Kindergarten Orientation

When we started at Christian's current school when he was 18 months old we set a goal: Christian would attend our neighborhood elementary school by Kindergarten. I remember thinking how far off that felt. And now almost 5 years later, the bittersweet reality is really sinking in. Our time at our beloved school that I feel really rescued our family and was THE most important investment we most likely will ever make for Christian is coming to an end. However, we are one step closer to our goal. Christian is MORE THAN READY.

He had a blast at orientation. He is super-comfortable at the school as he has been going there to meet our county service provider 2 times a month for 2 years now. He used to call it the "Big Kid" school, but now it's just "My school I'll go to next year". Christian walked hand in hand with his two best buds into the school, they got their pictures taken, and went into a room to show off all their Pre-K skills. I filled out tons of paperwork (although, not as much as my other friends who didn't already have their kids pre-enrolled thanks to an existing IEP), chatted with the principle (again, not as much as my other friends who aren't going to have private meetings and an IEP with her come June), and filled out our family's directory information. Oh, and our service provider came to introduce herself to the teachers too. How awesome is that?

Christian has been attending full-day school for 3 years now and his current class schedule is VERY similar to his schedule come Kindergarten at the new school, so I'm not really worried about the length of the day. We get to WALK to school, so he actually gets to sleep in almost an entire hour if he wants to compared to his 7am wake-up call every morning to get to our current school on-time. He will have MANY friends not only in the school but also entering in the school for the first year. I know that no matter which class he is placed in that he will find a friend. The typical Kindergarten "worries" aren't really an issue here in our house. I'm just freaking out about sending this school their VERY FIRST Cochlear Implant kid. Oh, and the really loud classrooms. I'm nervous about that.

I'm just thankful that Christian is the type of kid that can really roll with the punches and bounce when he needs to. That calms me down...just a bit.