We've hit another milestone in parenthood: our first parent-teacher conference. I was looking forward to it, as was Claus. I wasn't sure exactly what they would talk about, though I had a general idea that it would be progress oriented. We were curious to see how Olivia's teacher regarded her educational development.

As we waited in line, I saw a sign that asked parents to take home their kid's blankets to wash and return. When I went to Olivia's cubby, a whole bunch of her little worldly treasures fell out. Really random things: two jackets, an unopened bottle of water I gave her weeks ago, used stickers, folded up bits of drawn-on paper, seeds fallen off a tree, a dirty dove feather, and oh yeah, that blanket. My kid is a packrat!

When it was our turn, the teacher gave us some of Olivia's art, and explained how each assignment was meant to foster fine motor skills. She also showed us a little report card that notes the kids' skill progression. For instance, the teachers record how many colors the child recognizes, if the child can recognize his or her own name, if they can recognize various monetary coins, etc. They monitor this every two months.

After that, the teacher shared her observations about Olivia and told us what our daughter was like on a daily basis. It was a very positive, enlightening session. What surprised me most was when the teacher said, "Olivia can sure hold her own on the playground."

The teacher said it's common for preschoolers to push and shove, because they're still learning about their body space and boundaries, and still learning to use their words. If pushed, Olivia will push back. According to the teacher, "She can dish it out but she can take it too." If Olivia falls down in a scuffle, she doesn't cry. She gets up and dusts herself off.

At first Claus and I were both surprised, but then I realized I had seen that behavior before, with - and only with - her cousin Carson. They're a year apart, and he is much bigger than she is, but I guess she wants to keep up.

I happened to be talking to my friend Minna Sugimoto and relayed that little revelation. "Apparently, my little kid can scrap," I told her.

Minna laughed. "Like mother like daughter!"

CUTTING

One of the skills Olivia's preschool teacher told us to work on with her is cutting. They practice cutting shapes. It's a fine motor skill.

Rather than draw a square and have her cut it, I decided to make it more fun - like stealth learning. I told her it would be a big help to Mom if she'd help me cut coupons from the Costco booklet. She was very motivated to do something grownup, so she immediately set to task.

Claus cut one out as a sample, and let her go. We were impressed that she figured out that you're supposed to cut along the dotted line, because there were some larger sized coupons and she managed to cut the whole rectangle out, rather than follow the small square sample we provided.

Olivia was very excited, playing house and all. "Do you need this bottle?" she asked Claus. "What about this Santa?" as she gestured to a photo of a kid's Christmas DVD. She even lined them all up nicely in a row and kept telling us to look at her. She did a good job. She had about 20 coupons lined up before she said, "I'm tired now."

Claus regarded the row of paper. "Clipping coupons. Takes after your side," he said.

Later that day, I cut some articles out of the newspaper. Now and then, I do that. In this case, I wanted to remember all the different community events for the holidays, things to take Olivia to. I had it neatly stacked on the table.

Husband came along and saw my big-girl scissors and my clippings. "You're practicing cutting too, huh? Good girl. Good job."