Our baby girl is sure growing up

By Joel Myhre (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, August 23, 2008

I have written in this space many times over the last 3 1/2 years about the trials and tribulations of being a parent. From finding day care to crawling, walking, talking and potty training, there have been many.

The past two weeks, however, my wife and I have seen a few milestones that I thought were worth writing about, as follows:

My daughter took her recent “exam” which is the first step toward entering pre-school and kindergarten. That one-hour exam proved to be a fine sampling of what my wife and I have experienced with our daughter in terms of her development.

We watched in joy as she easily swept through colors and shapes, and were told that our daughter has an excellent vocabulary. While we would like to think it was due to the daily books we read to her, the likelihood is that reading and vocabulary happen to be subjects she’s interested in.

I say that because, only seconds later, we squirmed in our seats when the test giver asked my daughter how old she was, and, after an uncomfortably long pause, she said she was 2, when she’s actually 3. My daughter also was unable to count to more than two, according to the parameters of the test.

As someone who majored in engineering (though a drop-out, I must admit) it was difficult to watch my daughter struggle when it came to math. However, it was hard to know if she truly didn’t get it, or if she was simply not interested in the subject, and didn’t have the patience to think it through. It was probably a little bit of both.

I know, I know. She’s 3. I get it. I’m not planning on being one of those parents in the movie “Parenthood” that has their 3-year-old doing Spanish flashcards. I’m sure she’ll get by in math when the time comes. But based on her interests even now (reading, singing, and drama for example), the likelihood of her being a rocket scientist, for example, seems slim.

> My daughter starts pre-school after the Labor Day weekend. It’s basically only a sample at first – a couple of afternoons per week. And I assume pre-school, at that age, involves a lot of playing, with a few educational opportunities thrown in.

That said, it’s hard not to get a little weepy knowing my daughter is headed off to school. It just doesn’t seem right yet. Then again, it probably never will.

In perhaps the proudest parent moment of the week, we made my daughter’s crib into a real bed, and she slept all night in it (with the exception of a bathroom break at about 11 p.m.). My wife and I knew moving our daughter to a regular bed was a priority. We had done it a few months ago, but my daughter was a little freaked out, so we reverted. However, this time, she made it all night (OK, so my wife bribed her with a hot fudge sundae). Yet another sign that our baby is growing up.

••••

After all of that “sensitive guy” writing, I had to throw in a little man stuff at the end – specifically, the U.S. men’s basketball team, which I am watching from my computer screen as I write this.

For some reason, I have no interest in seeing the U.S. men’s basketball team play in any close, exciting games. Nope. If the Americans blow out every team, that’s just fine by me. There’s no reason why a team in which the last guy off the bench is an NBA all star should ever lose to anyone. Losing in 2004 was pure embarrassment.

Save the close games for fencing or something.

Joel Myhre is The Journal’s general manager. E-mail him at joel.myhre@fergusfallsjournal.com