Preschool Update

Some of you may have read my posts regarding the decision Rick and I will need to make as to where Tyler will go to school next year: Bright Beginnings through CMS or Church Preschool. I'm also expressed my worried feelings to some friends in person. I've prayed about this at least a few times.

Rick and I are 90% sure that we will place Tyler in Church Preschool. Signs here and there have been unfolding and I feel that God is speaking to us through these signs. The first light bulb moment was when we received thank you cards from his teachers for the meager Christmas candles we gave them. It wasn't the cards themselves that were a surprise but this was: one of his teachers wrote, "I love having you in class and I love you, Tyler." How sweet is that?!

The second sign was the fact that his preschool will now offer a four day a week program for four year old children. I spoke with the preschool director and all but begged her for a four day program as they currently offer three day programs. I felt like that was an answer to a specific prayer.

Tyler absolutely loves his classmates. I'm talking head over heals type of love. He speaks about them frequently. We bought a copy of the class picture and I put it in a frame for him to look at. In a typical Tyler fashion, he started using in as a lovey. He carried it around and went to bed with it. (Rick and I would go into his room after he would fall asleep to remove the picture from his grasp.)I guess he loved the picture too much because he broke the glass in the frame! Yikes, I'll need to find an alternative way to protect it.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Tyler's teachers and the preschool director. I think they are sweet, kind, warm, and lovely. More important than that, Tyler has progressed a lot more there than in the CMS program. Now reader, I have never been in denial about Tyler's "disabilities" but now I feel that the progress he's made strips away the label of having any disabilities. I think that some of the thing's he's now a tad behind on are a result of just needing to mature more. For example, he can't carry on a conversation to the extent that you (I) might think he should be able to for a four year old. Yet several people, including the church preschool teachers, have told me that there are plenty of "normal" four year olds who don't have conversations per se'.

Part of me wants to pull him out of the CMS preschool system now. Rick pointed out that as long as the CMS preschool isn't slowing him down than there really isn't a reason to pull him. Good point, Rick. A lot can change between now and May, when we need to tell CMS what our decision is. I'll be surprised if we change our minds and put him in CMS next year.