Her First Day

Monday was Sammie B's first day of preschool. She LOVED it. I went with her in the morning, met some of the therapists, got to see her taking it all in at circle time in her Sammie B way, and then left. I went back to pick her up with some surprise balloons and then me, her, and her nanny went out for a celebratory lunch (hot dog, french fries, ice cream for her!). It was a great day! She has been really excited to go back to her "new school" each day, and while there are still some details of her IEP to work out, I'm feeling encouraged and optimistic. The classroom is definitely wilder than her previous program, so I told B I know she's being pushed outside of her comfort zone -- she really seemed to just take it all in that first day -- but B reminded me -- the previous program was outside her comfort zone at first too, and she THRIVED there. So far, so good!

(Here's a quick picture from the celebratory lunch - ketchup is her new passion - she loves dipping. She's been requesting ketchup on EVERYTHING and we usually give in ;o) She learned the hard way that macaroni and cheese and ketchup do not go together so well . . . so she may not request that combo again!).



God, I love this little girl.

The best story from the day: At circle time in the am, the class sang "Do you know the muffin man?" one of Sam's favorite songs. But after the regular verse, they did "do you know the ice cream man," and then "do you know the donut man," and Sam giggled and squealed "OH MY GOD!" as if she couldn't believe they were messing up the words! Funny lady!

We are so, so excited for Sam to be part of a preschool program with some academics mixed in - the little lady LOVES to learn. We feel like so much of her first three years have been spent working on her weak areas, and we just are so excited for her to have this time to do things in the areas she's so very strong in - learning, meeting friends, etc. The lesson of the day on Monday was the color black, which she knows well, so she did fabulously, and also just jumped right into the routine, picked her name out of the list of kid's names to find her own chair, cubby, etc. Awesome day, awesome girl!

Her resiliency and ability to adapt to change with such grace is an inspiration to me.