First Day!

This morning I set my alarm early.  My nerves were slightly jumbled.  I was excited.  Today was Lucas' first day at the Pre-School program in our school district!  My nerves were jumbled because I had to get him moving faster that his old schedule.  Lucas can be a very cranky easily frusterated when his routine is changed or just when things don't go his way.  Luckily he woke up easily and sat at the table nicely, only a little fussy, for his breakfast.  We had one minor meltdown this morning when I was gathering the items for his lunch box.  He wanted them NOW even after I explained what they were for and he would get them later, he wanted them NOW for breakfast.  After a 5 minute battle I switched gears and went with distraction.  "Where are your trains?"  Sometimes a Mom has to pick her battles.  Our next little tiff was when I placed the finished lunch box in the fridge.  Lucas wanted it to go into his backpack.  He was not willing to listen to me explain.  This was a moment that his language delay becomes a big issue.  I explained three times that it was "too early" to put the lunch box in the backpack.  I held my ground, it was only 7:30am and way too early for the lunch box to be packed away.  In these moments it helps that I get on his eye level (tough when my leg hurts) and find a way to calm him down so he can listen to me. 

We drove Lucas to school together for this first day.  Of course I took some pictures!  This is a big day for all of us.  Lucas wasn't confused he knew he was going to the "Big School" today.  My only real fear was that the teachers won't understand him when he talks but because she is experienced with children who have special needs and speech issues I am comfortable that she and Lucas will figure it out.  Lucas is very different from Gabriel, when Gabe was this age, heck when Gabe was 7 years old he had extreme seperation anxiety.  Lucas has zero seperation anxiety!  Today I had to ask for a kiss when I was leaving him at the school.  Lucas was happy with the toy vacuum in his new class and the i-pad at his desk. 

Lucas' teacher sends out a daily email stating what the kids have done that day.  Today she also sent me an email to let me know how his first day went.  I quote "Lucas had a pretty good first day. He was disappointed when we couldn’t play all day but caught on to the routine pretty quicklyJ Each day will get better and better."  This three sentence feedback on Lucas' first day may seem pretty basic but it is a fount of information for me.  First, it tells me that the teacher does take into concern my roll in Lucas' daily educational life.  Second it tells me that she understands how these small details are needed.  Lastly, the information tells me what I already know.  Lucas is used to a "play school" type of setting, she probably had to deal with a small meltdown when trying to get him involved in the schedule but he soon understood that certain things are expected of him.  I know when Lucas came home he was super excited about his day so what ever the meltdown was about he hasn't held a grudge (Lucas can hold some grudges!) 

By Friday I will be looking for his speech schedule.  I want to sit in on a session or two a month so I know how to carry over the work being done.  Leo and I have been enjoying the amount of speech coming out of Lucas lately that we haven't worried ourselves about his clarity.  Sometimes you need to learn how to switch off of being a teacher and remain as a parent.  I especially needed to spend some time only enjoying Lucas instead of constantly working with him, or worrying about him.  I am continueing my "break" as his teacher till Friday when I will begin to work with him again.  Until then, I will simply be Mommy.