First Day of 4K

Tuesday was Teddy's first day in 4K. He's in the Intentional 4K class, which means he's with 5 other children with significant needs. His class is right across the hall from a traditional 4K class, so Teddy and his classmates will be integrated as appropriate into the traditional classroom. Teddy loved his meet and greet with his teacher and speech therapist, who happens to be Teddy's first male teacher/therapist. (His PT and OT haven't been assigned yet.) He was extremely eager to go explore his school on the first day of school, willingly taking his teacher's hand and walking off to see what fun he could find.

Hey, Mom, there's people over there!

It makes it easier for me that he's so excited for school. I told his morning bus driver and aide that they'd be hard pressed to find someone more excited to see them than Teddy will be every day because they drive the bus, which he loves. I think he's already won over both sets of bus drivers and aides ... and hasn't had the screaming episodes (yet) that happened last year.

This couldn't have happened  last year. He's made so much progress!

He's had a great first week, despite being tired each morning and exhausted most evenings. Hopefully he'll figure out to either take a nap in the morning, which he did one day, or to enjoy sleeping in since his bus doesn't come until 11:40.

Look how fun it is inside there!

The only downside to Teddy's first day of school, aside from the bus fiascos, was that I learned that evening that someone made fun of Teddy. Now, I recognize all children will be picked on ... but that's still not fun as a parent. As a child with special needs, I know it will happen more often to Teddy than other children. The extremely positive aspect is that one of Teddy's friends (and my goddaughter) goes to the same school, and she stood up for Teddy when the other child made fun of him. That's not an easy thing for a 4th grader to do, especially when it was another friend of hers doing the teasing. I'm extremely proud of her, and I also love that she gave Teddy a hug on his first day of school.

Now, once our new sitter starts Monday, my anxiety levels should go back to normal ... as if I'm normal.