In just a few days Diego will finish his two year preschool
program. That in itself is a major
accomplishment for our son, a sweet little boy that struggled to sit still and
focus on tasks and made requests using one-word approximations and hand
gestures. Now with two years of
preschool we have witnessed so many positive changes and have marveled at his
ability to use language more consistently.
As I look back to the few months that preceded his enrollment in
preschool, I remember just how nervous we
were about sending him. When originally
touring schools in the spring and summer of 2009, the program we ended up choosing
for him stood out because of the staff. We
felt welcome right from the start.
Despite our anxiety about how he would handle the separation from us
during the day, we felt Diego would receive excellent care and that definitely
turned out to be true. We will be
forever grateful to his teacher, aides and therapists for all their hard work.
As an example of just how much progress he has made, I’m
going to include the following story:
Not too long ago I used to wonder when Diego would start
calling me by name. Would he use “Dad”
or “Daddy”? Perhaps even “Papá”. I knew whatever he decided would be fine by
me and since he turned 5 this year I figured it was only a matter of time
before he began to use one of them. Sure
enough, one afternoon at the end of April we were getting ready to leave for music
class and Diego said “Daddy” for the first time without prompting! He wanted me to hurry up and put my shoes on
so we could leave. I know I’ll never
forget that moment, I ran up and gave him a high five and then started hugging
him. I was beaming with joy the rest of
the day. It took five years but that
feeling I had was more than worth the wait.
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