I just got back from my conference with Madalyn's Gifted & Talented program teacher. It went as I expected it would, which was something along the lines of, "Blah blah blah frigging genius blah blah blah winning personality" etc. etc. Heh. I also got a bonus comment on how well-groomed and well-dressed she always is, so, hey, proof that all that ironing I do isn't for naught.

Really, though, it was very interesting. Madalyn isn't so big on the details so I have never been sure what all they actually do in the class. The teacher went over all the things on which they've been working and showed me various samples of Madalyn's work. She appears to be doing well with it.

Coincidentally she just, the other day, gave me her third quarter marks for the class, which she had secreted in her desk at school and then forgot. The kids are evaluated and scored on sixteen different skills in the areas of work habits/study skill and cognitive skills. The scores rate their competence and range from 1 (low) to 5 (high). Madalyn scored a 5 in every category. Because I'm completely shameless I can't resist mentioning that, as if that wasn't impressive enough, you should also keep in mind that she is a year younger than the other kids. Dear Madalyn was only supposed to be in first grade this year, according to the local age restrictions, but, you may remember, we started her in kindy a year early. Apparently we were not so far off in our thinking when we did this.

Anyway, I'm very proud of her, as you might imagine. She's a great kid, all around. That child has never given us a bit of trouble and has made parenting sinfully easy. She's smart, she does well in school with minimum effort and no prodding needed from us, she makes good choices and she's got a great personality -- everyone loves her. Yes, I think she's definitely a keeper.