Today was family orientation day at Cole's new preschool. If you read my previous post on Global delays you will remember that Daycare was a recommended for Cole by the Developmental Pediatrician. Being in a Nursery school should be beneficial for his speech and social skills. After 2 to 3 months Cole will be evaluated in this setting, and then he should receive further diagnosis.
Cole attended our church's Vacation Bible Camp (Pandamania) back in July and he had a blast! He did really, really well with transitioning with the schedule, the leaders and the other kids. We knew then, even before his evaluation, that something like Nursery School may be really great for Cole.
Before we started having kids, Dave and I agreed that it would be awesome if I could stay at home with our children, at least until they were in full-time school. I love and have volunteered with Preschoolers after all, and I didn't see the point in paying someone to watch my kids and teach them things I could do on my own. So looking at Nursery Schools isn't something I thought I'd ever be doing. However, parenthood never goes as planned, and I never thought I'd have a child who may likely have Autism either.
Since Cole's appointment with CDC wasn't until the beginning of August, quickly followed by a week of holidays out of town, we were left quickly looking for a Daycare, in a new city, only a couple of weeks before the Fall programs started. Fortunately (to make a long story short) we ended up with 2 choices literally down the road from us.
The first choice has a great reputation, is 3 days a week in the mornings. It has a maximum of 16 kids and was full when we enquired. We were put on a waiting list but were informed of an opening the same day we went to visit ... Option Number 2: is located in the Christian School and is 2 days a week. They had an opening in one of their 2 morning classes but there afternoon class was only half full. Really both options looked great, and Cole seemed comfortable in both settings and I'm sure would be thrilled with either. Both had also worked with Community Living; the organization that will work with the Preschool to address Cole needs due to his delays. So after much prayerful thought we chose Option Number 2. We felt 2 days a week may be enough on top of any other therapy sessions Cole may have (eg. speech, OT, PT, Infant Dev.) and we felt the communication between the parents and the teachers was excellent. Something really important when your child has delays in communication, and you may not hear anything about his day from him. Also the smaller class size (9) seemed beneficial and would mean some extra one on one time for him.
So today our whole family attended the Nursery school. We had been talking it up for a few days and Cole was super excited! He remembered the building as soon as we pulled up saying "Nursery School". We were only there for an hour to hand in our registration forms and meet the other kids and parents. Next week he'll attend just one day with half his class, and then the next week and following he'll go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons regularly. He seems to have a great class with a great bunch of friendly kids. Kendall was the only sibling there, but you almost didn't know it because she was right in there like a dirty shirt playing with the toys, and bringing the teachers dress up shoes to wear (she's much cuter than a dog who fetches slippers). Nursery school is looking like a very positive experience. I'm glad we can change our perception on things.
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