First Day of Waldorf Preschool

This morning was Nathan’s first day at the Waldorf Preschool. It was the most wonderful experience!

I arrived at the preschool nervous, tense and anxious. Is this going to work? Are the other moms going to accept us? Are the kids going to accept Nathan? All of the other kids are typical, so I was very curious about how they would react to Nathan.

I took a deep breath before we walked into the house (the preschool is at a Waldorf educator’s house). We found everyone in the back yard. Most of the kids were playing quietly by the sandbox. I said hi and took Nathan straight to the sandbox so he could join in with the other kids. One of the kids (I’ll call him D), came by and gave Nathan a welcome hug.

The environment was quiet and peaceful and the moms were standing back just watching and letting the kids play. I had to hold Nathan so I was the only mom in the kids area. After a few minutes, the lead teacher started singing a beautiful song and the kids understood this as their cue to go inside.

We all went inside into a living room / play area. The moms and teachers sang a couple of songs to help transition the kids into a different environment. They used hand gestures, puppets, and movements with the songs. Then the kids started playing in this area. All of the toys were handmade – no plastic, synthetic toys. There was a little play kitchen, a whole bunch of beautiful silk scarves, and many wooden and cloth toys. The kids played independently or in groups of 2 or 3. There were only 6 kids total in the class. I put Nathan on his belly and just left him to watch and enjoy the other kids. He complained for a second, so the teacher picked him up and took him to one of the little areas so he could play with one of the kids. He was so happy – he radiated excitement and joy! Then after a little while we put him on his belly and he was happy to observe and kick and squirm while on his belly. A couple of the kids went up to him and got on the floor with him and tried playing with him. He squeaked and squealed and laughed.

After this we transitioned into the kitchen – again, with a song. All of the kids sat around a table. One of the moms cooked very healthy pancakes so all of the kids enjoyed a snack of pancakes and fruit. We had brought Nathan’s food but he wouldn’t eat it. He knew his food was different (gluten casein free), so he kept staring at what everyone else was eating. I understood that he wanted to partake in the same food as everyone else, so I figured it would be appropriate to set aside the diet for just one meal and let him enjoy what everyone else was enjoying. All of the kids, including Nathan, happily and quietly sat and ate their snack together.

After all of the kids finished, we transitioned back outside to play. I put Nathan in his kidwalk and allowed him to stand in the kidwalk by the sandox so he could watch as all the kids played and ran around. At one point, I moved him away from the sandbox. He wasn’t happy, so he turned his body back and started walking back towards the sandbox! I can’t describe how amazing this is! Thus far Nathan has taken steps in his walker – but I never felt like he really understood the correlation between taking steps and going somewhere that he wants to be. Today I could almost see it registering in his mind. I want to go there, and to go there, I can move my feet and take steps, and then I will get to where I want to go. It was amazing!

After a few more minutes we transitioned back into the playroom with another song. Inside the playroom we did circle time. We played ring around the rosie, and a couple of other “circle” songs. Nathan smiled and laughed and smiled. We sang a bye bye song, and went home.

The experience was beautiful, peaceful, happy, constructive. The energy of the group was just extraordinary, peaceful and positive and calm.

I feel so “right” about this preschool, I feel this is one of the most beautiful gifts we’ve given Nathan thus far. He was stimulated in so many ways – by being outside and playing, by touching sand and toys with many different textures, by listening to the children talking and engaging with them. I feel as if all of his senses were stimulated – sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. All in a calm and peaceful context, which allowed him to “take in” everything without being overstimulated.

Overall – what an amazing experience!