ciroccoj | How to Win Friends and Influence People

"Face it, Mama, he's born for trouble."

Daniel, observing Justin tonight.

I can see his point.

In other news, I wish I had a userpic for "proud as hell", because that's how I feel right now about Daniel.

Went to the parent-teacher interview, and his teacher had almost nothing but good things to say about him. His behaviour is light-years beyond what it was at the beginning of the year. He's one of her stronger students academically, and only really has trouble with fine motor skills. He's interesting, and very independent. And, what was very, very surprising to me, the other kids really seem to like him. He usually plays by himself at recess, but that seems to be by choice, not circumstance. And in class, the other kids listen to what he says and always seem interested in him. When he told them he would be gone for two days because he was going to Toronto, two of them said, "Oh. I'll miss you!" and many of the others nodded.

Huh. I definitely wasn't expecting that - I thought Daniel, with his long hair, weird interests and motor mouth, would probably be one of the weird kids that were either roundly ignored or picked on. And I thanked God that he and Justin have both inherited almost unshakeable self-confidence from their father, because I figured Daniel at least would really need it.

Apparently not. His teacher thinks that the other kids like him precisely because he's unusual and very verbal - he tells interesting stories, according to her. And he's also quite friendly but doesn't seem to need to be around the other kids, so they sort of gravitate towards him. The attractiveness of the slightly aloof, I guess.

Wow. You learn something new every day.