Frith O’Steen

So, today was Decker’s official last day of summer school, which also means it was his official last day at Gregory Gardens Preschool. (Technically it’s Robert Shearer Preschool, it changed names last year in honor of its founder, but it remained Gregory Gardens to our family. Rolls off the tongue more easily!).

Decker was unfazed. He ran out onto the playground to have fun with his friends and play on the tricycles and climb the alligator slide. Me? I went up to say thank you to his class aide and one of the other teachers one last time, and I found myself getting weepy like a big ol’ doofus. (Mind you, I already made a big soggy mess of myself back in June at Decker’s ‘graduation’ ceremony for this same class - one would think I’d done all the parting tears that a preschool deserves!). But no - I starting choking up all over again!

Why? I didn’t realize it was gonna hit me this hard to say goodbye to D’s school. But it has been a major part of our lives for the past 2 years, and I guess I was getting emotional both out of sentiment and also (and mostly) out of pride for Decker over how far he’s come since August of ‘06. On that first day of school, he walked up very bravely holding mine and his dad’s hands, wearing his ‘big kid backpack’ from Aunt Katil, and vaguely aware of what happens at school thanks to Elmo and some books at our house. When we left him that morning sitting quietly playing with cars on the playmat, his dad and I kept it together until we got to the car, and then I BAWLED. This was the first time I’d let someone who wasn’t family be responsible for Decker! Yes, it was a small group instruction class for other kids with speech delays/issues, but how would he cope? He didn’t say very much and it wasn’t usually very clear - at least to folks besides his parents - would he make friends? Would he have fun? Would he be scared and wonder where I had gone?

As any parent who has sent a kid off to preschool knows, the kid does absolutely fine. Yes, he cried for the first few weeks (as did many), but he also participated and learned new things and practiced his speech and most importantly got the idea that school is cool. School is fun. And your teacher is an awesome grownup to look up to and listen to. Decker was lucky enough to have the same teachers for both years - Ms. Lori and Ms. Patti. And because of the attentive eye of Ms. Lori, who clearly loves what she does and is really good at it, we were able to obtain all sorts of extra help for Decker. She was able to see where he had particular needs at school, and brought them to our attention and then gave us the tools to help him work on those challenges. One of our shared goals with Lori was to help Decker become more social with his peers - and by the end of this year, as we went home this final day of the school year, all the kids in his class were calling out “Bye Decker!”. One little guy, Jesse, even gave him a hug and told him, “I’ll miss you next year, Decker!”. Gulp. I have a lump in my throat as I write that. What a sweet and amazing group of little kids - open, accepting, and caring.

I think back to the silent little boy who tentatively went to school each day that fall of two years ago,  vs. the gregarious and happy big kid who ran every day out of the front doors of the school to give me a hug. What a change. Now Decker will voluntarily tell me about his day. He’ll talk about his friends. He shares funny stories. His speech has improved so much. I could not have envisioned that two years ago. What a huge change. I deliberately didn’t mention the name of Decker’s school while he was going there, because you can never be too careful, but it feels wonderful to finally be able to say: Thank You, Gregory Gardens (Robert Shearer) Preschool! Thank you Ms. Lori, Ms. Patti, Maggie in the motor room, and all the other amazing teachers who work there! It’s a little school that serves a huge district and a huge need, and the love and faith that the staff who work there have for all the students is both palpable and inspiring. More than once since Decker started there, I have thought about looking into special education when I eventually head back to the work world. It’s an incredible group to be involved in, and I am so grateful for everything we experienced while our son was there.

By the way - congrats, Decker - welcome to Summer Vacation! Swim School starts next Monday.