Today was Avery's first day of preschool! I spent all weekend prepping him for going to school. I'd ask him "Are you going to school on monday?" "Are you going to have fun at school?" "You're going to school like a big boy!" Etc, etc.
This morning when he woke up I got him dressed, fed, etc for school. I got his backpack together with his change of clothes and a bag of diapers and wipes. I asked him again if he was going to school and he responded with a "yeah!" I asked if he was going to have fun and he replied with "yeah!"
I also got the other boys ready for school. Of course I was running late this morning. I was trying desperately to leave the house and every time I tried to walk out the door one of the boys needed something else or had to go to the bathroom, or "forgot to have me sign something". I ended up leaving the house at 9:15 and all 3 kids have to be at school (at 2 different schools I remind you!) at 9:25. I managed to grab a few pics of Avery while we were heading out to the car.
I dropped the older boys off at their school and made a quick U-turn to book it over to Avery's school. I got stuck behind the school buses though of course.
I was planning on parking at Avery's school and walking him up to the teachers at the front of the school. Because I was running late though I pulled through the carpool line and pulled right up to the curb and threw the car in park and jumped out to get Avery. He climbed out of the van and the speech therapist came over to take his hand. The minute she got to Avery he immediately high tailed it back into the van. Started screaming and crying yelling "No mama!" "No mama!" over and over. I tried to tell him I was just going to park the van, but that wasn't working. It ended up taking 3 people (2 at his feet and 1 at his arms) to carry him out of the van and to the sidewalk. I jumped in the van and bolted out of there. I didn't even get the van into drive before I started bawling.
What kind of horrible mother leaves their child who is screaming bloody murder with people who are complete strangers to him?! He doesn't know how to communicate with them!! He's scared to death and I just dropped him and ran.
I kept telling myself the whole way home "He's probably fine now! He got into the classroom and as soon as he saw the toys and everything he stopped screaming." I called my sister who told me they wouldn't let him scream for 2 hours and she reassured me that he was probably fine!
I spent the whole 2 1/2 hours he was gone wondering if he was ok. I was practically begging the clock to hurry up and get to 11:20 so I could go pick him up.
At 11:20 I left out of here so I could park at the school and make sure I was standing out front when they came out so he would immediately see I was there to get him. At 11:40 I saw one of the ladies who work in the main office walking by and asked her if I was in the right spot for the preschoolers. There wasn't any other parents there and I was beginning to wonder if I was in the right place. She told me I was and that they don't usually come out till 11:55am. I swear the preschool teacher told me 11:40! So I sat around a few more minutes. A few moms showed up and I spoke with them (who all highly raved about Avery's teacher, though none of their kids have Avery's teacher). The door opened and Avery's class started coming out. He was holding hands with another kid (think buddy system) and the kids all walked in a line over to the school bus where the kids started loading. When they got to Avery the lady said "oh no, not you sweetie..mommy's right there to get you!" Avery turned around saw me, and started bawling. I picked him up and asked if he had fun (which I got a "no" from him).
The teacher came over and told me how wonderfully Avery did, and how he stopped crying immediately and was already done crying before they even went into the classroom. While I was talking to the teacher Avery was busy screaming at the top of his lungs and pointing to the bus.
He wasn't mad at me for leaving him!!! He was mad that he couldn't get on the bus with all the other kids!!
The teacher said to me "see he wants to ride the bus with everyone else! They all do!"
During his IEP meeting I filled out the paperwork for him to ride the bus, so I can have him do it if I want to, I just am a little uncomfortable with him riding the bus and not communicating. I'll give him a few more days and if he still wants to ride the bus I'll set it up for him to take the bus home, and for me to drive him to school.
So the morning was horrible, but he did great! I asked him tonight if he was going to go back to school tomorrow and he said "No! stay home!"
*sigh* We'll see how tomorrow goes!
Monday, May 3, 2010
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2 comments:
Our oldest (almost 7) is nonverbal and he loved riding the bus to preschool. I, like you, was very hesitant but being a one car family tied our hands. The first year, I dropped him off at school and he rode the bus home. The second year, he rode the bus to and from school.
Angi from Tim and Angi's Family Blog
Poor kiddo! I hope after a few more days he'll get used to it.
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