Climbing Stairs

Today the bus dropped off Finley at 3:14pm. I ran out expecting him to be a little upset because he had a rough night sleep, which typically means he’s ready for a nap before preschool is even over. I was wrong.

I approached the bus to a smiling little boy that stood up from his seat and walked towards me. “He climbed the stairs and walked to his seat on the bus by himself too,” exclaimed the bus driver. Beaming with pride, Finn and I ran to the front door held open by his daddy. He smiled bigger with every stride.

We’ve Got a Preschooler!

The opening story was a dead giveaway, but it’s true! Our little Finn boy has been going to preschool since January 2nd. It’s been a rollercoaster of fear, excitement, progress, and tantrums, but mostly an overwhelming sense of pride in our little man. Since his ABA therapy program takes a lot of Finley’s time, we initially decided to start him in preschool for two days a week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) to not overwhelm him. Seriously, how cute is this guy?!

Day One

Paul and I opted to drive Finn into school the first couple weeks, mostly for us, but also to help ease him into the process. He has spent the greater part of his first three years with only us and close family and friends, so the idea of being surrounded by new adults and a bunch of kids came with the usual checklist of questions: Will he hate it? Will the kids overwhelm him? What if he tries to bite a kid or teacher? Can we sit in the corner and watch him every single day for the rest of his education because he’s always our little boy and WE’RE NOT READY FOR THIS?!

*breathe*

Dropping him off for his first day couldn’t have gone smoother. He donned a total ‘cool kid’ outfit, gnawed on his chewy necklace, walked himself from the car to the classroom and immediately took flight towards all the bright colors and letters strewn about the walls.

Picking him up was a little harder. Paul and I arrived 15 minutes early, anxious to get our little dude back home. Too antsy to just keep sitting there we headed inside to take a peek through the window only to hear an unconsolable Finley Taylor. Uh oh, he didn’t like it.

Not entirely! His teacher took a minute to tell me he actually had a very good day up until the last 20 minutes or so when he got tired. And he was. He screamed the whole ride home, but immediately tonked out for a deserved nap the second we got him in the door.

The Bus

After two weeks of dropping him off, we decided to give the bus a chance. His teachers reassured us that all the kids love the bus and the process of being picked up and lining up to step on the bus and be brought home are very beneficial for him.

They were right.

While we’ve had our fair share of crying – the bus is new, it’s loud, it’s cold outside, etc. – we’ve also had days like today. He’s starting to climb the stairs and get to his seat independently, he’s enjoying the sights and sounds, and today we whole-heartedly believe he knew we were getting him ready for school and was excited to go!

Kid Germs

We were forewarned by a slew of people to prepare for sickness now that he’s around other kids more frequently.

They were right again.

Two weeks ago Finley came home from school with a fever. We had to cancel both school and therapy for the rest of the week, hoping he would be feeling better on Monday. He was, so we immediately got back in his routine, which turned out to be the wrong choice. He took a turn for the worse and got the sickest he’s ever been – fever, sore throat, coughing, stuffy and runny nose – just pure misery.

Finley getting sick is never easy because of our communication barriers right now, but this sickness was the mother of all sicknesses. He refused to eat because swallowing hurt, he fought any and all medicines because he didn’t understand they would help, and sleeping comfortably was nearly impossible. Kid germs suck.

Kicking Butt

He’s 100% healthy again and absolutely loving life. This past week of therapy has been incredible. He’s reaching new milestones almost daily and his good mood seems to never end. Needless to say, sending our tiny human to preschool filled mom and dad with extreme nervousness and fear at first, but it’s been one of the best things for his progress. He’s transitioning between activities, meals, baths, car rides, etc. like never before. He’s climbing on things more frequently, including stairs. He’s starting to dance and almost jump. He’s engaging with people of all ages constantly and most importantly, he almost always smiling. On April 9th, Finn will start going to school three days a week and we honestly can’t wait to see where it takes him.

We have the coolest dude.