"Can I see you after class?"

OH GOD. The dreaded words. These were the words that Colby's preschool teacher said to me on Friday morning when I dropped him off for school. She asked that I come by 20 minutes early so that we could have a "conference" about Colby. The last time anyone had said those words to me must have been my Freshman year in college.

**I recommend skipping the next paragraph and picking up afterwards**

I need to go off on a tangent for a second, to get this off my chest. It has always bugged me. It was my literature teacher who asked me to stay after class because he said I was not participating enough in the discussions. I was not participating by choice, because I did not like his grading system. This was a band teacher, and he was somehow conned into teaching an intro Freshman literature class because they were short on teachers for some reason. There were about 15 people in the class, so he knew us all by name. His "grading system" was to put a dash by your name any time you said something aloud in class. Something. ANYTHING. You could say "I disagree!" and get a mark by your name. You could bark like a dog and get a mark by your name. He totalled these marks, and the number of "marks" by your name somehow became 50% of your final grade. This just encouraged random, unintelligent comments from anyone and everyone (usually the same people over and over) and I thought it was just the stupidest grading system I had ever heard of. I refused to be a part of it, and my lips were sealed the entire semester. Not. A. Word. I was bucking the system. Even after I was called after class and lectured, I still refused to participate in such nonsense for grades. (I probably hadn't read the books, most of us hadn't anyway...thus the unintelligent comments) Therefore, I received what I think was my one and only "C" in college. I still think that teacher was a total moron.

Whew, I feel better.
Ok, back to Colby

My mind was racing for the next 3 hours over what was to come. What did Colby do? Did he hurt someone? Do they think I'm a bad mother? Do they think the lunches I'm packing aren't healthy enough? I know I don't pack veges, but he won't eat them! Did he bite someone? OH GOD. I hope he didn't bite anyone.

When I got there, we went to a private room and the discussion went as follows:

Teacher: Well, I wanted to talk to you about Colby because I have some concerns. He doesn't seem to listen to us very well. When we tell him "No" he doesn't pay attention.

Me: *Blank Stare*

Teacher: When he's doing something and we tell him to stop, he just keeps on going. We were walking in a group, and he darted ahead of everyone. When I told him to stop, he kept going.

Me: *Blank Stare*

Teacher: Does he ever sit down at home?

Me: Not really...well, if he gets hurt he might sit on our lap for a second. He'll sit if it's time for bed and we're reading him a book....but that's about it.

Teacher: Well, he also is screaming a lot. LOUD squeals. 99.9% of the time, it's a happy squeal, but when we tell him to stop, he won't.

Me: *Blank Stare*

(I'm thinking....he's 17 months old! Isn't this sort of normal? I mean, at least at the far end of the spectrum of normal? Maybe almost about to fall off the spectrum but hanging on by a pinkie normal?)

Teacher: I just have concerns that he doesn't listen.

Me: Has he bitten anyone?

Teacher: You mean he's biting?

Me: Oh, I mean, not really. I mean, just at night....just me and Lee. For fun. He thinks it's funny.

Teacher: *Blank Stare*

Me: We try to tell him "no" but he laughs.

Teacher: Well, I just wanted to see if he's doing the same things at home as he's doing in school, and it sounds like he is. We really need to work on getting him to
start obeying "no" and to stop screaming so much.

(end of discussion)

Well I'll be darned! I had no idea he wasn't supposed to be doing those things. We'll get on that right away. Thanks for pointing it out to us- all should be corrected by the weekend.