A Creative Leader

When Liz first started preschool, I was pretty concerned about this big step. Mostly, I was worried about how the other children would respond to her height. At age 3, she's about 30-inches tall or as tall as a 1-year-old. Her class is part of a university pre-school and is made up of 3 to 5-year-olds. I've read all about the reasons for having mixed ages in the same class. I realized this would help her to learn from older children, especially since she's an older child.

But, I knew that it also was the first time we'd start dealing with children's comments about Liz's height. On our tour of the preschool, we arrived and a curious 5-year-old went write up to Liz, and commented on our height. "She's so small."

Our response: "Yes, she is."

But that didn't satisfy the little girl's curiosity. She probably mentioned Liz's height five times, while we were trying to look around the school. Finally, Liz, who was completely captivated by the books and paints, began chatting about everything she wanted to do.

As she began to chat, the little girl said: "Wow, IT talks."

Well, you can imagine how I felt hearing someone call my child an "it." I kept telling myself that a 5-year-old doesn't understand pronouns and she didn't mean anything by it. Regardless, it caused my anxieties to heighten. By the weekend, I was very worried and concerned about Liz starting preschool and even started to question whether this was the right time.

However, when school started our fears were eased. We realized right away that Liz's teacher had read a great deal about achondroplasia. She even knew the right descriptive words to use when talking about her condition.

So far, the experience has been great. Liz has made friends and loves everything about preschool.

Of course, she's also showing her "creative side." Essentially, every day I go to pick her up, her teacher tells me of something she's done. The list goes on and on - from hitting other children, drinking from the water table, to walking on the classroom table.

On Wednesday, we learned about her "leadership skills." Liz decided to pick her nose while in circle time and from there, you know right where her fingers then went without me even writing it. : )

Her preschool friends must have been impressed by her action, because EVERY child in her class followed her example and did the same thing. I laugh as I write this, but you can imagine that her teacher was not laughing.

As Liz and I walked out that evening, we saw the director and for no reason, she began raving about Liz's leadership skills. Hmmm. So, that's what they're calling it now days.