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| Ann Reid Early Childhood Center |
Ella is starting preschool next week.
She's so excited! She can't wait to be a big girl and go to school like Ava and Henry.
I'm also looking forward to it :) For the first time in six years, I will have a few hours to myself every morning during the week! I'll get to run errands alone, do laundry alone, clean alone, and maybe even do something for myself once in a while!
But I'm also finding myself feeling nervous. Not the kind of nervous I felt sending Ava and Henry to school for the first time. That's normal nervous.
This is the kind of nervous where my heart aches for Ella. What is she going to say when other kids ask her questions? The questions that I've always been there to answer?
"She's in a wheelchair because she has a disease called SMA and she can't walk."
"Those leg braces keep her feet in the right position."
"That tube gives her nutrition because she has a hard time eating by mouth."
It's easy for me to answer those questions. I've done it a hundred times. But what will Ella say? Because of course she'll be asked. The other kids in her class won't be rude about it, they'll just be curious. And rightfully so.
I know her teachers will be there to help. And there will be some other kids in her class with special needs, so hopefully all the attention won't be on Ella.
But I still feel uneasy about it.
I know how much Ella is looking forward to going to school, and I don't want her to feel upset when she really starts to realize that she's a little different than most kids. That she's not in a wheelchair because she's too young to walk. She's in a wheelchair because she has SMA, and most kids don't have SMA.
I know after a few days or weeks everything will be fine and the other kids won't think anything of her wheelchair. They'll just see Ella for who she is.
A bright, sweet, funny, caring and incredible little person to be around.
I just hope and pray that it's a smooth transition for our baby girl :)
