There are no classes in my son’s school today to give way to their third and final Parent-Teacher Conference for this school year. I was late for work because I have to talk to Justin’s teachers about his progress in school.

According to his teachers, Justin now enjoys being in school and mingling with his classmates and other kids. Justin is also not shy around people, and he is not picky when it comes to his friends; he talks to everybody. He has also become more confident speaking the English language. Further, he has mastered his ABCs and can read CVCs (consonant-vowel-consonant words, e.g., cat, dog, bug). His teachers said he’s good in Math, too, because he can count until 30. This is already old news because he learned to do this even before we enrolled him in Nursery class.

On the other hand, Justin’s teachers observed that he’s a bit malikot (wriggly), moving his hands and feet too often that he ends up unintentionally nudging or bumping his classmates when they’re sitting on the blue line inside their classroom. One of his teachers said that perhaps he’s just too happy and excited to be in school, and that’s how he acts out his feelings. He is also not too keen on sharing a toy that he likes, and if another toy catches his fancy, he wants to have it right away even if another kid is still playing with it. In short, my son has yet to learn the virtue of patience.

That’s how my meeting with my son’s teachers went. Now, back to work!

Justin’s school celebrated United Nations Day early (October 16) because they’ll be having their midyear break in the last week of October. That means they’re also celebrating Halloween earlier (October 23). The students are supposed to have two costumes for both events. However, because of the recent typhoons that crippled many of our kababayans in the past weeks, the school administrators decided one costume is enough for both occasions.

Luckily for Justin, he has a Chinese suit at home that he can use during their United Nations Day celebration. It was the same Chinese suit that he wore on his second birthday. Of course, I took a picture of him wearing the same costume, and I was amazed at how my son has grown from an innocent-looking two-year-old tot to a naughty-looking (but still cute and adorable) three-year-old boy.


My two-year-old baby


My three-year-old young man
Do you think he looks Chinese?

Today, Justin’s teachers for his nursery summer class, Teacher G. and Teacher M., prevented all parents from going inside the classroom. The teachers will now be solely responsible for these kids.

Justin wouldn’t let go of my hand initially as I was preparing to leave the room, but he soon forgot about mommy when Teacher M. pointed to the toys and invited him to play.

I was standing outside Justin’s classroom the whole time, peeping through the “semi-tinted” (for lack of a better term) windows to see what Justin was doing. As a mother, I was hesitant to leave my son behind for the following reasons: (1) he might grab other kids’ toys; (2) he might bruise/hurt himself or other kids might hurt him; (3) he might fall; and (4) he might get into a fight with other kids.

To my surprise, none of the things I feared happened, although there was this classmate who was deliberately bumping Justin. Good thing, my son wasn’t retaliating. Justin didn’t cry for two hours while inside the classroom, he actively participated in all the activities, and for the first time in more than one week that he’s attending school, he lay down on the mat when it was time for them to rest.

I couldn’t help noticing, though, that it takes longer for Justin to finish his food. When all of his classmates were already roaming around the room or horsing around or lying on the mat, he was still eating. Maybe it’s because at home, he usually eats in front of the TV where his attention is divided between eating and watching.

I hope Justin continues behaving well inside the classroom until he finishes his five-week summer class. By then we will know if he’s ready to go to a regular nursery class this June.