P is for Preschool

Cohen is going to preschool.

I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. First of all, I can't believe he's going to preschool! Back in late spring of this year, right as school was getting out and Cohen went in for his 3 year check up, his pediatrician recommended see about getting him evaluated and into the special ed preschool locally. We were having some rough days and seeing some new behaviors that we weren't quite sure about along with some ongoing things we've known about for awhile. I'm so glad he "got in". But he had to qualify in several areas and he did. So we will go back in a few weeks to make an IEP and then he will be starting the program in October.

It's stressful to feel like you desperately need more help than you can give your own child. I may have cried on the phone when the lady in charge of the preschool program told me they wouldn't be able to evaluate him until fall (true story). He had just aged out of the birth-3 programs so we couldn't turn to them for help and I was trying to navigate the school system as well as a neurodevelopmental program to have him evaluated there as well. It was a little bit rough.

They say preemies are "supposed to" catch up by two years old. Cohen is an amazing boy who has made great strides in a lot of areas. He has relatively few problems considering how early and sick he was. But he's not caught up. And we've known that, but it seems like it's becoming more real now.

We feel like Cohen has made some pretty big strides over the summer...he will now climb some structures at the playground and even go down the slides! Woohoo! It's hard to know with him whether he lacks the physical abilities or because he lacks the confidence/feels unstable to do certain things.

And now my baby is going off to preschool. Off into the big, bad world alone where I can't protect him. (What if they're mean to him? What if he gets made fun of? What if..what if...what if...) I think it will be so good for him and I think that he will really enjoy it. I'm so proud of him and I know it will all turn out well. For now, I'm just going to sit here and cry while I pick out his backpack.