Finley got to hang with Mia at Preschool

Mia is in a wonderful preschool program through the school district I am a psychologist in. They allow her to be in this highly sought after program because I am an employee within the special ed program and this is a half special ed- half regular ed program. It is amazing and her teacher is tremendous with 2 aids and a class of 12 (6 special ed- mostly speech kids- 6 regular ed). It is 3 hours a day 4 days a week and the growth they see in these kids is nothing short of amazing. The cool part is the teachers loop with the kids in their classes meaning Mia will be in her class again this next school year (2011- 2012) because the kids stay with the same preschool teacher until they enter kindergarten. We have been kicking the idea of putting Finley in the program towards the end of the year. We think it will be awesome for her language and she does very well in these types of environments. I spoke with Mia's teacher the other day about our hopes but was realistic that they have a very long waiting list for this program and I didn't know if they would be willing to add another kid to Mia's class later in the year. Turns out, they just had a regular ed kid leave and the director of the preschool, who I also know professionally, decided if Finley wanted the spot that they would give it to her and that we could take as long as we need to place her-- meaning we can wait a month or two before she starts-- YAAAAA!!!! While I know I have emailed with a few of you about the preschool idea and bonding (thanks for the input), we really feel that in a month or two Finley will be ready so we decided to snag the spot and put down our deposit. We don't know how long until we will put her in-- maybe a month or two-- but we know we want her to be in the program and that we want her to have Mia's teacher and be in Mia's class and that is what will happen. Also, since Finley will not be entering Kinder for essentially 2 and a half years (2013-1014), she will get to have the same teacher that whole time-- an amazing special ed and early childhood credentialed masters level teacher who loves Mia and Finley both!! So, yesterday when we were dropping Mia off, Ms. M asked if we wanted to show Finley the classroom since she will eventually be in there. We thought it was a great idea and sure enough, Finley loved every minute!!!!

She came right in and sat at the table and Mrs. M got her a dotted name worksheet to practice writing her name. She obviously knows how to hold a pencil/ crayon but I don't think has ever traced her name.

The wonderful Mrs. M helping her trace-- oh the concentration!!

Play time

Circle time-- sitting next to Mrs. F- one of the amazing aids.

She didn't do the motions to the song but she watched intently. Most of the other kids have been in the class since August so they are very familiar with the songs and the routine--

One of the centers. They are studying George Washington and they were paining their hand and arm and making a cherry tree. Today they are decorating the tree and putting the finger tip red cherries on. Finley seemed to really like the paint.

Making the tree

Building the log cabin George lived in-- watching Mia make her tree

Mia getting painted

Making the tree

Finley is a very good listener

Building with Mia

They had an activity where she would give a direction to color the trunk brown-- then they would-- then color the cherries red and so on. Finley did amazingly well and followed every instruction exceptionally well.

Following the instructions

Taking her paper to her cubbie-- Mrs. M made her a cubbie with her name on it already-- too cute!!

Lining up to go to the next center-- Mia let Finley be line leader-- Finley liked being line leader :)

Looking at items that start with an "S" with Mrs. M

Mrs. M with her Sunglasses

Finley with the Sunglasses

She started having a lot of fun towards the end of our time in the class. We stayed about half the 3 hours and would have stayed longer but I had to run a few errands so we had to leave. Mrs. M was giving them High 5's and we do that at home all the time so Finley was excited about the 5's

Making her "S" with curves. She really opened up and had a great time. I'm going to take her again today for a bit so she can finish the cherry tree. We might go part days for a month or so just to get her use to it before she starts full time. We will play it by ear when she starts but I think another month before starting is about right-- we will see. We are just thrilled things are working out as well as they are-- in all aspects of Finley's adjustment.

We have her big neurosurgery appointment on Friday. I will let you know how it goes. Also, Finley gets her hair cut into a cute bob today. I will take pictures-- yaaaa!!! The mane will finally be tamed!!!