After taking Owen for the early intervention screening in March, we were referred to Seven Oaks for further evaluation. I went in to sign authorization forms last week, and to talk about the plan for getting Owen help. Through the school district, if he qualifies, he will attend preschool free of charge. I brought his speech evaluation from The Children's Therapy and Learning Center when I went to the meeting, hoping it would be helpful for them to see. They said they could just use that evaluation, and not have to do their own speech evaluation. They asked me to bring Owen to preschool all this week so they could formally evaluate him in a classroom setting. When I dropped Owen off Monday morning, his teacher handed me papers about our next meeting to discuss their decisions, and she said, "But since his speech scores were so low, he's basically in."
When I picked him up from his first day of preschool, I surprised him and took him to McDonalds for lunch to celebrate. Scott joined us there too. Owen was very excited about it all. He's been waiting a long time to go to school like the big kids.
The second day was a little harder. He had a harder time waking up, and wasn't quite as excited about getting out the door. He's gone three days in a row this week, and he has tomorrow still to go (preschool is only Monday - Thursday). And it's hard on him. He has to be up early with the school kids, and he has to go to 3 hours of preschool. He's tired, I can tell. On Tuesday, he went to preschool and then also had to go to speech therapy in the afternoon. He was so tired that he had a complete meltdown at speech therapy, and his teacher Miss Noel had to carry him back. She said it only took 5 minutes for him to decide to be happy and cooperate. I know the reason he refused to do it in the first place was just because he was so overwhelmed. It's a lot for a 4 year old to handle. It's a lot for me and Kate to handle too. We miss Owen a lot.
After speech therapy on Tuesday, we were driving past the fire station and saw that they had the truck and hoses out. So in an effort to cheer Owen up, I pulled into the parking lot and let the kids get out and watch the fire men test their hoses. I think they enjoyed it.
Today when I picked Owen up from preschool, he was a complete grump. Preschool every day is just too much. I talked to his teacher briefly and she again told me that he is in, but our formal meeting to decide that is next Tuesday. Owen has a neighborhood friend in this preschool, who only goes on Monday and Wednesday. His teacher told me that if I wanted, we could pick that schedule for Owen too. So after tomorrow, we'll have Friday off. Then we'll go Monday morning. Tuesday I'll go in and have the meeting to make it official. Then he'll go again on Wednesday. I'm hoping that going just twice a week will be easier on him. Then we can still do speech therapy (which is only half an hour and is really fun) on Tuesday and Thursday. He'll be getting speech help 4 days a week, but two of those days will be a lot less time and energy. And even though this every day schedule this week is wearing him down, his teacher assured me that he's doing great in class. Tonight he went to bed at 8:00, so I'm hoping with a super long night's sleep, he'll be happy for preschool again.
And while Owen's at preschool, Mom and Kate are at home missing him. We've gone for a walk every day, trying to pass the time. Kate really really loves water fountains, and screams in excitement, "ON!!" when they are on (they are frequently off for repair). But even waterfalls aren't as good as having her brother home to play with. I really don't know what I'll do with myself when Kate heads off to preschool and I'm left home by myself. That will be a very sad day.
