Art’s new school is a big hit. This weekend he asked several times if it was a school day. “Is I’m going to go to school today?” or “When I wake up from my nap will it be school time?” Our friend Becca was over and asked Art about school last week and whether he liked it. He said, “Pretty much.” On Sunday night Art knew he had school the next morning. We had both kissed him goodnight and we were downstairs watching a show or something when we heard, “Mama!” I went upstairs and Ben followed me. Art said, “When I wake up from my nap will it be school time?”
“Yep. Tomorrow is a school day.”
“I’m too tired to go to sleep.”
Ben knew what was going on.
“Art, are you excited about school tomorrow?”
“Kind of.”
“I know what it’s like to be really excited about something and not want to go to sleep, but if you go to sleep it will feel like morning faster and then it will be time to go to school!”
Art plopped back into bed and that was that.
Now, he is still putting up a tiny protest everytime I drop him off, but it is short and he is easily calmed by Miss Wendy holding him while he watches me walk back to the car. I’m so happy for him. This really has opening up a new world for him.
This makes me think about how in the fall I was worried because his other friends were all going to preschool and doing fine and I wondered if I should keep him at it, but everytime I step back and remember that he has to do things when he is ready I am rewarded eventually for giving him space. Take for instance his clothes. His friends have been trying to put on their own shoes and shirts and pants for months. Evva is a total prefessional at changing outfits and she’s been able to put her own shoes on for at least a year. Well, I have wondered if I should be teaching Art, pushing him to try and dress himself, but then I try to remind myself that when he is truly ready he will take the task on and do it!
Last night for some reason he decided he wanted to try and take off his own shirt. He said he was hot. He struggled and wiggled until an arm was out its sleeve. Great! He was very happy about that. Then he tried to get the shirt over his head. “Put your arm through the big, hole,” I said. He stuck his arm through the first hole it found – the neck hole. So now he had a one-shoulder shirt. He thought that was pretty funny. He popped the arm back into the shirt and got it through the bottom. “Now pull it over your head!” I coached. He pulled the neck hole over his head and he was FREE! Man, was he proud! So proud that he tried to get the shirt back on and stuck his arm through the neck again just for old time’s sake. Good job, Art. There’s more of those great discoveries to come.
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