“I’m a skier!”

G’s preschool has a skiing program where anyone who is signed up meets at the ski school for the day and then they’re bussed back to school for lunch and recess.  We really wanted G to participate in this.  Dh and I snowboard and don’t have the ability to teach G to ski but really want him to learn so we can have fun as a family.  (he has expressed interest so we’re not pushing – too much)  We also thought it would be a great opportunity to socialize with his peers.  And this was why we were putting G in ski school last month, hoping to get him comfortable with the process of learning and with skiing itself so that he would be able to just have fun with the other kids.  Unfortunately, this was not to be.  Our plan was not G’s plan so it quickly was thrown out.  We’ve had a difficult transition back into school after the holidays and have had to spend up to an hour with G each morning until he is ready for us to go.  Adding this factor to G’s limited success in ski school, we decided the ski program was too much for him and called to cancel. 

Then, something awesome happened.  When we called to withdraw him from the preschool program, explaining why he just wasn’t ready and telling them that we were going to look into the adaptive program.  They told us that the adaptive program runs a segment in conjunction with the preschool ski program for the kids that need extra attention!  We were able to have G ski alongside his classmates but instead of having to keep up with 6 other kids and deal with the chaos that brings, G had private attention.  He had a ski instructor trained in all kinds of special needs and a ski buddy who is a volunteer.  G’s ski buddy happened to be the grandmother of one of his classmates so she was familiar with his friends names, his school and his teacher and was able to draw him out.  They said G had a great day skiing, they were able to take him from the magic carpet to the chair lift on the bunny slope which is major progress.  They helped him collect his gear at the end of the day and get on the bus (a big hit) without the chaos of that situation triggering a meltdown.

 But the most exciting part of the day was dh picked up G from school and he said, “Daddy, I’m a skier!”