Doubt

Today, I dropped Witten off at school and had to leave quickly to get to some training. I've been wanting to work with him on his walking in the evenings this week, but haven't found there to be much time once he's done eating. We've been getting home a little later because I'm trying to get my room ready for school, and he's been going to bed earlier because he only has one nap a day now, and he only sleeps for an hour. Also, he has to get up an hour earlier than he did in the summer, so he needs that extra sleep at night.

As I stated in an earlier post, he moved up to the toddler room at his old school this week even though he's not walking yet, and they're a walking only room. At the doctor's office, she confirmed that cognatively, he's functioning as a 15 month old, and his only delay seems to be walking, which I have seen that he is capable of. If he's holding my finger, he will walk all night long without putting any actual weight on me. He is balacing himself completely on his own. He has also shown that he can stand alone. He just lacks the confidence and desire to walk by himself. This is not the first time he's shown a stubborn streak, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I was really concerned about his walking when we went to the doctor, but when she verified that things were fine, I just trusted that he will do it in his own time. I was 13 months old when I started walking, and one of his friends was 14 months old when she started. He should only be 12 1/2 months right now, so although I'm chomping at the bit for him to get going, I wasn't too worried after his check up.

When I picked him up from school this afternoon, the teacher came up to me and said that in her not professional, but personal opinion (she stressed multiple times that it was only her personal opinion), she thought I should get a second opinion on his walking, and I asked her what she meant. She said that they thought that after being around walkers for a week, he would really get up and get going. I told her that he'd been around walkers all summer, and has been walking with help for months. He obviously doesn't care that he's the only one not walking. She reiterated that I should get a second opinion. I was more than a little annoyed at this.

Then, one of the directors came in and told me that she was observing him today, and she had some safety concerns based on him not walking and everyone else being able to. She suggested moving him back and forth between the infant room and the toddler room, but paying the toddler prices (they're about $60 cheaper a month). I told her that I would have to think about it. Afterall, we've been in contact with ECI which he doesn't qualify for because he's not behind in anything, and his doctor too said that she wanted him with kids his own age.

I may have been more open to talking about this if 1. The teaching assistant hadn't been the one to start the conversation, and 2. It had been held in an office or somewhere private. All of this was going on while other parents were coming in to pick up their kids. I'm pretty sure that that violates FERPA.

Anyway, I have talked to Mitch some about it, vented to a great friend who was sypathetic to our situation, and have decided that since the toddler teachers won't work with him on walking, he should go to the infant room for a couple of hours a day to work with them. I maintain that he needs to be in the toddler room for the rest of the day though. He needs to be where they make him eat with utensils, drink out of cups with non spill-proof lids, have circle time, and do crafts. I'm not trying to be a difficult parent, nor do I think I'm in denile about what is going on. It's frustrating that on top of an already stressful week when I'm trying to get ready for classes to start back up, I have these people planting those seeds of doubt in my mind about his developement. Doubt and frustration that's always there because as a parent of a preemie, I find myself still comparing him to kids his age.