All morning, we sang "It's the first day of school, HOORAY!"

Summer is over for us now, as school starts back up this week. It’s time to get back into a routine, which can be comforting. This is an exciting week, especially since Vanessa starts preschool. She will be at the same school Katelyn had previously attended, so is familiar with the school grounds, especially the playground. Since I don’t work outside of the home, it is not necessary that I have her enrolled in a class, however building her social cognitive skills are extremely important for her and what a better way than with other children her own age in a typical preschool setting. The next several months will bring a lot of transition for Vanessa and being involved in a classroom setting will provide us with a lot of information. She currently is in a small group at the clinic, but there are 5 children with 3 adults, and with a lot of visual support. Her school doesn’t have a terrible ratio of teacher-to-student; in fact, it is one of the best in the area. But school is different; there are more rules, more structure, and more time needed to pay attention. So in many ways, attending school is a test on how well she can transition into the classroom, information that will hopefully be beneficial in the upcoming months. Yesterday morning, the girls’ school was having a meet-n-greet, where you can come see your child’s classroom and meet the teachers. Katelyn and I took Vanessa and she was interested and seemed happy. She moved among the classroom, even leaving my side. But once we arrived back at home, she just couldn’t control her emotions anymore and had a full melt-down on the porch. She had reached her limit. I began to second-guess my decision about enrolling her and wondered if we’ll have this type of melt-down after school often. It is nothing that I am not familiar with, she would have these melt-down when a new speech or OT session was added or the therapist would change. So I am use to picking up the pieces. We started talking to Vanessa about attending school a few weeks back. I took her shoe shopping, bought a few new outfits, built up the excitement of going to school. Before bed, she picked out her outfit – a cute new denim dress with daisies and white sandals. She seemed to have recovered from the stress of the morning, so I was feeling hopeful (although still nervous) about today’s activity.
Class today was shortened to only one hour, Vanessa’s thresh hold anyways, so that was perfect. She was a little hesitant going in through the gate, but I reassured her that I was staying with her and we were going to have fun. We sat together during story time and then I moved to the side so she could get involved without me. She checked a few times to make sure I had not left, but otherwise, played very well by herself. I am relieved that today went smoothly and hopefully we can transition her staying there longer by herself and me staying less. We went to lunch – her choice, McDonald’s – and she conked out on the way home. This is going to be an adventure, one that is influenced by so many factors, and one that we’ll have to take day-by-day. I can only pray that she enjoys it and that there are more smiles and less tears.