Peyton's First Day

Well, this morning Peyton had her open house at the mainstream preschool she'll be attending. She's in her third year of ECSE preschool now, but those class sizes are very small and so we thought it'd be good for her to get used to being in a larger, regular size class just like she will be for Kindergarten next year. We've heard great things about Children's Country Preschool here in Hanover (specifically how well they work with special needs kids!), so we're excited to start the year there.

As we walked in to the classroom, Peyton went right over to one of the teacher's and asked "What's your name?" - and here I was worried she'd be shy and wouldn't want to talk/interact with anyone! She wasn't afraid at all to approach other kids and ask them their names (and of course point out that the shirt or shorts they were wearing MATCHED Peyton's dress...leave it to the fashion diva). The teacher started out by reading "The Kissing Hand" to the class and she had a little raccoon puppet she introduced to the class as a "new friend". Next we did a little craft with our handprints and hearts in the middle - Peyton loved pressing her hand in to the giant ink pad. She kept saying "Oh no! Got messy!" and laughing. After we finished our craft time we did some singing, learned about the classroom rules and had a snack. Once snack time was finished up we had some free-choice time. Peyton popped up out of her chair and quickly made her way back over to where we'd had opening group time. She grabbed the raccoon puppet, turned around and told me "You sit down. I'm the teacher." So obviously I obeyed the "teacher" and sat down while she took a seat in the rocking chair that Miss Trisha had been sitting in. With the puppet on her hand, Peyton says to me, "Say hi to our friend!" and smiles. I love seeing how she's getting more and more in to pretend play, etc.! Peyton got to be the teacher's helper for music time, which she thought was SO great. We sang a fun song, did some dancing and then wrapped up with our closing group time. The teacher talked about how excited she was to have each of the kids in her class, then she said, "Does anyone have any questions?". Peyton yells out, "I do!". The teacher says, "Okay Peyton, what's your question?". Peyton sat there for a minute, looked around at all the kids, then looked back at the teacher and asked "Where's Carter?". I thought I was going to pee my pants laughing!! Anyone who knows Peyton knows that her favorite person in the world is her best bud, Carter. Unfortunately they're in different ECSE classes this year which has been kind of tough, but it sure was sweet to see that she still has a VERY special place for him in her heart!!

Peyton I'm SO proud of you for what a special girl you are and all the wonderful new things you're learning. Daddy and I are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents!! Thank you for being such a sweetie with such a big heart! We love you!!