I feel bad for Alyssa. I know she’s going to miss Mrs. S (her preschool teacher), and she’ll probably be more than a little jealous of Ryan, who will be in Mrs. S’s class next fall. But I know she is also super excited about kindergarten, so hopefully she’ll be able to quickly get into the groove of that and forget all about preschool.

After the ceremony we all headed outside for a picnic. While the kids ran around, I mingled with a few of the parents. G, a little boy in Alyssa’s class who absolutely adores Alyssa (she also adores him), came up to me with his mother in tow, and asked if he could play with Alyssa at her house. I said sure, and his mom and I got to talking. She seems so down to earth and normal, and thank god she doesn’t let her son go around playing with guns and military toys and going atv riding. A lot of the kids around here are rather…redneck… so it’s nice to find one that isn’t!
Anyway, G’s mom and I exchanged phone numbers, so I hope we can arrange a little playdate soon.

Now the kids are home and with me 24/7, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, when Ryan is in school (special ed school; it goes year-round). Ahhhhhhhhh!

Anyway, Wednesday is the closing ceremony for preschool, and an outside picnic will follow. I’m already charging my camera batteries and Kodak Zi8 for the event. I can’t wait to see Alyssa and Ryan perform with their classes.

Right now I’m out at Panera Bread. I have no real desire to be out because I don’t feel good, but I had an important appointment to attend to this evening, and since Panera Bread is just down the road from where my appointment was, I couldn’t resist stopping in. Though to be honest I have absolutely no attention span tonight. I feel like a gnat with ADHD. I should just shut down, pack up, head home, watch some more True Blood, and then try the whole reply-to-emails-and-catch-up-on-blogging thing again.

Why did we choose to send him to a regular preschool? Well, first and foremost, there isn’t a special needs preschool around here. The closest one is 45 minutes each way, and even then there’s a waiting list. Second, we feel it would be good for him to get some socialization in, and to see a normally “structured” preschool. Perhaps he’ll be able to emulate some of the behavior that he sees.

Will it work out? God I hope so. The teacher admitted that she has never had an autistic student. This is her first year teaching the preschool class, though she has spent the last few years being an aide to the teacher next door. The closest thing she has had to an autistic child is a toddler with a speech delay. But she seems fairly confident, and there’s always the aide that’s with her, the parents that volunteer, and the teacher next door. Plus, Alyssa is just a classroom away, so she can always pop over to reassure Ryan.

Of course, we left our phone numbers, and since we’re 0.2 miles down the road, it wouldn’t take us very long to get to the school if something was going on. But I’m hoping nothing will happen. I told the teacher that his main “issues” are wandering around (they normally keep the classroom door shut, but they’ll also lock the two outer doors that lead to the playground and to the rear parking lot), and they’ll probably have trouble getting him to focus and participate in group activities. But they seem okay with it, so, we’ll see…

(I HOPE I HOPE I HOPE it works out. If it does, once he turns three he can be enrolled for the two day per week preschool. YEAH!)

God, I’m such a worrier, and more for the teacher than for Ryan himself! I think he’ll enjoy it. He didn’t cry or try to run after us after we left. He was busy checking out the doors and carrying around another child’s cup, lol.

Well, I’m going to try and enjoy the peace and quiet that I’ll have for the next hour and 39 minutes! I have some writing on best diet pills to do, and a quick paper to fill out for an appointment I have later.