My Preschool Graduate

Back in May, Noah's preschool, Handy, held their End of the Year Fun day for all the kids and had a little graduation ceremony where they received certificates and released a balloon as a class.  Unknowingly, we scheduled to show our house that morning, so my dad came with us to allow Jamie to meet with the prospective buyers. Noah loved having his Poppa with him at school and I know my dad thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet Noah's teachers, aides, and classmates. It was a fun day for everyone with face painting, inflatables, and a fire truck that the kids got to tour!

Noah loved having Poppa at school!

Ms. Perkins, Noah's aide is the BEST.

Collier joined in on the fun too!

We LOVE Ms. Mobley!

I'm just shocked at how quickly the past few years have flown by and that my little boy will be a Kindergartener come August 20th. It feels like just the other day that we began the process of Noah going to day care, then preschool. As a child with special needs, you are entitled to receive free therapy from the state, in addition to any private therapy that the family chooses to do. We do private therapy but we also want to take advantage of any and all therapy that Noah can receive, so as a 9 month old, he began going to the UCP Center. It is a great facility where they offer Physical, Speech and Occupational therapies to Special Needs kids, but they are also a day care for typical and non-typical kids. I fell in love with their program and grew close with all the teachers and therapists there. So once Noah turned 3 and could no longer go there to receive his therapy, I was so upset. Once a child turns 3, therapy is provided by the school system and since we live in Florence, Noah would have to go Handy Preschool to receive his therapy. I'll be honest, I was very hesitant because Handy is located in a sort of dangerous part of town...very close to Mobile Street on the 'west side' of Florence. Everyone from Shoals has heard to avoid Mobile Street at night!  I definitely wasn't comfortable leaving my child on the 'west side' but didn't want to rule it out before even experiencing it.  Since he would be getting therapy from Handy, we had the option to enroll him in their preschool program, that way he would be there all day and receive therapy all throughout the day. His first year there, we decided not to and just took him there 3 days a week for 2 hour therapy sessions. The first day I dropped him off for therapy, I cried, well, more like boo hoo'ed. I was so nervous leaving him there. It turned out to be just fine, and in fact, the therapists and everyone he worked with were great and their program was wonderful, so I grew much more comfortable with him there. However, a few months later Collier was born and I began to realize how hard it was caring for a special needs child AND a newborn all day long. I called around to see what preschool options were available for a child that (at the time) wasn't walking or talking, and surprisingly, only ONE day care, a local church, was willing to take him. After discussing it with Jamie, we realized that Handy preschool would be very beneficial for Noah because it would get him prepared for Kindergarten, he would go to full time daycare AND get therapy all day long. So we decided to enroll him the following year, once he turned 4. Again, I was nervous, but I knew that if we didn't like it, we could always remove him from the full time day care and allow him to just receive his therapy there. It turned out to be the greatest blessing in disguise. Noah has come so far in the past 9 months, his teachers, aide, and therapists were AMAZING, he made so many friends and he ENJOYS being in a school environment. He used to cry every time I would leave him, but by the end of the year, he was excited every morning to be joining his friends. All the kids would run up and hug him when he walked through the door into his classroom. His teacher told me that all of his classmates loved him and would argue over who got to hold his hand and help him walk down the hall. :) He began walking on his own while he was there. He's gained independence and more confidence.  He's much more comfortable playing with other children his age now.  Everyone knew his name and were so friendly; we even quickly became friends with the janitor, Mr. Baugh. Mr. Baugh and Collier developed quite a friendship!  The experience at Handy has been invaluable. It just goes to show that you absolutely can not 'judge a book by it's cover.' Handy may not look like much from the outside but great things happen there! I'm forever grateful to all of the wonderful people that loved and cared for my little boy while he was there and am sad that our time with them has now come to an end, as well. I just hope and pray that the next chapter for Noah as he begins Kindergarten is just as rewarding as this past year has been.