a preschool miracle...

Seth's first day of preschool is something I have had extreme emotions about...from one end of the spectrum to the other. Not for the reasons you may think though. Seth has always been slow to adjust (or maybe I should say he has NEVER adjusted) to situations that are out of his comfort zone. Up until this summer when Meagan started babysitting for us, he has never been good for a babysitter (granted, we only tried twice...but it was too traumatic for all of us to try again). He has never gone to his Primary class without me or Brad. He completely freaks out when we enter a building that remotely resembles any type of hospital or doctor's office (which is totally understandable considering his short history...poor kiddo). Anyway, I have been feeling fear and dread about him starting school for a long time.

Last spring, I found out about a woman in our ward who had started a preschool in her home. I didn't really know her, but she seemed like a really nice person and I was anxious to learn more about her preschool. I had an opportunity to speak with her and I shared some of Seth's anxiety issues and my own concerns. She then proceeded to tell me that she preferred to focus on the "social" side of preschool...not so much the "academic" part. It seemed too good to be true. Seth is smart - he is familiar with shapes, letters, numbers, colors, etc...all of the things kids learn in preschool. It was the "social" side of the situation that caused me much stress. Laurie's philosophy seemed to be exactly what I knew we needed, so we signed him up. That was the beginning of the summer. I spent the summer talking to him about preschool, trying to get him excited, trying to get both of us prepared. As the weeks rolled by, he seemed to be excited about the prospect of preschool...though he still wouldn't go to his Primary class alone. Even though I tried to put up a happy front, I was less than convinced we would be able to do it.

We went to a preschool open house the week before labor day. Seth loved the bright colors on the walls, the fun toys, the "library," AND he seemed to really like his teacher. He talked excitedly about his preschool all the way home. I actually felt a little glimmer of hope...hope that maybe he would actually go to preschool and be okay. But I didn't let myself really hope it...because I didn't want to be disappointed and frustrated.

Well, the day finally arrived - September 2 - the first day of Preschool. Seth woke up and wanted to get dressed in his new school clothes, complete with backpack immediately.

It took some convincing on my part to get him to eat something before we left. We drove to Laurie's, talking about how fun his day would be and how he was going to be able to be with his new friends and how exciting it all was.

We went inside and found his name above his hook.

We were early, so we talked to his teacher for a minute. Then I told him I had to go because only kids could be at preschool, not mommys (we'd had this discussion several times already over the summer). I honestly expected tears. I was completely floored when he said "okay. bye." Simple as that. I left. (Zach was the only one whining...and that's because he thought we should ALL stay for preschool.)

The next few hours went by pretty quickly - Zach and I ran errands and did some chores...fun stuff for Zach, eh? When we went back to pick up Seth, this is what we saw:

and then this:

.

Do you think he had fun? He did. He absolutely did. He kept telling me, "I had an awesome day at Preschool, Mom." and I think he asked me a dozen times, "Did Zach miss me? I'll play with him now that I'm done with my Preschool day." So so cute.

Of course, we had to take pictures with his very first Preschool projects:

Every Preschool day has pretty much gone the same way. And every day between preschool days is just a countdown day until preschool day comes again. I truly feel that finding this preschool was a miracle...a place where my anxious and tender hearted little boy could feel comfortable, safe, and secure...an answer to my prayers.

Now, if we could only figure out how to get him to go to his Primary class...