Change is Coming...

Change is coming...coming soon...in six days! Tyler will be starting a new "school." Anxiety producing? Yes. Tyler has been going to his current in-center day-care with Ms. Debbie since he was 3 months old. It is all he knows (and all we know). We are very comfortable there and he is loved an incredible and unbelievable amount. It was a really tough decision, but one we feel good about for many, many reasons.

What we have already learned as parents is that there is no right answer to a parenting question, other than to follow our gut and instinct as Tyler's parents and to be on the same page with eachother. We're being lead in this way, so we're following.

To prepare for Tyler's first day of "school," it was suggested to us that we bring him for "craft hour" so that his "teachers" could meet him. Why am I putting these words in quotes? Well, they are new to us! Thinking of Tyler with teachers and being in school is hard. He is getting bigger and things are changing!

I knew that taking Tyler to his new school was a good idea and important, but I also felt nervous about taking him there. What if he cries the whole time? What if the crying turns everyone off? What if the other kids don't like him? What if he won't share? What if the teachers think he is too much work? What if he won't leave our side? What if we don't like it there? All of these thoughts ran through my mind repeatedly.

Flash forward to today. He did great! We even forgot "puppy" and "paci" at home and he didn't need them once. Here's a snapshot:

This is shortly after story time. He really enjoyed listening to the story that his teacher read and also enjoyed the songs they sung afterwards. Tyler was given a "purple" thing to hold. I have no idea what it is called. He didn't mind holding onto it.

Somehow, he acquired two. I'm pretty sure one of the other kids gave it to him. They must have known he was about to be the new kid on the block.

Tyler was pretty quick to explore. He was drawn to the books (shocker), but also those stairs in the background!

This picture makes me laugh and isnt too surprising. Over the last two or three days, Tyler has been really into "sitting" on items. He likes to sit in the chair in his bedroom, sit on a step and at this point in time, quite frankly, would sit on Matt's head if he would let him. The second I saw this couch, I figured Tyler would end up on it.

My personal favorite story of the day comes from...craft time! Tyler has not had this experience before so I figured we might be in for an adventure. To start, let me just tell you that Tyler did not like it when the "teacher" put the cape over his head. We finally got past it and things were going well. The craft of the day was fingerpainting. The teacher put the fingerpaint on the paper and Tyler swirled his fingers right around in the paint. It surprised me, as we have had to work with him on a number of sensory issues.

Impressed and proud, it was going well, until.....Tyler stuck his finger painted hands in his mouth. Bad news. Crying immediately occurred and he declared his "craft time" to be over. The other kids were watching him and were so impressed with his attempt to "eat" his fingerpaint that they all did it too! Super special, let me tell you.

Classic:

Anyways, the rest of "craft time," Tyler spent exploring the rest of the classroom. He really liked this bottle filled with green water. He had a great time, until he tried to throw it in the trash can repeatedly and we told him "No." He's not a huge fan of "No." pretty independent :)

This was his favorite new activity. He loved climbing up the stairs and scooting down them on his bottom. He must have gone up and down the stairs at least 10 times.

All in all - a huge success for his first hour at his new "school." More posts to follow about our new adventures with "school" once it starts next week! Stay tuned!