Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Off to Nursery School


So it’s now been a month that Piper has been at nursery school. She is going three days a week to the Bloorview Macmillan Kids Rehab Nursery School. The school integrates children from the community with special needs kids.  The site is around the corner from us so it’s very convenient to drop her off and pick her up. Since I am not working right now (I was laid off from my job back in June) it’s actually perfect because I can wake up with Piper and get her ready. I was also able to transition with her by sitting in the class for the first few sessions.

If I was working I don’t know how we would manage it. Piper takes so long to eat anything and then I have to give her a bottle and she needs to be to school for 9am. Now add my 6 year old into the picture and it would be impossible for one person to do it (yes I mean my husband all by himself) and go to work.

Anyways, back to Piper. She seems to be doing well in the class now but at first there were some bumps to work through. It was a little hard to get used to for me as there weren’t any children that were “like” Piper. Physically everyone looked fine. I don’t know what it is but I get really sad when there are a lot of children around that are Pipers age and I look at my daughter and I just feel sorry for her. I feel this need to protect her. On the second day I just started crying right there in the middle of the classroom while I was holding onto Piper. Ugh, I was so upset that I was just standing there holding onto her and the teachers were running around after other kids. I felt invisible, and I felt what Piper feels. You see; some children demanded attention behaviourally. Piper is the type of child you can leave in the corner sitting and she wouldn’t complain. I was concerned that she just wasn’t getting the attention she needed because she doesn’t ask for attention. So of course after seeing this a couple of times I was getting a little upset.

After the teacher came up and asked me what was wrong I just let it out and said my words. I told her that I just can’t have Piper sitting somewhere while other children get the attention, and believe me the one kid needed it…he was a terror! But this is something the school needs to think about as we are paying the same amount of money as the other kids. So I said you need to take Piper when I come in. I can’t just plop her down and let her run because she doesn’t run! After that the teacher has taken Piper from me when I walk in. She doesn’t need to hold her the whole time, she just needs to take her and put her where she will get the interaction from the other children.

Next we’ve been dealing with Piper crying. She is still trying to get used to school and she tends to cry most of the time. It could also be because school is on during the time that she usually naps. So by the end of school at 11:15 she is done! But we are working through it and I hope once she gets used to the people and the schedule she will be a lot calmer.

Overall though I believe Piper is getting something from her school time. I don’t even want to think about next Septmeber when she has to go to JK. That’s going to be even harder on both of us. But I will deal with that when I come to that road.

Physically Piper is still the same. She can sit up and she’s starting to try to clap her hands. I think she has developed more socially than physically over the past few months. She seems entwined in people’s conversations and emotions. She laughs hysterically at anyone getting hit with something or if someone drops something on the floor (sadistic, yes but I’ll gladly bonk myself in the head with an empty paper towel roll over and over if it makes my precious girl laugh).