A New School

Alright so let me start at the beginning.  Ryder started school at the “trailer” school on October 18th.  On October 17th, the day before he was supposed to start, they called and told me they had not figured out the transportation for him yet.  So I began driving him to school on Thursday’s & Friday’s and Pap would pick him up.  Week after week they kept saying they hadn’t figured anything out.  Ryder was definitely ready to start full time but without transportation there was no way we could get him to/from all week.  They finally filled me in that he was going to the “town” school but since we live in the “county” not the “town” they did not have funding to send transportation for him.  They advised me to contact our county school and ask about a transfer.

You all know I don’t handle change well so this was instant stress for me.  Ryder LOVED his school, his teacher, his friends, how in the world was I going to just take him out of there?  Plus the thought of starting all that testing over again…ugh.  But I went ahead and called the county school to ask about their program.  I talked with their Director of Special Ed and she was SO very nice and helpful.  She informed me that they wouldn’t have to do any re-testing, everything would transfer and they could have him moved within 2 weeks.  She said they only had 3 students in their Special Ed Pre-K so they would love another addition!

I decided to come home and talk to Ryder about it.  I know it sounds crazy to ask for input from a 3 year old, but I just needed to feel good about the decision and his happiness has always played a huge factor in these processes.  I talked to him about the new school and he was SOLD on 2 points.  A) his BFF Haven goes there.  And B) they have an awesome playground.  We headed over to the playground that night to show it to him and see what he thought about starting school there.

Daddy went to Elementary school here so he was pretty excited to be back!

Obviously Ryder was totally on board after that trip so I moved forward with the transfer.  We had a meeting at the new school with his Teacher and the Principal and they gave us a full tour of the school.  He is going to school with the Elementary school kids, so he rides their bus, and has a full schedule Monday – Friday!  The bus comes at 7:15 and drops him back off at 3:50.  I decided to keep him home on Friday’s since he has 2 hours of therapy that morning, so he’ll get to relax at Nana’s every Friday. 

Today was his first day of school, it was pretty surreal.  This seemed way different than dropping him off at the trailer school!  I had to watch him ride away on a big school bus, his little head peeking out that giant window, all day long I pictured his tiny little self walking through the halls, sitting in the cafeteria, going to the library, music, art, recess – whatever was on the agenda for the day.  I’m just so proud of him for being so brave at such a young age. 

Every time I have to make a decision regarding Ryder I start to second guess myself and have major anxiety over whether I’m doing the right thing.  I know it sounds crazy to say that Ryder is in Special-Ed but I also know that it is what he NEEDS for a better chance at being ready for a successful school career in the regular classes.

He has so many people at school already looking out for him, living in a small town is so wonderful at times like this!  I have to thank my girl Haven though, she was there for Ryder this morning to get on the bus with him and sit with him and make him feel comfortable and not scared.  She has been nurturing him since he was a baby, so to remember them like this:

And this:

Then see them today like this:

 

It is just so unbelievable!  But as you can see, he was all smiles, ready to face the new adventure!  He took pics with sister & mommy…

 

 

Got on his bus…

 

(posed for pictures with the bus driver!)

And there he went…

 

Leaving Mommy & Nana & Maisy in the dust with these kind of looks on our face:

 

And yes, there were tears once he was out of sight!

Doodle left him a note this morning about being good in school, but we all secretly knew that he would be!

He was in a great mood after school and summed up his day like this “Hey Mom, school was great, there was a GINORMOUS playground, we had breakfast, made a Santa but the glue isn’t dry yet so I couldn’t bring it home, nap time, and there is a potty in the nurses office for me.”  Any question I asked after that had answers like “sorry, I can’t tell you”.  But hey, I’ll take what I can get!  His teacher called me this evening and said he had a great first day of school, she said he was happy, interactive, followed directions, made the teachers laugh with a few of his comments (surprise!), and only had one time where he cried.  Ugh of course I didn’t want to hear that, but she said it was in gym class…they have gym with the regular pre-k class and they were running laps, all the kids were passing him and his little legs were getting tired but he wanted to keep up so he pushed himself a little too hard. 

Even with hearing that, I feel great about his first day!  He always amazes me with his ability to transition and face new things, this was no exception.  Now lets hope he can keep up with the schedule.  And … ummmmmm … homework??!!!  I thought I had a few more years for that!!

  

This post can’t be ALL about big brother I mean come on Mommmmm.  Aren’t you even going to mention how cute my “Will trade Brother for Puppy” shirt was today, or my amazing ability to yell louder than all 3 other members of my family talking at once, what’s a girl gotta do to get a shout out around here?!