Petey's Big Day!

Petey attended Sunday school! This may not seem like a big deal, but it is huge! For a year, we had been working up to this day, and two Sundays ago Petey surprised us by going into the classroom on his own and successfully staying through the entire class.

A year ago, just being at church around so many unfamiliar adults was too overwhelming for him, so for months and months Matt and I took turns going to church with Noah, while the other stayed home with Petey. Then, for a few weeks, we took turns taking him to a church nursery class that matched his developmental age at the time and staying with him for the duration of the service, only stepping out once or twice for a couple minutes to see how he would react. Worse than crying, he would go sit against a wall and mentally retreat. So, we stopped doing that. Then, for several weeks, we kept Petey in the sanctuary with us for the music/singing and took turns taking him into the lobby where we could listen to the sermon and watch Petey as he explored. 

Two weeks ago, I took Petey into the sanctuary to find seats and listen to the pre-service music while Matt checked Noah into his class. Petey was not having it, so I walked him out. Instead of just walking out to the lobby, he turned down the hallway to "kids church." I let him lead the way and followed along with him. He walked to the classroom we had experimented with, looked around, left, and continued down the hallway. He stopped at Noah's classroom and checked things out. Then, he turned down another corridor to more classrooms. At this point, the leader of the kids programs saw us and asked if I was going to put Petey in a class. I told her that I was going to let him decide. Smartly, she opened the door to a class of two-year-olds where she knew the teacher would be a wonderful match for him. Petey walked in on his own, explored, looked back at me, held my gaze for a moment, and then went off to explore and play some more. After I talked with the teacher for a while about Petey, I went back to the sanctuary and Petey stayed in Sunday school! Matt went to check on him (without Petey spotting him) half-way through the service and Petey was doing well. When we picked him up, he was sitting at a little table with the other children and I could tell that he was watching the other children to gauge what to do. He had successfully navigated an art project (with one on one assistance) about creation, playground time and snack time. I was so proud of him, I wanted to shout it from the mountain tops!

We knew that the next week would be the true test, though, of whether Petey would successfully repeat the experience, knowing what he was getting into. Again, he was a champ! Here is a photo I took of him going down a slide when I popped out to check on him (again, without him spotting me). 

This is a huge milestone, not only for what it is, but for what it forecasts -- we now think he is ready to start preschool next year and have enrolled him at the same preschool Noah attends. Petey will attend two mornings per week and will be in a two-year-old class, based on his abilities. We are hopeful that he will feel comfortable there because he is so familiar with the school. And we are hopeful that being in preschool with other classmates and peers will encourage him to talk, since he is still nonverbal. We are also extremely thankful and grateful to the director for working with us to meet Peter's educational needs! 

Here are some other pics of Petey enjoying the outdoors with us: