And my heart swelled . . .

Yesterday I had my son, Harrison's, parent-teacher conference. It was wonderful. She said that he is a joy to have in class. That even though she knows that he knows everything she is teaching, that he is still respectfully taking it all in. (I know I am his mom, but he is a freaking GENIUS) She said, it is as though he is listening to see if he can find some new tidbit of information in there to absorb. She said kids like Harrison tend to be arrogant or snotty about knowing what the teacher is teaching, or simply don't listen because they know the material. She also said that he is the first 1st grader in all of her years of teaching who not only knows all the conventions of writing (like grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc), but actually puts them to use.

She said he amazes her.

I swelled up with joy and pride.

It was especially nice because he was sitting there next to me in those little 1st grade chairs listening intently as she praised him. It was too cute. He sat up straight and tall and crossed his hands in front of him at the table. I enjoyed every minute of it. He struggles with a little tad of anxiety and he worries terribly what other's think of him so it was brilliant that he got to hear all this!

She did mention that he struggled a little the last quarter with some behavioral issues like talking over others and being in other people's business. She said he was emotional and distracted but had shown great improvement in the last 6 weeks. I told her that we up-ed his dosage of Focalin 6 weeks ago. She stared at me, mouth open. She said she usually isn't a fan of medication, but it obviously works for Harrison. I was thirlled that the break-out behaviors we were seeing stopped immediately after up-ing the dose. I was also thrilled that yet another person can see that meds aren't always for "bad" kids and aren't always so horrible.

I will do whatever helps my son be a productive student and a loveable child, meds or no meds. I think it is Jill who says, "Better living through pharmaceuticals". I love it!