl waiting for her boyfriend to return from traveling, and A. said, "That's such a sweet ad, when he comes back.  I want to see it again."  I was struck that the way she said it was both so simultaneously mature, yet sweet and innocent.

 

    We then read "Green Eggs and Ham."  We hadn't read it in a while, and M did an excellent job of starting to sound out words and say them along with me.  But I was then particularly proud of A for trying out one page too, and she kept doing it over and over until she got it right (as M tried to correct her).  Of course, by the end, she had it memorized more than she was reading it, but she was pointing to each word as she said it, which was great.  As a sidebar, A said, "Why won't he just try the green eggs and ham?  He should at least try them!  And why doesn't he like that?  He needs to use his words to say *why* he doesn't like it!" 

 

    As we brushed teeth, we finished up our conversation about ballet, and A said, quite self-perceptively, that "she didn't do a good job at the barre and skipping, but only at the end."  I said she was right, but I was most proud that she had gone back and tried it again, after being upset.  We then had another conversation about trying as hard as we can, during which A said "I thought I said I didn't want to talk about this any more," and I responded for perhaps my first, but undoubtedly not my last time, "Yes, but Daddies and Mommies get to decide what we talk about.  Not the kids.  When you're a mommy, you can decide."  But we ended it on a high point, and I think they both felt good about their performances at their first recitals.  

 

    Then M said, also incredibly self-perceptively (because I mentioned seeing the poster in the classroom where they each said they wanted to be ballerinas), "I want to keep taking ballet and get good at ballet, but I don't want to be a ballerina for my job because I think I'll get shy on the movie theater stage."  A then asked when we could go to a ballet again in a movie theater, and I said we'd try to figure out a time, perhaps even in Paris, at the place where Honk danced, but M pointed out "that might cost a lot of money."

 

    Then to bed.  M was happy just sleeping with Baby and Clarabelle; A slept with the usual 4.  They both had left all these most precious animals/babies with me yesterday to help me recuperate from the surgery, and they've been incredibly sensitive about the bandages, asking me frequently how I'm feeling, if they can help me with anything, etc.  Such sweet and amazing girls; we're so lucky.