Over the moon!

I just came back from Gillian's parent-teacher meeting. I am totally, absolutely over the moon today! I've got a grin plastered on my face like a toothpaste advertisement. I can't remember how many times I told Gillian how happy and proud of her I am! So just bear with me while I give my proud-mama boast. Dodge the exclamation marks ahead if you can!

First - a bit of an explanation on the school's target setting. The MOE computer system set targets for the various subjects she would sit for and the teachers would also set their own targets for her accordingly. Because she scored 98 for the PSLE, the system expected her to hit at least all Ds for all her subjects. The school had set similar targets.

But this girl just took off running and never looked back and whacked those targets out of the window. She scored a C for English (which needs working on but looking at the previous year's grades, she is scoring better now). Wonder of wonders, she made it to a C for maths!!! Something she has never ever done in her life, having flunked maths for all her life since P1! I expected something like a borderline pass/fail grade but gosh, she actually leapfrogged past that. Her position in class for Maths scores was 10 out of 32 - which means the whole class probably sucked at Maths but the point was - what a big leap she made!!

She scored an A for Science, taking 4th place in the cohort, an A for Computer Applications at 6th position in class and another A for Home Econs coming in 1st in class. Her overall position - 7th place in class.

When I looked at her results over the last year, I could see her moving up the ladder slowly but surely. She started out in 28th place last year term 1, crawled up to 23rd place, then 22nd place and finally 14th place in the overall full-year scores. And today she's in 7th place. Her overall score has moved from 54% early in Sec 1 to 62% at the end of Sec 1. Today, she's hit 71%. So it looks like she's been consistent in moving up and on, but this first quarter results are just like a huge sprint up, let alone baby steps in improvement.

Why am I so overwhelmed? Because this girl has had such a hard tough journey getting here. We've been through so much. Among family, we've all commented that she seems changed in some way this year that we find hard to define. Quieter, less impulsive perhaps. She seems more focused. The results bear this out.

I think she's hitting her stride and I'm so pleased, so proud of her to make these great big leaps. For parents who have children who are naturally gifted, who always do well in school, they have every reason to be proud. But perhaps after a while, a sense of expectation and comfort sets in. But for people like Gillian and for me, it has never been easy. Never at all. So when she does a hat-trick like this and upend all our expectations on our ears, we are just so very puffed up full of pride. The victory is even sweeter.

This does wonders for her self-esteem. Plus the fact that she got into the school bowling team this year and is actually selected to compete in the coming C Div Nationals. Two days ago she came home and flashed her team t-shirt, happily beaming away, ah well... it was wonderful. And now this icing on the cake. She's in such a good place in her life now.

The sense of achievement and pride will give a different perspective to how she views herself, and how she views life. It will help keep her focused and less interested in the 'fun' that some of her classmates engage in. Now she knows - that she can do it, she's not dumb, hard work is all it takes. That this is not just something mummy mouths off about. Hard work does pay off.

We tried to keep our feet on level ground though, I reminded her that she should keep this going, don't lose the momentum and slack off and she soberly nodded. But there's just no getting past the giddiness we have right now. Family celebration ahead!