Parent Teacher Interview

Keith had his first parent teacher interview today.  Not so coincidentally, it was also my first parent/teacher interview.  Unexpectedly, I was slightly nervous walking into the classroom.  Perhaps it's the realization that my son is growing up and that this is the first of many parent/teacher interviews i will attend as a parent.  Or maybe because I was nervous about what the teacher will say about Keith.  or maybe because I'm not familiar with how to interact with a teacher as a parent.  Should I be friendly, should I be concerned, should I have been prepared with a list of questions to ask the teacher?

It turned out that there was nothing to worry about.  Keith is doing just fine at school.  The teacher is really pleased with his progress in all areas.  She showed me some examples of his work - his drawings and writing.  He drew a picture of 6 stick figures and he wrote something like this as his caption: ON FML D W M HS.  Which was his way of writing "On Family Day, we went to mama's house."  The teacher explained that he is starting to sound out words and he wrote all the letters by himself, which is a huge accomplishment for his age, especially considering he couldn't even hold a pen properly at the beginning of the school year.

My very own QR code

Costco

I have a love-hate relationship with Costco. I hate them because every time I go and just want to get eggs, milk, and bananas, I end up getting hundreds of dollars of things that I never knew I needed or wanted. I was there today and considered getting a life jacket for my 4 yr old son. Why does my son need a life jacket? I don't know.

But I love Costco for their amazing return policy. I bought the Quick Tax software last week and noticed today that they were selling it for $8 less. I was fortunate to have kept my receipt in my wallet and with just my receipt, I was able to get the $8+tax back. That's pretty awesome!

Loblaw's highest ROI activity

Loblaws has a really smart and effective strategy to drive store traffic - they offer a free cookie to each kid 12 and under.  Whenever I ask my 4-year old son if he wants to go to Loblaws with me, he usually replies with an enthusiastic "yes!".  Of course, when I go with him to get the free cookie, I usually end up with a shopping cart full of groceries that I would not have bought had I not gone to Loblaws that day.  Who would have thought that a cookie would be one of their highest ROI marketing activities?