The Preschool Difference, an Amazing Difference!

So, tonight was our first mainstream preschool open house night for our little man. I have to admit that I was nervous for Thomas and our family. I wanted the evening to go well; and more than anything for Thomas to be proud of the work that he has done over the past 6 weeks.

Like the Griswalds,we loaded up the family truckster and headed out to The Light of the World, Thomas' mainstream preschool. We were all there, Sean, Sidney, Thomas and me. We have been working of answering "where" questions and searched for pumpkins on the way to school. We kept hearing Thomas from the backseat say, "Pumpkins, where are you?" and "There you are." while pointing to the random pumpkins in the neighborhood. Then we drove by the construction site of the new Kroger Marketplace (can I get a yea! from all the Mommies out there in blog land?). Thomas said "hi" to the all the construction vehicles, by name. When we came upon the school, he was visibly excited to show his Dad and sister his school. He proudly announced, "that's my school!" as we turned into the parking lot.

We all got out of the truckster (not a paneled station wagon) and headed into school. I told Thomas to grab Sidney's hand and show her where his class was. I wish that I had my camera with me as Thomas took Sidney's hand and headed down the hallway. We arrived at his classroom and he immediately walked in and said, "Hi, Ms. Adrienne." He took his picture off the table and put it in the chart by his written name.

Sean then picked him up and they searched for his picture frame hanging from the ceiling. All the parents and children then began to review the start to the day. The kids were called over to the circle-time carpet to begin the session. Thomas heard the teacher say it was time to begin and he ran, not walked to the carpet. He sat down on his bottom and was ready to go (my eyes were already starting to tear up). We began the session with the song welcoming everyone to school, counting everyone present. Thomas didn't really get into the song other than clapping as appropriate. My heart sank a little bit.

Then, we moved on to the weather song and Thomas sang every single word...my heart soared. From there, we moved onto the days of the week, color and shape of the week work. I was again nervous because Thomas was chosen as the child to hold the pointer and help with the songs and identification. A large bit of me was concerned that Thomas would take the pointer and beat every child in class. Amazingly, he took the pointer and pointed to the days of the week as we sang the song. Then, he pointed to the color pink and awaited a response from everyone to identify the color. Ms. Adrienne said, "that's pink." He then said, "hey, that's pink." Then she asked Thomas to point to the color that is the same as a pumpkin. Thomas pointed to the color orange...then he walked over to the pumpkin pointed to it and said, "its the same." We then moved on to the triangle which wasn't that impressive, he simply mimicked the words said.

As we moved through the Alfie, being polite dragon, Thomas kept saying give one to Daddy, give one to Sidney and give one to Mommy (yes, I was the last on the list). Then we moved onto Peek-a-boo bunny. This is the bunny that tells the children the letter of the week. When Ms. Adrienne asked the kids, "what is this animal?" Thomas yelled, "It's a bunny!" Then she showed the children the letter and asked, "what is this letter?" Thomas yelled before any other child, "It's G!"

After this, we closed the session. All the parents exchanged pleasantries and I got to talk for a bit with Thomas' teacher about his FM system. Ms. Adrienne, Thomas' teacher, is a wonderful, amazing, gifted woman...I sooooooooo love her!

As a parent of a special needs child, you want your child to succeed. You want EVERYTHING for them...acceptance, love, friendship, etc. You want the world, you pray for the world.

Well, tonight we got the world. We got more than the world, we got Heaven, too. Sean and I both gave thanks to God for everything, the financial ability for me to stay home, the gift of Thomas' amazing preschool and his more than amazing teachers, the joy of Sidney and her ability to be proud of her brother, the brilliance of being able to sit back one night and sigh...saying that, "Wow, Thomas is doing great. We should be thankful for his preschool, for everything and everyone that got us here." Praise be to God for Becky, Bari, Dr. B, Angie, Tami, Tamarah, Meredith and countless others.

I so appreciate the fact that Thomas is in a mainstream preschool...and I don't want to ever take that for granted. What amazing difference preschool makes!