Tuesday night I found myself laying in bed staring at the ceiling and worrying. Mark and I decided to try putting the Menininho in a “mainstream” (read: non-special needs) preschool twice a week this summer. After a few tours, we settled on a Montessori program. This way M would get structure and have opportunities to interact with other kids and I’d have some time to take J to his appointments and maybe do a Mommy and Me class with him.

I’d been feeling confident about this decision until last night. Then, all of a sudden, my mind was flooded with what-ifs.

What if the day (8.5 hours) is too long for M? He’s only done 2.5 hours at school before.

What if the other kids don’t like him?

Montessori programs sure have a lot of rules. What if it’s too hard for him to follow them?

What if the teachers aren’t patient about M still being in diapers?

What if the teachers aren’t patient with his scripted speech?

What if he gets kicked out?

Eventually I was able to calm my brain enough to go to sleep. M seemed to have a good first day too: he was working on a task alone when I picked him up and was very focused on it. The other kids ran to gather around the stroller to comment on Baby J but M was pretty oblivious until I said it was time to go home. He didn’t want to leave, but he cleaned up his project without much complaint so that was great 🙂 I am hoping things will continue to go well and I can set my nerves aside.

How about you? Any of you have worries like these? Should I schedule a meeting with one of his teachers in a few weeks to get more information on how his behavior is in the classroom? We don’t appear to get notes home, or at least I didn’t yesterday.