Assertive

Cole placing his bunny in his basket above his cubby

at his new pre-school Sept '09

That is my Cole ~ Assertive~

Cole was in a home daycare from 3 months of age up to 18 months. He then had an Au Pair for the next 18 months of his life. Dane and I made the decision get out of having Au Pairs once Tanner was in Public School. We moved Cole into a private Christian Pre-school during Sept '08. Seemed like a logical thing to do, he was turning 3 and fully potty trained. We made the mistake to just throw him in full-time. It broke my heart each morning that I would drop him off and bucket of tears streamed down his sad little face, tears would drop from my eyes too as I drove to work. We decided to move him to part-time (two days a wk) that January; however, his difficulties with this place didn't diminish, tantrums and BM accidents ensued. I was heart broken.

Side note~ Cole has the MOST blood curdling scream, anyone close to us that knows Cole's scream can vouch for him, that his scream should be in the Guinness Book of Records. Not only did he scream at things that he was upset about but he would also spend several hours throughout the early (2am) hours and for several hours. Tests were ran to try and figure out why he has this awful scream that would make any person's hair raise, not just his mom's. He had MRIs not only for the screams (maybe migraines?) but the daycare reported possible seizures, hearing tests and speech tests as everyone thought maybe he can't hear very well or express himself via proper communication that is appropriate for a toddler. All tests came back normal. This was still not consultancy to the Pre-school... he must leave their program. :o(

March '09~

Dane and I decided that he would leave the able pre-school and will have to go back to his infant childcare taker's home full-time. He is usually well behaved with our dear Patty on his days with her. From March - September, Cole blossomed tremendously. The screaming was less frequent and his communication was picking up to normal w/ complete sentences and expressing his wants and needs without much drama.

September '09~

We decided that Cole needs to be back in a pre-school part-time to get used to the whole school setting and get more social skill and pre-school knowledge. We found this amazing pre-school that seems to be taking Cole under their wing and are motivated to work with him. I believe his little self-esteem feels it too.

October '09~

Cole loves his "school" and talks about being a big boy going to school like his brother. He protests going to Patty's home because he is not a baby anymore. Every drive to Patty's home was listening to Cole behind me upset and demanding that I drive him to school. My usual response to this was, "Cole honey, I know you want to go to school like Tanner, I know you are a big boy, I will talk with your teachers and I will work on getting you there everyday, but right now I need you to go to Patty's, we need to wait and see if your teachers are ready for you to be there everyday." This usually mellowed him out enough to get out of the car and walk up to Patty's. This protesting went on like this every Tues and Thurs in October. It was eating me up that I couldn't make my little boy happy and the worry and wonder if he is really ready to be in pre-school full-time. Is he going to regress again? He got fully potty trained again and his screaming is becoming less and less, I don't want to go through all that hard work again. Yikes!

November '09~

The boy is continuing his protests. Mommy makes the call and speaks to the directer of the pre-school that we would like Cole with them full-time. The request got approved* and Cole will be graduating out of the Patty's and full-time into the wonderful pre-school. Cole will start full-time with them, the start of December. I'm so proud of Cole for advocating for himself. Maybe his assertive personality that started out as a whole lot of screams is a good trait to have. Maybe he will go far with that.... we will have to wait many years to find out. Until then, I'm praying that this will be a good move and that he will continue to blossom.

*Maybe it helped that Mommy had mentioned to this pre-school how pleased she is with their patience and kindness and that she plans to keep him in their school for a long time. ;o) (This christian school goes up to 10th grade)