A New Chapter

My babies are going to school!!!
Cue the tears....

I hinted around that changes were coming when I posted "Goodbye to Lala" last Friday. Monday was the first day of preschool for the boys.

Stokes and William are in the Discoverers Pre-K3 class for older twos and younger threes, and Ryan is in the Adventurers Senior Toddler class for younger twos. We talked to the Director a while back in regards to Ryan's special needs to try to figure out which class would be a good fit for him so he's in a younger class than his brothers.

I intended to do a few "practice runs" in the mornings during the week before they started school to make sure we planned for an appropriate time frame to get everyone up, dressed, and out the door. Well, with Memorial Day on Monday (we were driving home from Jacksonville), and Thomas being out of town Wednesday - Friday and the Nanas being here, I never got around to doing these "practice runs". I put some thought into how it all would go, however, and Thomas and I verbally ran through it a couple of times on Sunday, and luckily Monday morning went off without a hitch! We also agreed that Thomas would drive over there each morning with us to help me with drop-off, at least for the first week until we got our routine down.

We made sure to take a minute on the front porch for a few pictures before getting into the car.

Stokes

Ryan
Check out that standing while only
holding one hand with Dada!!!!

William
This is the face he makes when he says,
"cheese!" for all pictures.

When I tell you these boys were excited, that doesn't even cover it. They were happy to put on their book bags that they got to use for the first time, and they were loving going anywhere outside the house (they refer to it as "bye bye Mama's car").

Mama and her boys

About to burst with excitement!

Check out those book bags!

Oooh! Time to get in the car!

Seriously, how big are they looking right now? I can't take it.

We pulled up to school and walked in and were escorted to the classrooms. The boys saw all the toys and other little kids in the rooms and were immediately sold.

Dada walking with Stokes and William

Meeting one of their teachers and looking at new toys!

Ryan with his new teacher

Ryan with his teacher
This pic is from the App!! :)

No one shed a tear. I'm not sure if I should be proud that they're fairly well adjusted and maybe confident, or hurt that they were like, "Bye, Felicia!" as soon as we walked in. HA! I hear that sometimes the second week brings some resistance, but the first day was awesome. Their school has an app on the phone and they post pictures throughout the day and update it as to what the boys are doing, when and what they eat, when they have a diaper change and when they nap. I felt comfortable knowing that I could check in with them throughout the day with the app.

When Thomas and I came for pick-up, the Director told us, "They could not have had a better day!" We were both so proud.

I, of course, don't want this to be a traumatic experience or a rough transition for them. I do think though that their willingness to be dropped off and their excitement is a good indication that they were indeed ready for school.

I grappled with this decision for a long time. We knew that age 3 was typical for most kids to be starting some sort of preschool program, so that's what we were shooting for. When I think back to when I first went back to work and how difficult it would have been to get all 3 of them ready and out the door, it still stresses me out. Having Layla, our nanny, come in was absolutely the right situation for us at the time. Now that they're a bit older and can do a lot more on their own, everything is much easier. Not only that, but they were tired of being cooped up in the house all the time. It was not a reasonable request for Layla to take them all somewhere by herself, so they spent all of their time during the week either inside our house or in our backyard. Thomas and I tried to get them out each and every weekend to avoid the monotony for them and to expose them to other things. They were so eager to get out and see the world. Each morning they would ask to go "bye bye Mama's car" and it broke my heart to always tell them that they were staying here again today. Anyway, the time was right to move on to the next season: school.

I absolutely am thrilled with the school that we chose. Finding a school with the hours we needed, a convenient location, openings for all 3 of them, affordable (relatively!!!!), and with acceptance and willingness to work with us for Ryan's special needs was nearly impossible. I spent months stressing out about this. Thomas and I took plenty of tours of different schools, called even more, talked to friends, family and therapists for recommendations and finally decided on the very best fit. Quite a few of the schools we talked to were unable to meet our requests for Ryan's care, which was challenging. While he's the most easy-going, happy and sweet little guy, the fact remains that he needs help walking and eating, is non-verbal, and will not realistically be potty trained for quite a while, not to mention his {well-controlled but looming} seizures. We gave some thought into going to 2 different schools - one that would help with Ryan, and another school for Stokes and William - but really didn't want to, and in the end, found a school that was really, really compatible for what we needed. Hallelujah!!!!

Their first opening for all 3 to start was June 6. We wanted the boys to be enrolled somewhere by the time the fall rolled around and they turned 3, so we felt like June was even better than fall. After giving it some more thought, we like the June start date even more for a few reasons. August is another transition time when kids move classrooms, enroll, "graduate", etc so by getting them in there in June, we avoided a lot of the chaos of extra transitions. June seems to be a bit calmer, so while there were changes and movement going on, it wasn't quite as crazy as I assume August will be. We thought that this transition to school is going to be big enough for them, and the fewer moving parts and pieces, the better. Not only that, but we all know that kids get sick A LOT once they start school - whatever time frame or age - it's going to happen when they start school at some point. Summer months tend to see less illness so I'm hoping that they'll start getting exposed to some germs over the summer so that when cold and flu season starts, it won't be quite as bad for them.

So anyway, after we dropped them off Monday morning, happy as clams, to be with their new classes, I got back into my car and cried. How can my babies be old enough for preschool? Where did the time go? The whole day was a bit emotional for me, and I ended up coming back up there for Ryan's afternoon PT session, and checked my app constantly for updates, and when I came to pick them up in the evening, they were all so excited to see me and Thomas! The first day was an overwhelming success. I'll update later on with thoughts from the entire first week!

Rant time: let me just say this, throughout our search for schools, it felt to me like Moms of special needs kids are expected not to work. Yes, Ryan does need extra doctor's appointments and has therapy every day, and luckily my flexible work schedule allows for that (other jobs would not be an option for me), but child care is absolutely an issue. It's not affordable to pay for a nanny AND two full-time school tuitions and it's not fair to hold William and Stokes back from other environments. When we finally found this school, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders! I felt so relieved! But I also feel for Mamas with kids with special needs that may not have the resources and support that we have. I was shocked at how few institutions were willing, equipped and able to work with Ryan. It's truly a shame and I am so grateful that our school has been extremely accommodating for us.