I can't believe this day has arrived. The day I'm sending my little boy off to school. When Eli was diagnosed with ASD last April, this was the biggest thing I dreaded. I was okay on many levels with the diagnosis, but sending my boy away to school?! I was NOT ready for that. I had several months to prepare myself for this day :) Now...it's just pre-school, but it's a pretty big step for me...as my mom said 'One small step for Eli, one giant leap for mom'. It's very true. I'm pretty sure it was a harder day for me than Eli. BUT, we made it through.
Eli's supplies were (what else?!) Lightning McQueen. There's Lightning McQueen thermos inside the lunchbox too. My boy needs to take his friends to school with him :) I had the lunch packed and his backpack ready the night before. We needed to be out the door by 7:30, and when I'm not used to even getting out of bed until that time, I knew I'd need to be ready the night before :)
My handsome little guy all ready for school! (Unfortunately, I think this is the wrong color blue for the school...oops. BUT, since I think he's one of the only ones in Pre-K that actually wear a uniform, I don't think his teachers will care. He has lots of red shirts too...Red, White and Blue polo shirts are the acceptable uniform colors)
This is the best smile I got :)
Leah wanted to make sure she got in on the action too.
This is what he does when I pull out the camera and tell him to smile :)
Eli's teacher. She's SUPER nice, and from what I hear, wonderful with this group of kids. Eli's class has 5 other kids in it so far, so it's a nice student/teacher ratio (there is also an aid in the class). They are very organized. As soon as we walked in the room Eli put his backpack away, and was given a place at the table and was told to pick out a toy to play with. They keep these kids busy all day. In his IEP meeting I was told they change activities every 5 minutes! That makes me tired just thinking about it! These ESE teachers are amazing people. I am so blessed to have Eli in a class with such a talented teacher so dedicated to making sure he's successful!
Now...I did okay during this little process...only a few tears shed. I just came home and let Leah watch TV all morning, and I pretended Eli was in there with her ;)
Monday I took Eli into school myself. BUT, there is a bus just for his class that comes right near our house, so Edgar and I thought he would enjoy riding that. It arrives at about the same time I would have to leave to take him to school, so it just seemed more convenient to let him ride. And, I gotta say, bus drivers are just the best people in the world...of course, I might be a little biased ;) (Love you dad!!)
AND, Leah can come out in her PJ's :)
Here comes the bus!
Getting on board! There are seat belts for the kids (Seriously, why don't ALL buses have seat belts?) and an aid on the bus as well. They take him right to his classroom, so there is no confusion or getting lost for him :)
Off to school he goes!!
Eli's teacher called me after he arrived to let me know that he got off the bus with a big smile on his face (Gotta love a teacher that would do something like that!!) and came right into the room as happy as could be, sat down and started playing. That's my boy!
So, we've got 2 days down. So far so good. Eli seems to like it. He goes 5 days a week from 8-2...but I decided I need my buddy at home by 12:30, so I go and pick him up then. The teachers are fine with the early pick-up, and it makes me feel better having him home :) The past 2 days when I get him he seems quite wore out :) He's doing good, though, and adjusting better than I thought he would.
We pray that this would be a good fit for him, and that it would only continue to help him where he needs help...and I know many of you pray for him too, and that means the world to us!
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