Maya had the best preschool teachers in the world. I know a lot of wonderful teachers, so I know what I am talking about, and these ladies are absolutely great.
I want to take you back to the summer of 2007, when Maya had just turned three. At this time, Maya was very limited with speech, only having 30-50 words, most of which were labels for things. She did not ask for help or tell us what was bothering her at that time, but would get very frustrated if she had something to say and would often end up screaming and hitting herself. She was very difficult to take anywhere at that time. Anyway, I don't have to tell you how nervous I was at the prospect of leaving my baby at school, when she had such huge communication barriers. At this point, I could count the number of times I had left her with anyone other than Rick on one hand. I knew that preschool would be what was best for her, but it was a very stressful time for us.
Then I met her teacher. I left work a few minutes early to stop by the school before she left. My intention was to just say hello quickly, and leave her with a letter in which I detailed how much progress she had made during the previous year. I guess I wanted her to know that although she was still delayed, especially in speech, she had come a long way. Anyway, to make a long story short, we ended up talking for 45 minutes, and I left with full confidence that her new teacher could handle anything Maya threw at her... and she did. I was still nervous about the first week, and it was bumpy, don't get me wrong, but everyone stuck with it and did wonderfully, and as a result, Maya eventually followed a schedule each day, learned tons of new words, learned all of her letters and letter sounds, learned how to count things and how to "be" at school. Rick and I would joke when we noticed her doing something polite or showing mastery of a new skill that "she must have learned it at school."
There were 3 other ladies that work as classroom aids in Maya's room and each of them was with Maya for the full two years also. The speech teacher has made tons of progress with Maya and saw her every Friday. In fact, the two most common things she would tell me about school were "Alicia" (her speech teacher's name) and "granola bars". They are all absolutely wonderful!
Last Thursday was her last day of preschool and it was very emotional for us for several reasons. First, we will miss the positive influence and safety that those wonderful ladies provided to Maya, all the confidence they instilled in her and all they taught her. Secondly, it was sad because I know as the weeks pass, Maya is going to really miss school and it will be hard on her not to go back again (except maybe to say hello) and hard to explain why she isn't going back. Finally, the end of preschool means the beginning of kindergarten, totally uncharted waters for us. Although I am confident that it will go well, it promises to be a rocky transition at best.
So, all in all, it was a very emotional day that ended with lots of tears, pictures and hugs. Unfortunately, I brought my camera, but left my memory card in the card reader at home. Fortunately, Alison, one of the aids and our awesome babysitter, took pictures and we will get copies from her. So I will post them eventually. We will miss all of them dearly and are so grateful that they gave Maya such a strong and happy start in school.
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